A good cheap Nano tank suggestion?????

Thanks! ;D And a lot of it comes down to personal preference and what exactly you want to keep. In my minds eye, whats inside the glass is more important than having the curved front panel and slick canopy And in all honesty, tanks like biocubes are under lit, under flowed, and under filtered. But they will do fine for a few fish and softies. If you want more than that, you have to start modding, and eventually you'll have none of the factory equipment left in it. Then you come to the realization that you paid $250 for nothing more than a 14 gallon box

 

No way dude, I mean maybe a fish only but not a reef! Or are you figuring everything used? still don't know about that one.

 

Tank: $25.00 new at petsmart when I bought mine.
Cheap mechanical filter: ~$15-20.00
Mediocore to low powered PC lighting: ~$50.00, probably even much less

That's really all a biocube is in all honesty.

 

live rock, live sand, protein skimmer, salt, power-heads, do not get pc's, at least get a T5 unit. The nova's are cheap enough that you will actually be able to keep any LPS and most SPS's you could ever want. Heck I have a 2x24 watt fixture(had 2 of them but was bleaching the crap out of everything) and my SPS's are growing very well!










and a skimmer as big as your tank I still can't believe that!!!

 

It's all about personal preference. I have a 110 Gal with all the bells and whistles which I don't even want to think about the money I've spent. I still love my RSM, it's just a very nice package. I have it in my home office where I don't want cords, hoses, pipes, and a sump, just a fully contained and functional reef setup. You don't need to mod the crap out of it if you want to keep softies and lps. People have added MH lighting and then discover they need a chiller, and the money starts to get crazy. The ability to mod is always there but it's not really necessary. If you spent $100 on a tank and gear you are going to be learning some hard lessons in reefing. There are a lot of people here who really know their stuff and one thing that keeps coming up is don't cheap out, it will cost more in the long run.

 

I agree. Don't cheap it out. I got my 15 high for free.. hah... that is about the only free thing.. I took it slow though. I bought a filter and powerhead, then put my sand and water in. I let it run for about a month while I found a light I could afford but one that would last and was good enough for my tall tank. I ended up finding one on ebay for 1 hundred dollars that sells for 300. Then I bought my live rock and let it sit for another month. So in total for tank I spent 175 dollars. Stand came with tank.

So I say it can be done. If you don't include the sand, LR, fish and coral.

 

What do you recomend for a skimmer? I have one too and I agree crappy skimmer!!!! Thanks for your info...

 

a ten gallon tank and a hob octopus, for lighting oddysea pc lights

that should be around 200
10 for tank
150 for skimmer
30 for lights
there and its better then a regular one

 

aside from the Elos mini (which is BIG BUCKS) the only all in one nano i would suggest is the finnex 30 gallon M tank. Absolutly the best all in one tank on the market! I suggest getting it with the refugium and adding a better aftermarket skimmer. The tunze nano doc fits well in it but i wasnt to pleased with the skimmers performance. Any HOB style skimmer should fit in the back compartment that is made to house a skimmer.

 

I have a nano that is a gallon and a half tank(acrylic). $20.00 at Petco-I have a coralife light fixture for $35.00, though it comes with a white LED light, and the tank comes with an in tank nano filter. I replaced that for a hang on which is a little bigger and more effective with water flow given the space allowed.
I am not running a skimmer, I use a nano heater with about 2 pounds of live rock and a couple pounds of live sand from my other tanks. Because everything came from my existing tanks, there was no cycle, so I could set it up and stock it.
I have three Peppermint shrimp, three purple mushrooms, and five varieties of zoanthids complimented by small brittle stars and an astrea, nassirius and two cerith snails.
Thats it...tank in a bottle so to speak without breaking the bank and being to extravagent.