Easy Maintenence Nano?

AIO's are a good option. There are many nano owners on here with amazing tanks.

 

Do the following:
Standard 20 gallon tall or long
A good T5HO or solderless DIY led
AC110 modded for refugium (Small light, a bit of rubble, chaeto) or media box
A good quality heater
2 Small powerheads
Good test kits and refractometer
Misc stuff
Around 10-15 LBS of dry rock and 3-5 LBS of LR
Dry sand if you don't like BB
Fo livestock you can do the following:
CUC from reefcleaners
A cleaner shimp (Very entertaining)
Clownfish pair
1 Other small fish (Cardinalfish, royal gramma, etc)
Now, all clownfish hosting anemones require high light/flow tanks and are quite demanding. They can also move around and kill corals or themselves by attaching to powerheads. Luckily there are a few corals that look like anemones, and clownfish will host ANYTHING in our tanks. EDIT: All things will host clownfish! Good nuff Vinny? lol
Here are some anemone like corals:
Toadstool leather corals
Frogspawn
Torch
Hammer
Here are some other low maintenance ones:
GSP
Zoas, Palys
Mushrooms/Ricordeas
Most "brain corals" are quite easy to keep
Plate/Fungia
etc etc etc
hope this helps

 

My first tank was going to be a 20 long, I got talked into a 38 gal by the guy at the fish store. It was a very similar footprint, but a much taller and deeper tank. also, my clowns are currently "scouting" my frogspawn. go for the biggest tank you can fit, the benefit of cubes being they fit in smaller footprints. (I wouldnt be able to fit the 38 in my current apartment). all of the corals that 1.0 mentioned are great, fairly easy to keep corals. They dont need crazy amounts of light either, which is very nice. Might be worth mentioning that I am not running a skimmer on my biocube ATM, and my fish/corals are thriving.

 

Easy maintenence? Hard to go wrong with an AIO, I have had a great time with my 14 biocube and am at a point where I feed it every other day, water changes every two to three weeks. Total time spent per week is normally a half hour at most and that's just feeding and cleaning glass. More on water change weeks or when I make more kalk top off water, but the top off kalk lasts over a month. Just recently got a Hanna phosphate meter and salifert NO3 kit, had been using API before, tested 0.00 phosphate and undetectable nitrate 3 weeks after last water change so the tablespoon of gfo in the media basket is still going strong. Calcium and alk still in the range I want them. Pretty darn low maintenance now!!

They are also great for upgrading as you progress. Started with mushrooms and zoas under stock lights, got into LPS, added another powerhead, eventually replaced the PC with panorama pro LED and got SPS and got MP10. From the start I put a light on the rear chamber with chaeto and in-tank media basket. I have two snowflake clowns and a pistol shrimp I hate for burying everything with sand!

I have had to frag my hammer several times and now the SPS have had to be fragged a few times, they are growing fast. Have 4 different acros, m undata, m digitata, spongodes, green birdsnest, pink birdsnest, Pocillopora, Stylophora, various LPS and a couple purple gorgonians - ribbon and "tree". All have been growing well, the SPS by far the fastest, and I have lost only 1 coral so far. It's been great fun!

 

Should add I don't use a skimmer either. I also like 1.0's stocking list.

 

I do too but clown's don't host anything except parasites,parties, and the occasional talk show.

 

This is totally sig worthy!!! :LolLolLol

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I have another question now. I can get a 28g nanocube AIO off craigs list for $200. Or should I just use my standard 29g and get a sump built locally for $60?

I already have powerheads, heater, and ac70 HOB if needed.

 

My first tank was a 5.5g standard turned AIO. Maintainance was easy, and cheap. You could turn a 29 into an AIO and have enough room for a BTA and clown pair. But know, clowns don't need a nem! I had one koralia 750 in my 20, that was too much for my softies and LPS.