STEP by STEP Nano Reef GUIDE
NanoAquatic Reef Guide
The smallest tank size we recommend is 10 gallons. The most popular type of fish for nano aquariums, such as gobies, require at least a minimum of 10. Anything below 10 should be kept as a coral and inverts only tank as most fish will experience stunted growth. This occurs not only due to the aquarium size but because of the lack of water quality that nano provides over bigger sized tanks. Below we will guide you with our very own 10 gallon tank. If you choose a different size, we'll adjust and add information accordingly as we go along. We've divided the guide into three sections, 1) Tank Setup, 2) Essentials and
3) Equipments. Those who are considering fish only, follow the numbers with the blue fish.
3 - ACCLIMATING
Acclimating: The Traditional Method
Acclimating is fairly easy and straight forward, but this is not a process you want to skip out on. Livestock must adjust to your tank parameters, thus, acclimating takes time and a little patience. We highly suggest acclimating your livestock to your quarantine tank first before adding them into your main tank.
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Float the fish bag in your tank to adjust the bag temperature the same as your tank for about 15-20 minutes.
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Open the bag.
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Place the livestock in a bucket or a container and slightly place the lid on top. Make sure the lights are off.
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Use tube with an air controller(purchasable at Petco or any petshops) to drip acclimate.
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Allow 2-3 drops per second. You can gradually increase the drip speed.
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Acclimating process should take between 30 minutes(hardy fish) to an hour(sensitive fish).
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Make sure while you're acclimating your room temperature isn't too cold.
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Do not add the acclimated water into your tank (they may contain unwanted visitors entering your tank).
There are some reef hobbyist that will tell you they never had any casualties just adding the fish after temperature acclimating. Again, this is an expensive hobby. A tank crash can result in losing most, if not all, of your livestock. Fish lives matter!
Acclimating: The O.D. Method
There are always some crazy ways to find methods that work. Here is a perfect example.
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Float the fish bag in your tank to adjust the bag temperature the same as your tank for about 15-20 minutes.
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Open the bag.
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Place the livestock in the bucket or a container and slightly place the lid on top. Make sure the lights are off, both room and tank.
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Use tube with an air controller(purchasable at Petco or any petshops) to drip acclimate.
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Allow 2-3 drops per second. Increase drip speed every 10 minutes.
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Empty out half the water after 20 minutes.
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Do the above twice until hour is up.
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We've seen some people add a heater and a thermometer into their buckets to match the temperature of the tank so that's upto you.
Do not ever rush in this hobby!! Patience, patience, patience! As hard as it is, this hobby is not cheap and animal lives matter. Many of the times you will find certain things are a hit or miss, but always use caution.