Mini aquarium

[sassyfrassy]

Does anyone have experience with a mini aquarium, like the 12g Uniquarium?
It is pretty much self contained, and even has a small Venturi skimmer u can get for it if necessary. They have one at my LFS w/2 small clowns, and some mushrooms on LR.

Also do fish remain small, or grow slower, dependent on tank size, or is that a myth? In a tank that small would u need to do 25-30% water change a week? Or perhaps a couple gals. everyday? Any information u can share will be appreciated.
Carolyn

[Reefmedic79]

I have a 12G biocube, not familiar with the Uniquatium.

Size of fish is a myth, fish typically get stressed out an die when they start getting too big for a tank. a pair of perculas or ocellaris clownfish would be ok as they don't require a lot of space.

Average of 10% water changes a wekk would be sufficient, but daily top-off is a must for small tanks.

[sassyfrassy]

How do u like the bio cube? Is it just reef or do u have any fish? Is it self-contained - do u have to clean acrylic like u do w/glass? How much is the bio cube and from whom did u get it?

[Reefmedic79]

Made a mistake in my previous post, my bio-cube is a 14g, runs for $199 i think, everything is self-contained. Can be purchased anywhere online. Full reef with a couple little fish, chalk bass, geodesic pygmy hawk. Acrylic requires specialized cleaning equipment to prevent scratches.

[MARINECRITTERS]

For beginners smaller tanks are harder to maintain, the levels in water chemistry can change rapidly over short periods of time. I would go with a 40 gallon or larger, drilled with a sump, preferably a large skimmer and refugium, side equipments like reactors and auto top offs are nice too.
If you insist on using this tank then I can recommend to run the skimmer, purchase an RODI unit and only keep small fish that only get a couple inches. Fish growth can be stunted, but internal organs seem to continue growing, causing mutations and in most cases, death of the fish.
Water changes can be only a few gallons a week, 10% water changes are nice, 10% of 12 is one and a half, weekly 1.5-2 gallon water changes would be fine. Since you have a small tank then you must top of the tank daily.

[sassyfrassy]

OK here is the problem: I have cancer - tired & weak a lot of the time. I just haven't been able to keep up with the maintenance on my larger tank & sump. Main tank coraline (magenta) algae covering 3 sides and good bit on front. I was thinking a mini 12g tank would be easier to keep clean & maintain. 1 1/2 gal. water change and gal. or so top off seems a lot easier. In current location (beside sliding glass doors on south side of house) caulerpa & HA having a field day, making maintenance even more intensive. Also, my husband is not interested in the tank and has enough to do, and I don't think it is fair to keep something I have to ask someone else to maintain. My mated pair of Ocellaris Clowns are - female 2-2 1/2" and male 1 1/2 - 2" - are they too big to put in a 12g - they don't move around a lot except when fed.

Question is: Is my thinking re: 12g mini flawed re: amount of time needed to maintain? The one I'm looking at getting has venturi skimmer, and ATO, along w/ sponge mechanical filtration. Any advice appreciated - I really like my clowns - had them since they were 1/2" and they spawn all the time which is interesting. Also with such a small tank, how much & often should I feed them - I probably overfeed all the time as they are fat & sassy! Thank you for responding.
Carolyn

[Reefmedic79]

I think the clowns will be fine in a 12. As mentioned before the small tanks don't have the wiggle room that larger tanks have when it comes to changes in their parameters.

[Shaun v]

I can't tell you what to do but I can tell you what I do and it's very simple without a ton of maintenance. I have a 17 gallon rimless starphire tank with no pump, no filter, no skimmer, no refugium, etc. I do have 3 Korallia power heads, 1 heater, and a Kessil light. I do a 10% water change every 10 days and I use the mag cleaner once a day or every two days. For evaporation, I manually top off with about 2 cups of water a day. I dose with Brightwell Nano A and Nano B. I purchase my rodi water from my local grocery store at the refill station. I usually purchase 8 gallons in 1 gallon jugs at about $.37 per gallon. I purchase them about every 2-3 weeks. (We also use the water for other household things like the clothes iron and a humidifier). Here is a video after having the tank for a year. http://youtu.be/uWTtQNszxYI

[KafudaFish]

My last tank which lasted June 2010 - April 2013 was a 5.5 zoa tank that I designed to spend less than 1 minute a day on husbandry and I did a 100% (ok 99%) WC once per month. For the first two years+ I did manual top offs and dosing.

I would do the clowns only and maybe a shrimp to keep the bioload down and then pick a few corals and call it good.

You can feed each day and as long as you don't have algae issues then you should be ok.

The only thing I tested was salinity and temp btw.

Good luck and fight the good fight.

[sassyfrassy]

Originally Posted by Shaun v

I can't tell you what to do but I can tell you what I do and it's very simple without a ton of maintenance. I have a 17 gallon rimless starphire tank with no pump, no filter, no skimmer, no refugium, etc. I do have 3 Korallia power heads, 1 heater, and a Kessil light. I do a 10% water change every 10 days and I use the mag cleaner once a day or every two days. For evaporation, I manually top off with about 2 cups of water a day. I dose with Brightwell Nano A and Nano B. I purchase my rodi water from my local grocery store at the refill station. I usually purchase 8 gallons in 1 gallon jugs at about $.37 per gallon. I purchase them about every 2-3 weeks. (We also use the water for other household things like the clothes iron and a humidifier). Here is a video after having the tank for a year. http://youtu.be/uWTtQNszxYI

Wow, your tank is beautiful! Is that crushed coral instead of sand? If so, do you ever vacuum it? Is the LR just taking care of detritus, and do you think the 3 korallia keep corals clean? They seem to be thriving and the flow gives them such nice movement. About how many lbs. LR? I have a RODI unit. What is a Kessel light? I think the tank I'm looking at has 2 HO fluorescents. Thanks for the info - your tank is obviously balanced - I only notices 2 fish, hermit, and turbo - do you have CUC - snails? I have snails, worms, tiger pods, and 2hermits, but no turbos. Did you originally have skimmer, filtration, pump, fuge, etc. and just gradually got rid of them? Your tank is encouraging.

[Shaun v]

Originally Posted by sassyfrassy

Wow, your tank is beautiful! Is that crushed coral instead of sand? If so, do you ever vacuum it? Is the LR just taking care of detritus, and do you think the 3 korallia keep corals clean? They seem to be thriving and the flow gives them such nice movement. About how many lbs. LR? I have a RODI unit. What is a Kessel light? I think the tank I'm looking at has 2 HO fluorescents. Thanks for the info - your tank is obviously balanced - I only notices 2 fish, hermit, and turbo - do you have CUC - snails? I have snails, worms, tiger pods, and 2hermits, but no turbos. Did you originally have skimmer, filtration, pump, fuge, etc. and just gradually got rid of them? Your tank is encouraging.

Thank you for the kind comments. I used 20lbs of Nature's Ocean Bio Active Live Aragolite and 10 lbs of Carib Sea Arag-Alive Reef Sand and about 25 lbs of LR (mixture of different types from different tanks). I do vacuum once every 3 months or so or just as needed. I do feel like he power heads help but really the CUC is probably doing the brunt of the work. The Kessil tuna blue 350w is an led light. I have a huge clean up crew though lately I lost my mexican turbo. Here is the list roughly,
5- Bumblebee Snails
5- Nassarius Snails (2 large, 3 small)
2- Cerith Snails
3- Banded Trochus Snails
1- Turban Snail
1- Brown Blotch Snail
1- Electric Orange Hermit Crab
1- Red Tip Hermit Crab
1- Yellow Tip Hermit Crab
3- Zebra Hermit Crab
1- Blue Leg Hermit Crab
1- Scarlet Red Hermit Crab
1 Porcelain Crab

I have never had the other equipment but I did start with 2 koralia and added the third about 6 months ago. This is my first tank. I have lost a few things like peppermint shrimp, a frogspawn, a ricordea, and some snails and hermits. But ovrall i've done pretty well in not having too many deaths. I feel that it took about 6 months for my tank to really start to stable out but things have really thrived. I do have a bit of an algae problem but I am working on it by feeding less. Good luck with your tank.