Changin over to Nano

Grampa

Hi,
I have a 40Gal (US) tank that is currently 3 months old FOWL tank, I have a Fluval 304 filter, 30Lbs live rock(I am guessing at weight as added incremently) the tank Phosphate 5, Nitrate 10, Ammonia0.1 Ph 8.3 Nitrite 0.3, I have 2 clowns, 1 royal Gamma, 1 Sailfin tang , 1 Damsel, choc chip Starfish, 4 hermmit crabs, 1 decorator crab, 3 Feather dusters (2 Hawaiin) a T5 50/50 light.
would it be possible to change over to Nano reef system?
Jim

xeruf

I always thought nano reef tanks were arround the 10 galon size; and anything over that was jsut a reef tank
what kind of lighting do you have?

ahill3780

Hey Jim,

Welcome to FishTankForums!

Your tank stocking looks ok except for the tang which requires a tank larger than 40 gallons and is definately not suited for any type of 'nano' setup. Beyond that you look to be A-OK as far as being able to switch over to full reef. You might have to bump up the lighting some depending on what you plan to keep and increase the flow rate in the tank, but beyond that 40 gallons is a good size for a nano system. Although technically it falls slightly over the common 'nano' catagory in tank size (5g - 24g).

The ammonia reading is troublesome for a reef setup, but I think this is due in large part to the Tang and the tank being overall maxed out on bio-load. Just to be fair I think I should point out that 8 weeks is still too young of a tank to consider going Reef. The tank should be a little more mature before adding in true reef corals and inverts, but you can begin laying down the foundations with some low-light hardy soft corals such as mushrooms and xenias, etc.

HTH,
Aaron

Grampa

thanks Aaron,
My supplier has some 30" T5 coming in a week so I have asked him to put ne aside if he only gets one, also he has some 'mushrooms' coming also in a couple of weeks. I am still monitoring my tank and have added some more live rock (2 days ago) my Sailfin I can give to my son he has 75 Gal tank.
Jim