What is considered a nano reef tank? What is the size of a nano reef tank? Is my tank too big for a nano?
These are the questions, you will always encounter when reading a forum on nano reefs. I do not think there's a definitive answer to this, however I personally think anything over 20 gallons is not a nano 15 gallons and is pushing it.
In my opinion, a true nano, in every sense of the word is up to 10-12 gallons (not including sump).
Is a nano reef tank as successful as larger tanks?
Yes, even more. The most important factor in maintaining the entire reef aquarium is the water quality. You can have the fanciest lights, the "best" additives, etc., if the quality of your water is not spot on, you will not have a healthy reef. The best way to maintain optimum water quality is to do water changes. From nano to have such a low volume of water, we can make water changes of 50% per week, without firing a sweat!
All you would need to keep your nano reef aquarium salt and a RO-DI unit! Yes, you still need the obvious such as lighting, temperature control, the movement of water, food, etc., but you'll most likely need any type of filtration. No skimmer, no reactor carbon reactor no phosphate or without mechanical filtration. You will most likely not even need to worry about dosage for calcium, magnesium or alkalinity!
But why, how?
Easy, you get everything you need a simple change of the water! Remember, you have a 10 gallon tank. Even if you mix a bucket of 5 gallons of mixture of salt weekly fee, you will change about 50% of your water. A water change of 50% will be defiantly to reconstruct any calcium, alkalinity and magnesium and it will also remove all the "bad things" that a skimmer or sump would have eliminated!
The only problem I have with great variations of 50% + water they could radically alter the chemistry of your water. It would be ok for a fish tank only, but if you have any type of coral, I would suggest. What you can do is to mix your bucket of 5 gallons of fresh salt once a week, but only change a couple of gallons at a time, say every two days. This way you still get the benefit of a weekly water change of 50% without offending your coral with drastic changes.
Important Note ** Keep seawater mixed covered to protect stuff in and to minimize evaporation. If it evaporates, your mixture will be composed of salt. As you probably already know, salt does not evaporate, only the water.
