10gal or 5 1/2gal nano reef

[supermarvin76]

I am new to nano reefs.I am thinking about starting one. I was thinking about a 10gal tank, then I saw a awesome 5 1/2gal tank at my LFS. I know it's hard to think of a 5 1/2gal tank as awesome, but I really like that one.

I need advice as to which is recommended and why.

Thanks

[lando]

I would start with the 10gal. See how that goes. Once you have sme experience under your belt with the 10gal, get the 5 1/2gal. You could probably put it together for about $200. As your corals in your 10gal grow, frag them and move some to your 5 1/2. I have not bought a single coral for my nano, everything was fraged from the main.

[ellisz]

I have a 10 gal and a 5 gal mini-bowl. I have 64 watts on the 10 and 20 watts on the 5 gal. For me, the 5 gal is easier. Evaporation is slower BUT I only have soft corals that are relatively easy and more forgiving.

My 10 gal is for frags.

Just be realistic with what you want to keep in them. The bigger the better for corals which are a bit more demanding. With a 5 gal, 1 fish would probably be all you could do and it would have to be small.

On my mini-bowl, it came with a small Whisper HOB so I bought a minijet, heater and a 20 watt corallife 50/50 bulb. Sand and Rock I already had. Was pretty simple. It is a nice tank for my bedroom and all I have in it is shrooms, anthelia and GSP. I have a sexy shrimp and yellow watchman in there too but the watchman will be moved to my 75 soon.

On my 10, I built and pedastal and a canopy with a DIY light fixture. Looks decent, IMO I just have too many frags so I am tearing it down and setting up a 20L.

HTH