Looking for some help with my first reef

[Fishonthebrain]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here on this wonderfull forum and let me say there is an unbeleivable amount of knowledge here! Happy to be a member!

I've been keeping fresh tanks for about 10 years and got into rift lake cichlids from Tanganyika about 2 years ago. I had some time on my hands and stumbled on your forum and I have been HOOKED on readng all the members tank specs threads, and the nano buildoff threads!!! WOW I am already a salt addict!

I have a 5 gallon tank I want to start out with just so that in my learning I don't loose too much money on mishaps and whatnot. I'll get a feel with this little one and upgrade if I find this is the thing for me.

The tank is a wal-mart special Aqua-tech 5. It has some crappy lighting and a built in filter in the hood, I am just going to take the lid off altogether and try to find a high wattage lamp that will fit the top. (No idea where to look for this)

Can anyone tell me the minimum watts per gallon I need that I wont have worrys about not enough light? A specific light would help even more!!!

Also I have a bunch of powerheads laying around from my fresh tanks, and I think the GPH may be too high for this little tank. How much turnover per hour do I need assuming I have about a 2" sand bed and about 5-7lbs of liverock?

Am I correct in assuming a skimmer would be silly for this tiny tank and that weekly water changes and stable parameters should be all I need for a thriving system? Please chime in with any equipment I am forgetting!

Sorry for all the questions! I've been skimming the forums for some simple equasions, like WPG and GPH minimums to help me figure out what equipment to buy but have had no luck?

Thanks a million for any help!!!

Jess 8)

 

[Fishonthebrain]

The smallest powerhead I have onhand is a Rio 600 9.5W is this too much flow?

Here's some more info to help with what I'm trying to acheive here.

Tank dimenions 15x8.5x10"

Planned occupants: (please forgive me I haven't done alot of speific researh on exact types)

1 Clown
1 cleaner shrimp
1 goby, blenny or dragonet something that stays small

1-2 small anemone
various colonial polyps (is this what there called?)

1-2 snails
1-2 hermits

Hopefully this will help determine what light I need or other equipment!

I found this light, but it seems like WAY overkill!!! I think one like it would be nice just one that wont boil these 5 little gallons.
http://www.petsolutions.com/K-2-Viper-H ... 1+C33.aspx

Thanks, Jess

 

[Anonymous]

:welcome: Fishonthebrain,

I'm sure you will not want to hear this, but you are asking for advice and our intent here is to help people out in the hobby. A 5 gallon tank is not recommended for a beginning saltwater tank, even if you;ve had freshwater for years. Managing a saltwater tank is an entirely different kettle of fish! Believe it or not, the small size of a nano makes managing water quality and sucessful stocking challenging to say the least. I strongly recommend beginners have at least a 29 gallon, 50 being even better. Weekly water changes will not be enough to keep healthy a tank that small, it needs daily attention in addition to weekly water changes due to increased evaporation rates. What I mean is you can't let a tank that small go much over a day without testing the water, or the addition of fresh makeupwater to keep the specific gravity level, or to pull a specimen that is not doing well, etc. as the lack of water volume means bad things happen VERY quickly in such a small tank. Simply put, the larger the water volume in a system, the greater the margin for error. You will have no margin for error in a 5.

Your planned stocking list is not very feasible either. A clown will soon outgrow 5 gallons, and a second fish is out of the question entirely. The freshwater rule of thumb that 1 inch of fish per gallon is acceptable stocking does not work in saltwater tanks. Secondly, anemones have to have pristine water conditions (and excellent lighting), which as stated above is hard to do in a 5. Best case is it will also grow too large rather quickly, or worse die off due to conditions and you'll loose the entire setup. Fish, anemones, etc all produce a lot of waste and in a 5 it's tough to have enough biological filtration/mechanical filtration to keep a tank balanced.

Really-and take this in the spirit to which it is intended-the best advice I can give you is to save some money, get at least a 29 if those fish are what you wish to keep. Your chances of sucess will be greatly increased.

 

[Fishonthebrain]

Thank you for your advice. Deffinatly not what I wanted to hear.

FYI this -The freshwater rule of thumb that 1 inch of fish per gallon is acceptable stocking does not work in saltwater tanks.

Does not work for freshwater either, LOL.

As far as a larger tank, I have them everywhere I could use. I just wanted to start a smaller one to avoid expensive larger equipment as a trial run so to speak.

I'll think about whether I want to invest in turning one of my larger tanks salt, or just drop the idea all together I guess.

Could somebody please answer the WPG and GPH questions though so I can price equipment?

Jess

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your advice. Deffinatly not what I wanted to hear.

FYI this -The freshwater rule of thumb that 1 inch of fish per gallon is acceptable stocking does not work in saltwater tanks.

Does not work for freshwater either, LOL.

sometimes it does, 10 - 1" neons in a 10 gallon ain't much. But a 10" Oscar in a 10 gallon is problematic :lol:

 

[Fishonthebrain]

sometimes it does, 10 - 1" neons in a 10 gallon ain't much. But a 10" Oscar in a 10 gallon is problematic :lol:

LOL good point

 

[cindre2000]

As was said before, a 5 gallon aquarium can be very difficult to maintain. However, you could easily set up a 20-40 gallon aquarium without to much of an expense. You just need to start simple. Low stocking level, plenty of flow and rock. Hang on filters are really good to ramp up the flow for smaller aquariums (especially if you have old ones lying around).

Start with one or two fish, if you are maintaining the water quality, think about increasing the light. And then you can add hardy corals (mushrooms and zoos). If you start slow and are patient you can wet your feet with out spending too much.

However, on smaller tanks, you do especially need to keep a close eye on the tank. Things get out of wack really quick; especially on tanks less than 20g.

As for flow- aim for 20 times to start out, preferably from several sources so you have mostly even amount of flow through out the entire tanks, rather than one jetstream. (Look up Hydor Koralia, SEIO, or TUNZE for powerheads that do this).

As for lights- small tanks can be a pain in a way- you really need a 24" tank for the "best" lighting situations. Otherwise, retrofitting some PC lighting works well.

 

[Fishonthebrain]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm going to take the advice about the 5 and just do a planted tank and keep some freshwater shrimp in it, LOL or maybe some killies. OMG DID SHE JUST SAY KILLIES ON A SALT FORUM? GASP!

I have a 30 gallon long with a 20 gallon long under it I could use for a sump/fuge, or I also have a store bought sump that I think a skimmer could fit in... I dunno. I guess I could go nuts and use the 20 for just a fuge and use the sump for the skimmer and heater, i think THEN i would have enough water volume to keep my newbness in check! LOL

The main reason salt intrigues me is the corals, not so much the fish. I would be happy with just coral and a shrimp so I'm not sure where this all stands.

I guess Ill just hook up a couple power heads mix some water, let it sit a few days, get some LR stick it in the tank and let that sit until I decide what to do...

Jess

 

[Fishonthebrain]

Can anyone suggest a skimmer/sump setup for me? I have the store bought sump, and a 20L I can use. It would just be great to know what I need to buy so I dont screw it up!


Should I just drill the 30L and use the 20L as a fuge and add baffles to add the skimmer?

Or should I just use the store bought sump and add the skimmer to that? Or both?


For a standard 30L what skimmer should I get? What light?

Jess

 

[cindre2000]

You could use the 20L as a sump, that is what I used on my 30 cube. You would have 3 sections: protein skimmer, refugium, return pump. The first section would overflow to the second section, and the second section would go through baffles to the final section. Most likely the 20L will have more room than the store bought sump (especially if it is a wet-dry).

As for a skimmer, how much do you want to spend? I had a ASM mini on my aquarium; however, I never got around to tuning it properly and all it really did was facilitate water changes. You could start out skimmer less, and eventually get one down the road, especially if you start with easier corals that don't need pristine water, and a low bioload. A simple refugium would work in that case.

I would say, drill the 30 gallon and put in an overflow and return. Put baffles in the 20L (I just used glass and silicone), leaving room for a skimmer. Install the plumbing and set up the tank with out the skimmer. Spend the extra money (that you did not spend on the skimmer) on some nicer lights. Start with some easier corals and once you get the hang of it (and get the bug), buy a skimmer or upgrade to a larger aquarium.

With just filter sock and chaeto refugium for filtration, and two 3' T5 HO's, you should be able to keep a lot of softies and LPS, possibly some hardy SPS, as long as you don't over stock the fish.