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Sarr Cat's Hypothetical 5.5g Nano


Sarr_Cat

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So, thinking about possibly setting up a 5.5 gallon tank I bought at a yard sale as a nano reef. The original plan was to have a mini planted tank, but I am now actually considering using it as my starting point into reefing, given some others have said they managed to start just fine with a small tank. This is all just hypothetical at the moment, just ideas I'm going through.

 

First of all, I really want Caulastrea...

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+2341+2513+2596&pcatid=2596

 

I really like the look of these, they're already one of my favorite corals... I would actually want to start simple, just a few cheap Zoanthid frags for the first several months, then eventually adding the Caulastrea if I can the conditions stable.

 

I plan on starting with the standard cleanup crew, hermit crabs and snails, whatever the LFS has in stock most likely.

 

As for fish? Well, I really wanted a bicolor or orchid dotty back, but a bit of research has informed me that they would need more room than 5.5 would provide.

 

For the lighting system, I was thinking combining the two of these :

 

http://http://www.rapidled.com/6-x-12-premium-heat-sink-and-enclosure/

 

http://www.rapidled.com/12-ultra-premium-led-diy-kit-with-dimmable-drivers/

 

Filtration would involve an aquaclear HOB filter modded as a reefugium, with Caulerpa or Chaetomorpha, plus some sort of filtration that removes dissolved organic material (nano protein skimmer?)

 

So, these are my rough plans/ideas for what I want this to be...

 

Any ideas/suggestions/advice/recommendations would be appreciated!

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Well, I think you'll end up investing a bunch of money into a 5.5 that you got for next to nothing (just because that's what you have on hand). Tanks aren't the major expense of reefing, so get what you really want for a reef (I'm assuming something that you can keep a couple of fish in). Then you can purchase the equipment for that tank.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's possible to setup a 5.5 gallon reef. Your plan is feasible. You could even keep a small goby in it. Just make sure that's the type of tank that you really want (before investing a lot of money into it).

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porkchop-rob

Your plan seems fine.

 

I would say that candy canes can be kept quiet easily, and if you just want a pico reef with one fish, lps coral and softies.....you should be golden, in fact, its almost identical to how I started.

 

I may even recommend a PAR bulb (or nanobox/kessil/AI Prime/Radion) led light for simplicity and clean esthetic. Par bulbs are fairly cheap and work well on that size of tank. Some of the other lights I suggested would be more suited for WHEN you decide to upgrade tanks.

 

I would totally not worry about the fuge or the skimmer on a 5.5. Just keep changing the water. Its quick and simple and less hassle. I would use the HOB filter for flow and if you have the occasional desire to run gfo/filterfloss/whatever.

 

Only issue I had with my original tank was surface scum. You can buy some overflow things that work with the HOB filter, or you can buy a stand alone surface skimmer, or some people have luck with just pointing a powerhead at the surface.

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