6G fishless "pico" coral ideas?

[dandelion]

I'm new to corals and I have 6G AIO that I'm cycling. Water volume is about 5 gallons. Planning on running filter floss carbon Purigen ceramic ring. Return is 200gph hydro pico. MANUAL top off (at least for now). Lighting is 16W LED. 1:2 white:actinic. Planning on changing 2-3 gallons of water once a week, with a little bit of feeding the night before.

 

I'm thinking mostly softies like zoa and mushrooms. Was thinking GSP but not sure about the aggressive grow rate in such small tank. Are there any LPS that are peaceful enough to coexist in such limited real estate? I'm also thinking about trying a cheap SPS frag near the return pump. I've read monti and bird nests may be easier? Or should I just pass on the SPS thing?

[gena]

Zoas and mushrooms would be good. As far as LPS...acans, trumpet coral, plate coral, open brain coral. Anything you put in a tank will eventually outgrow it. The LPS I mentioned won't send out stingers, or not as readily anyways. I'd stay away from SPS unless you like a challenge . I personally have a softy and LPS tank now and it's my favorite of all the tanks I've had.

[dandelion]

Thanks for the suggestions! With softies and LPS do you still dose Ca and Mg in your system? Or is weekly water change enough considering tank this size? I just realized I don't have a test kit for Mg, but before I spend the money I want to see if testing for Mg is even necessary when large water change is easy to do.

 

Zoas and mushrooms would be good. As far as LPS...acans, trumpet coral, plate coral, open brain coral. Anything you put in a tank will eventually outgrow it. The LPS I mentioned won't send out stingers, or not as readily anyways. I'd stay away from SPS unless you like a challenge . I personally have a softy and LPS tank now and it's my favorite of all the tanks I've had.

[gena]

Thanks for the suggestions! With softies and LPS do you still dose Ca and Mg in your system? Or is weekly water change enough considering tank this size? I just realized I don't have a test kit for Mg, but before I spend the money I want to see if testing for Mg is even necessary when large water change is easy to do.

You know...with such a small water volume, I think a water change every week will be good enough. I personally have to hand dose, but I also have a 20g tank . Just keep an eye on your params. I wouldn't worry about getting a mg test kit if you aren't dosing magnesium. If you are having issues maintaining alk and calcium then I would pick up a mg test kit just to make sure your mg isn't too low. Those 3 work together . Pick a good salt too! I use Red Sea Coral Pro which I think would work great in your situation since it has elevated levels of those minerals.

[dandelion]

Well I honestly don't think I have the best salt for corals. I am still using my instant ocean sea salt (not even reef crystals). I just figured I want to use it up which I got for my FOWLR before "upgrading". And I guess if it's mostly softies I shouldn't have to worry too much?

 

A fellow reefer gave me a bottle of seachem calcium and a seachem carbonate supplement when I bought his used skimmer. I guess if calcium is low I can just add some of that to my new water....

 

Still waiting for the tank to cycle. So excited!

 

You know...with such a small water volume, I think a water change every week will be good enough. I personally have to hand dose, but I also have a 20g tank . Just keep an eye on your params. I wouldn't worry about getting a mg test kit if you aren't dosing magnesium. If you are having issues maintaining alk and calcium then I would pick up a mg test kit just to make sure your mg isn't too low. Those 3 work together . Pick a good salt too! I use Red Sea Coral Pro which I think would work great in your situation since it has elevated levels of those minerals.

[gena]

Well I honestly don't think I have the best salt for corals. I am still using my instant ocean sea salt (not even reef crystals). I just figured I want to use it up which I got for my FOWLR before "upgrading". And I guess if it's mostly softies I shouldn't have to worry too much?

 

A fellow reefer gave me a bottle of seachem calcium and a seachem carbonate supplement when I bought his used skimmer. I guess if calcium is low I can just add some of that to my new water....

 

Still waiting for the tank to cycle. So excited!

Nah...I would use it up too! Lots of people use that with no issues .

[billdeluz]

Nah...I would use it up too! Lots of people use that with no issues .

agreed

[printerdown01]

I would pass on the GSP in such a small container.

 

Zoas, mushrooms, and ricordea really shine nicely in a small environment. Other things that do really well include clove polyps (liam's and neons really add some different shape and texture to the tank), blue star polyps (fill in blank spots nicely), tiny little daisy polyps (have been great at filling in low light areas and holes in my current tank adding pop where there would have been nothing), and sympodium.

 

Try not to get sucked into any leathers in such a small tank either -toadstools, neon trees, kenyan's etc. Some people fair out just fine, but most will have issues with the toxins in such a small environment.

 

Having such a small tank is a huge advantage for zoas and ricordeas... really does help justify the price when adding 5 polyps to the tank makes a huge difference.

 

Hopefully this helps... Enjoy the planning process. BTW have a 5.5-6 gallon display (about 8 gallons total). I change about 2 gallons out every 1-2 weeks. I still occasionally have to dose CA and ALK without any LPS or SPS in my tank. I had a fungia in the tank for a while and it would choke down my CA and ALK levels in such a small tank . Was really hard to keep up the the demand without spiking my pH unless I dosed 2-3 drops at a time by hand -could not find a dosing pump that would dose a small enough dose at a time to not cause a major pH issue. Was dosing ESV B-ionic and monitoring pH with my Apex lab grade probe -for what it is worth.

[lobster876]

150 posts

[dandelion]

Wow thank you for the reply! It is very informative. I haven't learned too much about ricordea yet, but that's a very good suggestion! I guess I really need to start reading the library book I borrowed.

 

I left a small patch of substrate without any rocks, thinking that I just may put a plate coral there. I didn't know dosing would affect the pH drastically, so thank you for your advice! I don't have a lab grade pH meter, so maybe I will have to experiment with my supplements in a tupperware before I actually dose anything.

 

I was thinking about building an ATO with 1 or 2 redundant float switch. Do you have an float switch ATO in your pico? Are they sensitive enough to top off before too much water have evaporated?

 

 

 

I would pass on the GSP in such a small container.

 

Zoas, mushrooms, and ricordea really shine nicely in a small environment. Other things that do really well include clove polyps (limas and neons really add some different shape and texture to the tank), blue star polyps (fill in blank spots nicely), tiny little daisy polyps (have been great at filling in low light areas and holes in my current tank adding pop where there would have been nothing), and sympodium.

 

Try not to get sucked into any leathers in such a small tank either -toadstools, neon trees, kenyan's etc. Some people fair out just fine, but most will have issues with the toxins in such a small environment.

 

Having such a small tank is a huge advantage for zoas and ricordeas... really does help justify the price when adding 5 polyps to the tank makes a huge difference.

 

Hopefully this helps... Enjoy the planning process. BTW have a 5.5-6 gallon display (about 8 gallons total). I change about 2 gallons out every 1-2 weeks. I still occasionally have to dose CA and ALK without any LPS or SPS in my tank. I had a fungia in the tank for a while and it would choke down my CA and ALK levels in such a small tank . Was really hard to keep up the the demand without spiking my pH unless I dosed 2-3 drops at a time by hand -could not find a dosing pump that would dose a small enough dose at a time to not cause a major pH issue. Was dosing ESV B-ionic and monitoring pH with my Apex lab grade probe -for what it is worth.

[printerdown01]

The ATO on my tank was one of the three best investments I made!! SUCH a relieve not topping off by hand. While my tank is a LOT happier I am elated!! I topped off by hand for years (lots of years). In hind site: I was stupid. I actually enjoy the hobby more now that I simply fill a 3 gallon container with RO/DI and call it good.

 

Best $$ spent on my tank:

1) ATO (Tunze osmolator)

2) My rock work (took my time, built it all by hand with BRS reefsaver, and used concrete dye to create perfect purple rock -which looked a heck of a lot better than the white rock waiting for coraline) -do not attempt this with any old concrete dye!! Contact me if you need the name of the stuff.

3) My lights (12" XB 20K from buildmyled.com).

 

BTW also a must for super small tanks -get your clean up crew from Reefcleaners.org... Great people. Just don't be surprised when your order 15 dwarf ceriths and you receive a shipment of a fifty of them. -No seriously. Make sure you have a buddy that might want some as well. LOL. His estimates for clean up crews seems high, but he has always been right on the money for my tanks. The only snail I keep in my tank that does not come from there are pacific nerites (they have atlantic -as they are located on the atlantic).

 

P.S. Yes adding 2-part dosing will cause a rise in pH. But the raise is temporary. Hence most people set a dosing pump up to drip about a minutes worth into their tank at set time intervals (hours apart). 1 min ~ 1 ml on my smaller dosing pumps. About 1/10 of a mL will take my pH up by .15 which is a lot. So adding 1 ml over 1 minute was NOT an option. I ended up dosing by hand. I have also thought about diluting the mixture -but never experimented to make sure it went ok. Might end up doing it when I build a new cabinet for the thing. New cabinet will allow for 2 more 3 galling jugs under the tank so that I can program it to do it's own small water changes 3x a week .

 

 

Have fun!!

[dandelion]

I didn't noticed your reply until just now. Thanks for all the info!

 

I already have my rock work in. I got my rocks from my LFS and they do resemble the reef saver rocks IMO. I got a 2nd LED light for now, figuring it should be sufficient for softies. If not I'll prolly move to a par38 or I'll check out the one you suggested.

 

As for ATO... I guess I'll leave that out for future upgrade. I already ordered the parts for a DIY ATO but they're shipping slowly from China...

 

I thought about doing a automatic water changer. A couple vests in the cabinets, a couple pumps, and a few float switches might do the trick. But then 2-3 gallons every week doesn't sound too bad for now...

 

The ATO on my tank was one of the three best investments I made!! SUCH a relieve not topping off by hand. While my tank is a LOT happier I am elated!! I topped off by hand for years (lots of years). In hind site: I was stupid. I actually enjoy the hobby more now that I simply fill a 3 gallon container with RO/DI and call it good.

 

Best $$ spent on my tank:

1) ATO (Tunze osmolator)

2) My rock work (took my time, built it all by hand with BRS reefsaver, and used concrete dye to create perfect purple rock -which looked a heck of a lot better than the white rock waiting for coraline) -do not attempt this with any old concrete dye!! Contact me if you need the name of the stuff.

3) My lights (12" XB 20K from buildmyled.com).

 

BTW also a must for super small tanks -get your clean up crew from Reefcleaners.org... Great people. Just don't be surprised when your order 15 dwarf ceriths and you receive a shipment of a fifty of them. -No seriously. Make sure you have a buddy that might want some as well. LOL. His estimates for clean up crews seems high, but he has always been right on the money for my tanks. The only snail I keep in my tank that does not come from there are pacific nerites (they have atlantic -as they are located on the atlantic).

 

P.S. Yes adding 2-part dosing will cause a rise in pH. But the raise is temporary. Hence most people set a dosing pump up to drip about a minutes worth into their tank at set time intervals (hours apart). 1 min ~ 1 ml on my smaller dosing pumps. About 1/10 of a mL will take my pH up by .15 which is a lot. So adding 1 ml over 1 minute was NOT an option. I ended up dosing by hand. I have also thought about diluting the mixture -but never experimented to make sure it went ok. Might end up doing it when I build a new cabinet for the thing. New cabinet will allow for 2 more 3 galling jugs under the tank so that I can program it to do it's own small water changes 3x a week .

 

 

Have fun!!