Your Favorite 6 Gallon

[krafie]

Hello everyone, my name is Kasdyn and I live in Utah. Let's get started. I'm new to fish tanks and I've never had a freshwater tank or a saltwater tank but I moved to Provo and made a friend who has been into reef keeping for a while and he has been helping me out. I fell in love with these tanks after seeing some on Instagram and YouTube and I had to have one. 

 

After searching for a nice nano aquarium for quiet some time, I finally found one. It was a Fluval Edge. The ad stated that the tank was left in the home when the new owner had moved in. The new owner was asking $45 which I found to be very manageable. I showed up, and to my surprise, this tank was brand spanking new, still had everything in the packaging! I asked him of he would accept $30 and he said yes, so I threw it in the car and I was off. 

 

While scrolling ads online, I saw some free Red Sea coral pro salt, and while I was there I talked him into giving me a free jug so I could grab some RODI water from the local fish store. I went by Rusty's Reef in Orem and all I can say is wow, absolutely great guy and he had a beautiful shop filled with some nice fish and coral. 

 

 

 

 

So after a long day of driving and window shopping, I finally made it home. I took the tank out of the box and set it up so I could water test it. Everything went very well and I am very excited to get some Live Rock and Live Sand into this tank and start cycling. 

[krafie]

 

P.S. I was very lucky because my friend had a pump lying around and offered to let me use it. It is an EcoTech wireless MP10 quiet drive. I am excited to see it working in the tank!

[krafie]

So today I got very lucky. I posted to the Reefers page on Facebook asking if anyone would like to donate some live rock to my nano build. Within a few hours, my Facebook notifications were going crazy. Five people had responded and wanted to donate some! So, I drove to the closest one and grabbed some amazing looking rock (or at least that is what my friend keeps telling me). There were a few recovering corals on them. I believe one is an Orange Cyphastrea coral and the other we are not too sure on. It was also covered in Coralline algae, feather dusters, Copepods, and Brine shrimp. SO A HUGE SHOUTOUT TO MARCOS, he really hooked me up. 

 

 

 

I also started using Aquaforest Salt after doing some research and finding a great deal from a guy who just so happened to have a full-size basketball court underneath his massive basement. 

 

This is much more addicting than I thought it would be

[krafie]

Day 3 of the Nano build. So my impatience got the best of me, I drove to grab some RODI water which lead to a huge spill in my trunk. So the lesson is to invest in a sturdy water holding container, the free ones aren't your best bet.. ?

 

After that I decided to go see a friend I made who had some coral for sale and boy-oh-boy, did I hit the jack pot!$30 Here are the goods

 

I then decided to dip them with some my friends Coral RX. The stuff that came off these very healthy looking and clean corals was crazy, I will always dip corals from now on. We also went ahead and cut the corals off the frag plugs before gluing and rubber banding them down. Looking forward to posting pics of happy corals tomorrow so check back

[Nixperience]

Sounds like you have some really good luck. Hope it continues because if this tank is only 3 days old, it hasn't cycled yet. Fingers crossed for you that the stuff survives. 

[GregEmmitte]

3 days is way too soon to add corals!  :/

 

im sure the zoas will be ok but idk about anything else.

[krafie]

I forgot to mention what corals I picked up. Sorry if I misname something I'm still learning. However, I grabbed a Duncan frag, Green Candy Cane, two zoas (unnamed), some GSP, and a Yuma Ricordea. Everything was angry after the dip, but has now opened up a little. Also, I found a baby starfish. He has been named Ray Charles, otherwise known as Little Ray Ray, because he is blind and I like the way he grooves across the tank haha 

 

 

1 hour ago, GregEmmitte said:

3 days is way too soon to add corals!  :/

 

im sure the zoas will be ok but idk about anything else.

 

2 hours ago, Nixperience said:

Sounds like you have some really good luck. Hope it continues because if this tank is only 3 days old, it hasn't cycled yet. Fingers crossed for you that the stuff survives. 

 

 

Its funny you guys say that, or at least my friends found it funny. They wanted me to ask if I get something if nothing dies, and none of my levels elevate? 

Excuse them if that comes off as rude, but they even said they would throw in a Acropora frag in to make things interesting.  

 

Nothing needs to cycle. The rock was live, and the water was clean. I don't find my set up very different from what a store or frag tank owner might set-up. And even if there was a level of ammonia present in my tank it would be diluted heavily with my water changes. 

 

 

[Lula_Mae]

Even fully cured and cycled rock can have a small cycle when moved to a new tank, especially if not kept wet.  Even just transferring from one tank to another in the same room can cause parameter spikes sometimes. That's why they're saying that. It has nothing to do with whether the rock was live and the water clean.

 

Following for potential Derrick II value... 

 

 

[GregEmmitte]

7 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Even fully cured and cycled rock can have a small cycle when moved to a new tank, especially if not kept wet.  Even just transferring from one tank to another in the same room can cause parameter spikes sometimes. That's why they're saying that. It has nothing to do with whether the rock was live and the water clean.

 

Following for potential Derrick II value... 

 

 

In theory: if she took rock and water from an existing tank and put it in the new tank she'd just have algae blooms from the silica in the plastics and seals.

 

but that didn't happen. Lol

[krafie]

Update on the coral,

All are doing well. I glued them down and they are now open. The light seems to be doing well for now! 

 

Water Parameters are still where I want them to be for the Aqua Forest program. I got some more stuff In so now here is a pic of everything. Minus Components 1,2, and 3. Because I forgot to take a pic of them. 

 

Duncans and Zoas

 

Just the Zoa garden so far, if you know the name please comment below. 

 

I turned off the blue flash light I have because I think these are gorgeous on there own.

 

 

I was curious what Nano fish you guys have come to love. I have done a good amount of research and spoke to some friends and I really love Tail Spot Blennys, Chromis, Clown Gobys, and Clown fish. I think if I get one, maybe two fish I will be completely set. 

 

[HarryPotter]

Def not my favorite yet but will be interesting to see how this goes. 

[docshipwreck]

Looks good so far, however, id be super cautious. If you have the money for all those products kudos for you, but I would have perhaps went slightly larger tank OR more importantly a good light to support your coral.

 

Until you stabilize and can accurately gauge your corals' usage of trace elements you really shouldn't be dosing. Many times, especially in this small of a system, you'll be able to get away water changes only.

 

Just some thoughts, everyone here is super helpful and will be rooting for you

[krafie]

2 hours ago, docshipwreck said:

Looks good so far, however, id be super cautious. If you have the money for all those products kudos for you, but I would have perhaps went slightly larger tank OR more importantly a good light to support your coral.

 

Until you stabilize and can accurately gauge your corals' usage of trace elements you really shouldn't be dosing. Many times, especially in this small of a system, you'll be able to get away water changes only.

 

Just some thoughts, everyone here is super helpful and will be rooting for you

 

This is almost exactly what my friend was telling me. The Aquaforest products are going to be used a lot more on a his Reefer, but I get to use them as well. Water changes have been keeping my levels pretty stable. The tank is pretty low demand. 

 

As for a bigger tank, this was a really good deal, and I had to keep it under ten gallons because the complex I rent from doesn't allow ten gallon or bigger fish tanks. :/

 

A new light will be coming up soon because I really like the look of SPS and would like to see if I can get some growing. That being said the Coral I have now is very close to all I want in the tank, I do not want anything on the sand bed and the rocks are getting close to full. 

 

A fish and maybe a few more corals and then just letting everything grow

 

[lkoechle]

31 minutes ago, krafie said:

 

This is almost exactly what my friend was telling me. The Aquaforest products are going to be used a lot more on a his Reefer, but I get to use them as well. Water changes have been keeping my levels pretty stable. The tank is pretty low demand. 

 

As for a bigger tank, this was a really good deal, and I had to keep it under ten gallons because the complex I rent from doesn't allow ten gallon or bigger fish tanks. :/

 

A new light will be coming up soon because I really like the look of SPS and would like to see if I can get some growing. That being said the Coral I have now is very close to all I want in the tank, I do not want anything on the sand bed and the rocks are getting close to full. 

 

A fish and maybe a few more corals and then just letting everything grow

 

Make sure you research your lighting options well.  I know a lot of lights might demand you take the lid off of the edge.  There are alot of edge reefs so use the search function and look at them.  Personally, I think @DaveFason should make a light that can replace the stock lights and keep the hood.  But I think that will be hard to do... Anyways, most lights won't let you keep the stock hood on.

[krafie]

Threw sand in, and I'm fish shopping. I'm more active on the reef2reef nano section. So this website probably won't get too many more updates. But thanks for all the help! 

 

 

[samnaz]

I think 6 gallons is a tad too small for a Tang.