could i get away with using live rock as a filter.
i would like a nano reef tank and was thinking
get a glass cube built with a lid fill it with salt water add live rock wait 5 weeks add about 3 fish
cube size 20l
is this a stupid idea or would it work
It would work, but with the following qualifications...
1. Good circulation around the LR, aim for 20-40x turnover of water movement, to be accomplished with power heads
2. Sufficient light, for a Fish only with Live Rock, you'll need at least some light to grow coralline algae. For corals you'll need significantly more
3. Now for bad news, this is about a 5g tank. You definitely CANNOT put 3 fish in there. One fish, chosen well, would be the only option. Your choices...
-clown gobies
-panda gobies (very hard to keep though)
-trimma species of gobies
-perhaps a small yasha or dracula goby with their pistol shrimp pair
-a mated pair of neon gobies
-there is a very tiny species of cardinal fish that GAB99 has, but they are also very fragile
Notice the list? A ton of gobies. It's because they are not typically big swimmers, but perchers and burrowers.
4. Sand substrate, especially for the burrowing gobies.
5. light stocking, if you wanted to stock more inverts, I'd recommend you construct a refugium for the aquarium.
Sorry if this is discouraging, but look at it this way, I didn't say you couldn't. I have picos myself, you just have to be very diligent about the maintenance and be very careful about what you select. Contrary to what others may think, there ARE invertebrates and fish that would thrive in a smaller environment. They won't get lost in a larger tank, or have to compete for food with more boisterious tank mates...
-pompom crabs
-sexy shrimp
-anemone crabs
-squat lobsters
-scarlet hermits
You can create a lovely, healthy pico systems if you are very careful. Now, be forewarned, there is no room for error in a pico tank. Many don't survive their first year. Power outages, human error, upgrades take many of them.
L
