The Reef Down The Corner

[Xebadir]

OK, so after reading through much of the stuff on this forum...and other sources...plus several diaries and thinking for a long time, ive decided that planning a reef for my little 5.5G corner tank would be a good idea.

Now for some ideas and thinking:

So ive got a 5.5Gallon Tank, equivalent of 21L (im an aussie, I admit it now).

1) How much live rock should I be looking for to provide my biofiltration?

2) Given the small size, and being my first attempt at marine (having kept tropicals and cichlids for some time), im planning to intially get premixed saltwater, what do people think of this?

3) Planning for heating to go with a 25W. Is this sufficient heating for SW tank at this size?

4) Im thinking about doing a DIY refugium out of a Penguin 125 HOB filter of course removing the old media and biowheel. Given the problems with the search, ive been unable to find any of the great articles on refugium design so if anyone could suggest one that would be great. If I do manage this I was thinking of placing the heater in the refugium and using small live rock. Does anyone think that the ROF (23x turnover) would be excessive from the filter?

5) If I use the refugium idea do I need any other movement in the tank?

6) If I dont use the refugium what sort of filtration would people reccomend for this size tank and what sort of circulaton.

7) Sand should I be attempting to get live or just crushed coral or aragonite and allow the live rock to colonise it?

8) What sort of stocking is ok/possible for a beginner with a 5.5G in a marine setting? I Intially plan to go live rock with inverts and possibly fish if they are ok in that size tank and eventually go for coral when i up the lighting.

So here I am at the start of my journey, any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[BigC]

Hi Xebadir
G'Day and a big Welcome to TFF.
I've been holidaying Down Under myself for the past couple of years and I must say you folks are fab.

OK such a small tank to begin with there so I would be looking toward a Liverock based, with some small soft corals, snails, hermits and a nice colourful shrimp.
If it were me, and if you were close enough I would be looking at using all the natural resources I could find. I'd be using the natural seawater (filtered of course)
Local marine sand (steralised ie microwaved). The only thing you'd have to buy would be the LR.
But if you feel happier going for synthetic water atal then thats fine.
I wouldnt bother too much on the filtration side of things opting instead just for water movement through the Liverock and weekly waterchanges.
I visited a few Aquatic establishments whilst over and got chatting to their owners, I know you get a lot of the electricial equipment from the far east, so for water movement I would source your equivilent of our Hydor koralia Nano
http/aquatic-store.co.uk/marine/view/1667
or similar...It may be a wee bit strong but should be fine angled to bounce of a few panes, whilst also disturbing the water surface.
For the LR, you'll be looking around 3-4 kgs...4kgs being ample.
As for the heating 25w should be fine but I always like to go up a scale rather than keep to the recommended wattage so therefore if it were me I'd opt for a 50w heater/stat.
What are your lighting plans, possibly something like this HaiYang Clip-On T5 Compact Aquarium Light Unit
http/www.zshaiyang.com/2005/p/zshaiyang....71219161016.jpg
You dont really need much light for most soft coral sp
Another option open to you might be a nice Seahorse tank, but you may have to cut down on flowrates a little.
Regards
BigC

 

[Xebadir]

The local marine sand im seriously considering, would also knock a cost off. Any suggestions for what exactly is required from the microwave to steralise?

Im going to have a look for something similar to circ pump at one of my LFS haunts in the next few days. That light looks pretty along the lines of the sort of thing im looking for. Im wondering if it can be upped to an appropriate lighting to suit corals in general (certainly not the difficult or hard species though). Would a goby shrimp pair work in this sort of tank? Im going to have to look around probably for quality stock and rock...we do have troubles sourcing stuff over here it seems.

Ill do some research into species of inverts etc and see what i can find. Thanks for the suggestions, and glad you enjoyed Australian (I live in Melbourne).

My current Ideas are these:

Aquahead Powerhead 800 L/h (Is this ok?)

Jebo Clip on 13W tube lighting. (This will probably be a slightly later purchase after I get organised.)

Found a stockist who has plenty of choice for inverts and corals for later on. Now just need to find a place for quality live rock.

 

[seffieuk]

Welcome friend from the other side of the world

Guys, would a shrimp and goby pair be ok for a tank this small?

Xebadir, check out youtube,

http/uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBoZzvNM5I i'm very tempted to set up a tank just for these two


Seffie x

 

[SkiFletch]

How cold do melbourne winters get? IME, a 25watt heater for my own 5.5g tank was enough for the spring summer and fall months, but winter needed a little more juice so I got myself a 50.

Also, beware Jebo products, they're cheap but cheaply made too

 

[Xebadir]

Rightio, been to some aquria today to inspect what im doing etc.

Had a look at beach sand and have decided its far too polluted near me to use in the tank so ill need to buy some.

So some notes on other choices:

Live Rock round my area appears to be 15$ (AU) a kilo for good stuff from south pacific.

Saltwater I can get stuff from a nearby LFS for $7.5 for 20L and R/O for $6 on the same volume.

Lighting I will look at later, but im factoring in about $60 or so...more if I can find a good product for a smaller odd shaped tank...i did notice one with a fan designed for small tanks which while more expensive looks pretty ideal.

Heater im probably going to go with a 50W: price is similar, and if I can get one the same size as a 25W its good to have the extra coverage. Price is about 30$ tops.

Powerhead: I've found a few equivalents at about 900L/h which im going to find best price: Im budgeting for about $40 for this.

Crushed Coral Sand is probably going to cost me about 10$ tops from people I know.

And I think ive found a species for this tank (A goby species): Gobiodon histrio, the Green Coral Goby. What do people think of this in a 5.5Gallon? Just a fish I saw and am planning to research more to see if it could work in my tank.

So current budgeting for setup (which will prolly occur in the next few days):
Tank: Already got
Powerhead: $40
Live Rock (4kg): $60
Heater: $30
Sand: $10
Saltwater (40L): $15
R/O (20L): $6

Spend: $160

Anything Im Forgetting Anything intially?

 

[Trod]

Hi Xebadir

Looking forward to seeing how this developes

 

[seffieuk]

Test kits - try to buy salifert if possible - you will need, PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate just to start with

A water container - if you buy a 25 litre you will have plenty for water changes and emergencies (needs to be food safe), best place to get them is usually a camping store

Green Clown Goby - Gobiodon histrio

Species name: Gobiodon histrio
Common names: Green Clown Goby
Family: Gobiidae (Gobies)
Subfamily: Gobiinae
Order: Perciformes (perch-likes)
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length: 1.4
Minimum tank size: 20 gallon Also read somewhere else 10 gallon
Hardiness: Easy
Aggressiveness: Peaceful but may fight with members of its own kind in small tanks. Should be kept with smaller less aggressive species.
Reef Compatibility:Good. They rarely cause much damage to the corals but if you only have one small acropora sp. you might want to rethink this fish.
Distribution: Western Pacific: Japan and Fiji.
Diet: Carnivore. Diet should consist of a variety of brine shrimp, frozen mysid shrimp, table shrimp, and frozen food preparations for carnivores. They can be tough to feed but only because of the size of their mouths.

Additional information:
In the wild, the green clown goby is found around Japan and Fiji Island where they they perch and make their nests among acropora colonies. It is a perfect fish for any sized reef especially nanos because they stay nice and small. They do not swim much around but instead look for a spot to perch and watch what's going on.
It has a stocky shaped body with yellow to greenish-tan colors and orange vertical stripes on its head. The males tends to be more brightly colored than females. They also have a noxious body slime that deters most predatory fishes from feeding on them.

The ideal aquarium should have a temperature of 72 to 78° with a specific gravity of 1.020 to 1.025 and a pH between 8.1 and 8.4. It does best if housed in a tank with plenty of places to hide, places to swim and live or faux corals of the branching type. More than one can be housed in the same tank but the number you place in your tank should be a function of how many hiding places in available.

Green Clown Gobies are known to successfully spawn in an aquarium, laying eggs that sink into the coral branches, which will cause tissue recession in that area of the coral. If you only have one small acropora sp. you might want to rethink this fish.


So, I would say unfortunatly no, your tank is too small and you will not have the lighting to house Acropora

Seffie x

 

[Xebadir]

Ahh nuts. That makes me a sad panda thought i sort of knew after looking at some similar sites. Water container I will get on tommorow.

As for test kit ive already got a full master tube kit plus others for Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia, pH full spectrum and upper range, gH and kH for freshwater.
Would these be acceptable for this purpose?

Rightio: I've found a lighting that i think will be suitable for this tank:
[URL="http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...t/prod_134.html"]http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...t/prod_134.html[/URL]

So 48W for the 21L tank Should give me some flexibility for corals I hope.

Thanks for the help guys. Anyone know a goby that might be ok in this size?

Anyone heard of Griessinger's Goby?

 

[seffieuk]

Your tank would be considered a Pico tank, so you might want to have a little search around the internet for other peoples stories However on another thread Ski has just told someone about keeping Manitis (sp) shrimp in a five gallon - that is worth a read

Clown gobies are small (most of them) but still get to about an inch and a half and for your tank you would be looking at about an inch of fish.

How about just keeping some shrimp and soft corals like mushrooms - could look lovely and shrimp are so funny, they interact with you by climbing on your hand My fire shrimp loves nothing better than trying to clean my hand

OR

Buy a bigger tank and use the 5 gallon for a refugiam (sp) - lot's of bargains out there at the moment. A five gallon is going to be a nightmere to keep stable

Seffie x

 

[Xebadir]

If keeping mushrooms and other softs what would my lighting requirements be like (W per gallon im talking). Would something like a seahorse and a nice shrimp be possible in a tank this size if I cant do a fish (been looking at this guys tank): <a href="http/www.melevsreef.com/pico.html" target="_blank">http/www.melevsreef.com/pico.html</a>? Inclusive of mushrooms what other soft stuff would fall into a managable category (for example would zoa's?)

Id love to run a larger nano but at the moment just dont have the space available with my cichlid tanks, eventually i plan to set up a much larger reef and possibly a symbiote nano, but thats not until I have my own place. So i guess this foray with a Pico will have to satiate me.

All this planning is more than half the fun of having tanks

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Welcome to the salty side Be careful or you might end up converting all your FW tanks into marine (I started off with a nano and ended up changing my planted tank to a marine one ).

Lots of good advice above already. Just so you know (though I think you already do ) a 5g tank is going to be a lot of work to keep stable due to the small water volume, evaporation in a tank this size means you may have to top up at least once a day (maybe even twice a day). Even a small amount of water evaporation in a smaller tank can lead to big changes in the salinity/SG. Depending on your budget I would strongly recommend an auto top up unit. With this you dont have to manually top up with RO all the time and more importantly your SG will be constant.

The HOB filter will probably work fine as a fuge. Basically all you need is a space for the macro alage with water flowing through it and a decent light above it. Not sure if the HOB filter will do for the water movement though, would have to see it running really.

For the heater another possible alternative would be a heat mat or coil. Im not sure if these are ok in a SW so triple check first but it would at least be hidden out the way.

Do you possibly have space under the 5g to put another tank (or container)? If so it may be worth drilling the 5g and adding a sump (the bigger the sump the better) this will give you somewhere to hide the equipment and give you more water volume which will help.

Really not sure on fish for a 5g. There arent that many that will really be ok.

Have a look at the link below for inspiration. Havent read it all myself yet but looks good.
http/www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...132714&st=0

 

[Xebadir]

So update time with a price record:

Purchased:
Aquaone 600L/h powerhead (the hydor model was 108...a little much for such a small tank) $20
Aquaone 55W heater $23
4kg of Coral/Beach sand $10 (prolly a little much but its so I have plenty of spare if required.)
25L Drum with wide lid for transporting anything required and seawater ($10)
2x15L Tapped containers for R/O and extra Seawater. ($20)
40L of Sea Water ($4, lot cheaper from this place)
15L R/O water for topups ($2)

And ordered 4kg of uncured Live Rock from the Barrier Reef for delivery to the shop on Thursday.

So ill do an intial setup and take a photo of the empty tank with water, sand, powerhead and heater so its all ready for rock on thursday.

Im going to plan ideas for a sump to use for the tank. I do have a spare that I may be able to use with some silicone repair. Any thoughts on lighting reqs for softs?

Another question, does anyone know if there is any reason why the stuff from a Aquarium Pharmaceuticals API Freshwater Master Test Kit wont work for saltwater, just wanted to check if I needed anything different for Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia, KH, GH, pH. I assume that later on it may be advisable for me to have tests for phosphates and calcium?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, phosphate, calcium, and alkalinity are great tests to have. You can use the other kits, problem is the color cards are different

 

[Xebadir]

Does that correspond to a different scale?

Have just ordered my lighting (considering noone has what I want at a reasonable price), this one:
http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...t/prod_134.html
Ive also ordered an actnic bulb for this unit so I have the option of two 10k powercompacts or one and one.

While a little expensive I believe this will give me sufficient lighting for my corals when I eventually get them, has the option for switching bulbs on and off.
Until it arrives (2 days) I will be using a spare desk light of 15W. for the live rock (provided it does arrive lol).

Cost: $77 dollars

So further we move on .