Tiny 17L Tank Suitable For A Tiny Little 2 Fish Salt Aquarium..?

[joeskandal]

I have a little square 17 litre tank that I used to used for a Betta fish.
Is this possible to modify it to have a cute little desktop salty marine tank for one or two Damsels and a shrimp or two?
I understand that there is going to be a lot of equipment needed out of sight to allow this to run, sump etc.

Do you think this is too small for just a tiny little start up tank, before I start setting up the huge one, or is it just too small.
I just like the idea of having a couple of kilograms of live rock and one or two small fish on display.

All opinions, criticism welcome...
Thanks.
Joe

 

[Harry1996]

Well if you are going to set up a big one then i would save for that
If you do set this little tank up i would only put in corals and a shrimp or a load of sexy shrimp with a pom pom crab etc, they are so cool. Also on a tank that size i wouldn't bother with a skimmer and you wouldn't need a sump

I set up a juwel rio 125 and i think it great other than the rio 180 would of been better. So if you are looking for starting a bigger tank then i would start with a 125L or 180L some thing around that size

 

[lewiss]

There's been tones of questions about these size tanks and marine set ups, realistically they are too small for fish - definitely to small for damsels, clowns etc. You might be able to get a small goby to go in there. You can do a shrimp in there, and some corals. A nice zoa garden would work but then again you have to consider lighting..

Realistically.. And this bit sucks! If you want a marine tank I'd advise you start with a 30gal minimum cos you'll def want to upside even with that!!

Hope that helps, prob not what you wanted to hear! Sorry.

Lewis

 

[joeskandal]

Ahh cool, so what would I need exactly then to set this up?

I'm so excited to set this up...
I do fancy a couple if shrimp, but I just want to keep a little damsel or two, to get them used to our house before using them for fish in cycle of the larger one.

Maybe not damsels then, but certainly some smaller ones.
What is a zoa garden.
I just fancy some living Rock in there.

 

[Harry1996]

I'm so excited to set this up...
I do fancy a couple if shrimp, but I just want to keep a little damsel or two, to get them used to our house before using them for fish in cycle of the larger one. Most people use fish less cycles

Maybe not damsels then, but certainly some smaller ones. Some kind of goby?
What is a zoa garden. Its a type of coral and you put different colours together.
I just fancy some living Rock in there.

 

[sorgan]

a catalina goby would be ok in a tank that size if your water temp was less than 22c
a clown goby would be borderline but would be happy in a tank that size but TBH it would be a shrimp/coral garden if it was me doing it
1 damsel will not last in a 17l tank, 2 would kill each other in a few weeks.
a zoa is a zoanthid, its a communal encrusting soft coral that comes in about a gazzilion colors they are also hard as nails and do great in tiny tanks.

 

[joeskandal]

Ahhh wow, they are amazing.
I always liked all those different colours.
So with that then, do I just mix the salt water, sort out the temp and put it in, or do I need biological filtration with a fish less cycle etc?

 

[sorgan]

Put salted water in (sg of 1.025) and bring up to temp.
Put live rock in and sand and leave for Week or so, start testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
If alls good cuc can go in then a few weeks after zoos can go in.

 

[lewiss]

A Neon goby pair would be ok, and they are great addition!

Here's a a picture of a zoa garden. You could do some really cool things with that tank. Some nice fire shrimp or cleaner shrimp?? Or one of each would prob be ok.

 

[joeskandal]

That is unreal

 

[joeskandal]

cool, so been checking out some zoas and xenias etc, and I think that would be perfect.
Problem is now though, this lite 17L square tank has a fluorescent tube light, looks like an energy saving one!!!I obviously need to change it, but what for, and you reckon it will be easy to do?
Off to get about 3kg of live rock, is this sufficient? And a master kit.
Who now to mix my salt Walter....

 

[lewiss]

Depends what fitting it has, you really want t5 or t8 lighting. You need to enquire about what lighting fitting it has. But you can buy portable lighting to go over the top. Zoa's are pretty easy to care for but will req light.
You can buy saltwater from most LFS or mix your own.
3kg of live rock is plenty for that sized tank. Make sure you cycle the tank.. put the rock in and test until stats go perfect, then you can add your zoa's and shrimp etc. Where abouts are you? In the UK?