5.5g nano sw tank

[Mezzovex]

I have no clue. I just got it with a 55g sw tank that we got of craigslist. I think some of it is sea lettuce. im going to pull it out and condense it.

[solothedrunk]

Man I just setup a Marineland 5.5 gallon corner tank, but your tank looks so nice and clean and my plastic looks a bit filmy on the inside. I got some great live rock from a disease free (best LFS with saltwater fish, I've seen so far) tank and the guy gave me a bunch of rock rubble for my filter and the tank cycled in less than 2 weeks, everything was settled and I had no more ammonia spikes in the tank. I had to work to keep the ammonia down fast because the live rock had a scarlet hermit crab stow away from the LFS in it that none of us noticed until I got home. Just put in a fire fish in there my GF picked out and it's beautiful. Anyone got any tips to make the plastic gleam more on the inside

Pics:

[JoseDepacos]

Funny you brought this post back up. I was about to do the same. Looking good by the way. Ok, so one week into my 5.5's cycle I decided I wasnt happy. I desire a couple of small fish so bigger is better right? Not much bigger mind you but bigger nonetheless. I switched to a 10g Aqueon, pico evolution pump and an Aquael pre filtered pump. New Perfecta strip with a power-glo 18,000k bulb and another six pounds of live rock. Looking good thus far a week into the change over. Though I would like to go bigger, this will have to do for now.

[solothedrunk]

HAHA! Jose you have Patrick's house in there right under that round rock. Check out the Brackish thread for my updated Figure 8 tank and you'll see I have sponge bob's house . My brothers have a black body, yellow sprayed crown tail betta I got them with Squidword and Spongebob's house in there. You know something you and I think a like, I was thinking of going up to 10 too

[JoseDepacos]

Lol. Thats actually an old piece of brain coral someone brought to the house when I was a kid from their vacation. I love that thing.

[Mezzovex]

Tanks are looking good. I have to trim my plants back, they are going crazy... im thinking about moving my tank... im not looking forward to that though.

[xrayjeeper83]

is this something a SW virgin could do?

[Mezzovex]

im a saltwater virgin. lol I figured if i could keep this nano alive, i can keep a big one alive. If you have the tank and filter set up already, its really cheap.

My expenses:

10lb live rock --$20
6in compact florecent --$30
salt-- $15
everything alive in it $40

so ive spent about $100 on my setup.

[xrayjeeper83]

So many temptations, damn this hobby

[JoseDepacos]

is this something a SW virgin could do?

This is my first salt tank as well. Everyone says its a lot more difficult than a larger salt tank because you have to keep up on water parameters more. Most everyone I have spoke to that has one says its quite simple. One of the biggest issues is keeping up on adding water from evaporation. Having a tight fitting canopy helps this a ton. Your salt levels can go nuts in such a small tank if you dont keep it topped off. You dont need a lot of equipment either. At least a pound per gallon of live rock is an efficient filter. You just need to get a pump or two for surface aggitation so you get good oxygen exchange. A true filter really isnt even needed. I have one pump with a pre filter to polish the water a bit. Check out this site http://www.nano-reef.com/ Lots of useful info there. I would go into more but I would just be repeating what can be read at this site. Good luck. You're gonna have a nano in no time after that read. Lol.

[Mezzovex]

I have a friend whos done sw tanks for years. he gave me the idea for a nano, then i stumbled apon nano-reef.com. that really sparked my interest.

Evap does happen quite often. None of my animals really care though about the salinity. I before i got a hydrometer, my salinity was 1.003. i fixed it asap and now i keep it at 1.0024

[xrayjeeper83]

how much salt did you put in your tank?

[Mezzovex]

well... I filled it, then i changed filters, then i added more water to fill the filter, while topping it off for evap... it was bad.

[solothedrunk]

is this something a SW virgin could do?

That Marineland is my SW virgin tank as well, and as the OP said if I can keep this alive I Can keep a big one alive easy. I don't have an extra pump in my marine land though; maybe I should use my extra Aquaclear 30 with hose and an airstone, comments?

[xrayjeeper83]

so just a normal size filter some live sand and rock and let it go for a while?