The Puffer Forum

I have a very pretty 7.5 gallon bowfront tank, I would like to try salt in it. I have been doing some research and I know small tanks are harder to keep than larger ones and as always there are way more options for bigger tanks. But to hell with common sense I'm gonna do it anyway.

Now I'll tell you what I would love to have and then you can bring me back to reality.

I would love to have some cool corals maybe one fish and a hermit crab and a shrimp.

The tank sits on my kitchen counter so it needs some flash. If it makes more sense to try a FOWLER so be it.

Any lifestock suggestions or equipment suggestions would be appreciated.

BiffMalawi wrote:I have a very pretty 7.5 gallon bowfront tank, I would like to try salt in it. I have been doing some research and I know small tanks are harder to keep than larger ones and as always there are way more options for bigger tanks. But to hell with common sense I'm gonna do it anyway.

Now I'll tell you what I would love to have and then you can bring me back to reality.

I would love to have some cool corals maybe one fish and a hermit crab and a shrimp.

The tank sits on my kitchen counter so it needs some flash. If it makes more sense to try a FOWLER so be it.

Any lifestock suggestions or equipment suggestions would be appreciated.

Read this thread a guy ran a tank smaller than yours in a JAR, with corals and stuff. Might give you a few ideas: http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/show ... p?t=377911 - Jump to page 15

However youll be limited on what fish you can keep in a 7.5 Gallon

OK here we go.
August 24/2011

Cleaned up the tank. &.5 gallon bow front (had it forever no idea how much it cost)
Painted the back Marine Blue. (Had a jar hanging around)
Mixed some unknown brand of salt in a 5 gallon bucket let sit with powerhead 2 days(salt $15CDN for 50 gallons)
Added 10 pounds Carib Sera Ocean Direct Live Sand $29CDN
Added water.++
Submersible heater
Small power head



September 3, 2011
Added 18lbs Live rock ($50CDN)
Added new light
http://www.bigalspets.com/Coralife-Mini ... Rank=price



Water test
PH 7.8
Ammonia 1.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.o
Phosphate 0
Salt (hydrometer) 1.023

Bought a refractometer from Ebay $26CDN shipping included still need to calibrate



I have to admit all of the stuff coming out of the rock is very cool got a couple of tiny starfish and brittle stars. The bristle worms freak me out though. Where was that 5" one while I was handling the rock eeeew!!!

skimmer will be awhile

September 14, 2011


OK I come clean. The reason I haven't updated much is that I been bad.

I couldn't wait and went ahead and added stuff.

About I took out some rock and rearranged things



Then I added 4 tiny (less than 1/2") Blue Legged Hermit Crabs

1 Peppermint Shrimp (to eat the apistatia)


1 Sebae Clownfish (1")


Then yesterday (yes there's more) I added

1 Yellowtail Blue Damsel (1/2")


1 Xenia (2")


You can see one of the hermits off to the left.

So there the update. That's all I promise.

Phew, that's feels better.

September 21, 2011

so far so good water is still ok salt stable. I have been doing small 15% water changes every couple of days. I have a pretty tight lid so very little evap. The Xenia seems to have stopped wandering and opens up wide under the light, closes up at night.

September 28, 2011

Added a skimmer yesterday

http://www.marinedepot.com/Red_Sea_Priz ... VS-vi.html

This seemed like the only choice really. No room for an in the tank skimmer and the other externals were huge this one is nice and small. Not sure it works though,.

Tests are still coming back good no Ammonia or nitrate and minimal nitrate. No phosphate
I am concerned about my PH. It is 7.8 at the highest and I think dropping a bit at night as expected.

Today

Water is great no ammonia, nitrites, phosphates, or significant nitrates.

I removed some live rock and rescaped.



Fish still sebae clown and yellow tailed blue damsel. feeding and behaving well. 1 Peppermint shrimp 4 blue legged hermits.

Inverts.

Xenia


Button Polyps


Yellow star polyps?


Bubble coral


2 Feather dusters


Flower coral/polyps?


Zoanthids


I fragged the yellow star polyps from a bunch of Zoas and then arranged the 3 Zoas around the tank.

Ph at 8.0 and calcium at 360

I am gradually raising these. I have a ten gallon tank that I mix my salt in. I run a powerhead and a empty aquaclear and a heater. The SG is at .025 the calcium is at 440 and the Ph is at 8.3. I do 1 gallon water change twice a week.

I am not sure about the inverts with a question mark.

As always questions comments are welcome and if you can give me better IDs for anything let me know.

It looks neat, but I hope you will remove the fish. It's unethical to keep 2 very active fish, one that reaches 6" even, in such a small tank. They should be in at least 30 gallons.

BIFF where have you been? Did you have to sign up for a new account or something?

Sevenyearnight the fish will be going. I was weak.They are both teeny right now and I am pretty hooked so the big tank may not be far away. I would love to have something that swims in there. Any suggestions?

JP Thanks for noticing. No technical difficulties just life intervening. I check the forum regularly but I am down to 3 pretty simple tanks and no puffs so not alot to say. This such an awesome place so I don't want to lose touch completely.

Maybe one of the smallest gobies, but even then, that tank really is only appropriate temporarily, they seem to like having a lot of room. It's a fine invert nano though.