2.5 Gal Nano Thread

[Frankie_Garcia]

I'm decided to take the plunge into starting a small nano reef. I currently have a 29gal softie reef tank. Just wanted another challenge.

My current stock list:
2.5 gal tank with glass lid
Caribbean substrate sand
HOB filter (will house chaeto and chemipure elite)
50W heater (too big?)

Anything additional add on and info is welcome. Pictures soon!

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Here are some beginning photos.

No water yet

 

[All_fish]

Nice. How much rock is that?

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Here's one with water and filter going!
I put a very mature small piece of LR. Now to just wait for a cycle.

And there is about 2lbs

 

[All_fish]

What do you plan to put in it?

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Just soft corals, mushrooms and zoas

 

[dingusplease]

Looks good! I like your blue background, looks very clean with everything else in front of it. Any thoughts on inverts yet?

 

[dingusplease]

Btw, what are you planning on as far as flow? Depending on the HOB filter, sounds like you might not even need a ph

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Haha I may out a yellow tang or emperor angel! I kid I kid, maybe a couple hermits, and snails.

And I would have to test it out first with some corals to check my flow. It seemed alright today.

 

[tanker99]

Hey Frankie what's the dementions of that tank? How wide is it and the height if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Hey Frankie what's the dementions of that tank? How wide is it and the height if you don't mind me asking?

I wanted to say the dimension are 12x6x8. Not really sure it's by marine land

 

[tanker99]

Cool. I'm following along!

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Thank you!

Anyone have advice for a light I could put on the tank!?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

A par30 bulb from coral compulsion would work great

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

A par30 bulb from coral compulsion would work great

I haven't done much research on the bulbs, dimmable? What kind of lighting fixture?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

I think there dimable but you would have to buy a dimmer, but I doubt you'd need one. They will work with any standard light socket

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

I think there dimable but you would have to buy a dimmer, but I doubt you'd need one. They will work with any standard light socket

Thanks BigRed, I appreciate the help. When it comes to the smaller tanks I not very knowledgable about them.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Your welcome, and looking at your other tank I doubt you'll have any problems. The one big thing is top offs, salinity can swing fast in picos. I've also had good success with frequent small wc's, I change out a solo cups worth of water about 3-4 days a week and it helps keep everything nice and stable.

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

So I had a unfortunate event today, my son was playing with a ball in the house, and accidents knocked a lamp over that landed on my nano tank. Had a few cracks and was not salvageable with silicone.

Luckily my LFS has one for sale for $15. If I bought live sand, and used mature life rock, and current water from my main 29gal tank. Would there be a cycle?

 

[dingusplease]

So I had a unfortunate event today, my son was playing with a ball in the house, and accidents knocked a lamp over that landed on my nano tank. Had a few cracks and was not salvageable with silicone.

Luckily my LFS has one for sale for $15. If I bought live sand, and used mature life rock, and current water from my main 29gal tank. Would there be a cycle?

Very sorry to hear that! Assuming you mean your actual tank was the only thing that broke, why would you need to buy new LR and sand?

Btw, not sure if there would be any more build up of nitrifying bacteria if you used mature sand, rock, and water. I'd be interested to know the result of testing the built up biofilter just from adding mature components (just adding ammo and testing again in 24hrs.)