5 gallon pico tank?

[rebelyeller89]

Toying with the idea of turning my 5 gallon hex into a pico reef. I've read that the natural filter process works pretty well if there is a small bio load. Any one have any luck with this, or know how much of a pain it would be to get a freshwater tank changed over to SW?

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

My pico is 5 gallons, I do weekly water changes for upkeep. There are a lot of people who have success with picos . The only thing about the hex is it will be kinda hard to clean, you'll manage I'm sure. It will be cheaper since you will only need a few pounds of liverock and sand. This is your first SW? You will have to ask lots of questions and read lots of threads just to make sure you do everything right, it is really easy to screw things up when you are new to saltwater lol I definitely have learned from many mistakes! You won't be able to keep any coral without upgrading your lighting, and I would strongly recommend getting a refractometer since the tank is small and it would be easy to mess up the salinity. Also a tank this size should only have a few really small gobys (1" max), clowns and such are not recommended since the tank is too small.

 

[rebelyeller89]

Right right. I have read a lot already, but it's easier for me to apply from a real persons experience than an article. I want corals so I know I'd need a better light (suggestions?) and I love shrimp so I might just do an invert tank. I've wanted a SW since I was a little girl and my parents had a FW tank from the 80's with all kinds of stuff in it. It will be a little while till I can do it, but I'm one of those people who like to research stuff forever before they do it.

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

Good, you are the perfect candidate to be starting a tank it sounds like haha. Check out the other pico builds on here for some good idea's.

Here are a few good ones.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f101/badfishs-reefer-madness-142655.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f101/7-5-mr-aqua-bowfront-build-144328.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f101/careys-pico-build-155556.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f101/starting-up-a-nano-150973.html

and mine
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f101/kelseys-new-pico-d-148319.html


An all invert pico would be really neat I think, I'm putting quite a few in mine So far the plan is two porcelain crabs, two pom pom crabs, 3 sexy shrimp, and 2 pedersons shrimp

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

Oh and light suggestions, I looked into building my own out of coralife mini powercompacts, 15 watts each but each bulb was about 30 from petland and then the time and cost of making the actual fixture wasn't worth it. I decided to get the par 38 LED bulb which fits into any normal light fixture, just screws in like a regular bulb. I really like it so far, my corals all look good and have shown growth. It was about $130, $88 for the bulb and then shipping, tax, and I also got the optics changed to 80 instead of 40 for $20 so the light bulb didn't shine like a spotlight.

Nanotuners.com

There are other sites that sell these too, and there is also a par 30 bulb which is slightly less intense.

 

[rebelyeller89]

Not to sound cheap or anything(just poor) but 130 bucks? Is there not a less expensive option?

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

Not to sound cheap or anything(just poor) but 130 bucks? Is there not a less expensive option?

mmm not really, there are cheaper lights but that would also mean you would not be able to keep all the corals. You could go with a little clip on light for cheaper and keep only mushrooms and zoas (like the one carey has on her tank). The biggest expense when keeping a reef is always the lighting. Maybe you should just start off with a smaller light like careys and keep mushroom and zoas and some inverts. There are some awesome colored zoas out there and you could always eventually upgrade.