# 5g. Nano



## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

Here it goes again lets try this one more time
5 gallons 
lights are 2x13watt PC 50/50 10k
Hob nano filter
Fiji live rock
Fiji live sand 
macroalgae
and thats about it for now i used to have some softies and zoas but this tank bombed a few months back and i let it purge and then tore it down and reset it up yesterday, gonna let it do a minicycle before adding anything else right now.


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## Guest (Jun 2, 2011)

Good luck







I hope it all works out for you this time around


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

Thank you ksls I hope so too I got a friend that is fragging some acropora for me but are my lights good enough to support sps. I have 26watts over this tank at 10k a Guy at the reef store told me I could grow acro with this setup


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

You CANNOT keep acros under that light. It is not nearly enough plus you would have to do very frequent water changes to keep the tank clean enough for them since there is no skimmer. Softies are about the only thing you can keep, possiblyacouple easier lps but you will not be able to keep any sps. If you want any chance at sps you should get a par30 or par38 led bulb then you will at least have the light power but with no skimmer you will have to do regular water changes.

The guy at the reef store either didn't know anything or wanted to sell you some acros. Unless you get MH, led or HO t5 (ideally 4 plus bulbs) I wouldn't even try sps. A 5g also isn't very stable to be trying to keep sps if you have little sw experience.


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

Id agree with cluster one. Get some experiance now and get ur macro algae/zoas stable for a while before keeping anything but softies. Even if u had better lighting cluster hit it right by saying the tank will be hard to keep stable let alone have proper flow. Enjoy sw and go slow.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Go slow x 1,000,000

Going faster then you should often leads to failure, frustration and wasted money. Get some experince with softies then eventually upgrade your setup to an sps capable one.

If you recently had a softies tank crash then you are no where near ready for sps. Walk before you run. Learn to get softies to thrive, try some easier lps, upgrade to a setup capable of sps then try to keep some sps. Don't jump from a failed softies tank to sps with inadequet experience and equipment or you will be doomed from the start.


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

Also, a important note for all beginners, and something I tell people who are dipping their feet in the water for first time, try to always populate ur tank with propagated frags or aqua-cultured. Not only is it the more responsible thing to do if you do have a crash, u also will have the added benefit of having hardier corals to begin with! Seriously go slow and enjoy the view man. We all start out slow and build experience and knowledge along the way. I know I can speak for myself and think cluster one agrees, we are not trying to diss u, or put u down. Optimism is awesome and when u have success, u also appreciate the tank more and not focus on the death and crash and negative. So please don't take our criticism as forum haters we are trying to help.


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

by crash i mean i didnt have the time to do DAILY water changes and started to get some necrosis on some buttons when i would be gone on weekends and decided to give all my coral to my buddy and just let the tank sit with no light or current since then, only one coral died but i knew i didnt have time, but now a days im always home so i wanted to give it a go again, 5g is really too small and makes inconsistent habits like mine brutal.

how long should i wait before putting in snails and other cleaners maybe a crab?? there is some sort of nudibranch hitch hiker from one of the new pieces ill try to get a picture of it. how long should i wait before adding some softies??

i reset it up literally 3 days ago and i cleaned all the live rock off in salt water before redoing the tank, but it still has some algae and coraline growth so i figured it would only need to go through a mini cycle?? right now parameters are

pH 8.0
SG 1.022
calcium 400ppm
alkalinity 2.2
temp 79
carbonate hardness 9


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## Spilo26 (Apr 27, 2005)

Sps in a tank that size would probably require an ATO and a chiller as well. Small tanks are extremely hard to maintain salinity let alone water parameters. Have you ever had a larger sps dominant tank before? Personally; I think a well thought out soft coral tank is prettier than an all sps tank, but thats just my opinion. Anyway like your macros







. What do you usually keep your salinity at?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

JustJoshinYa said:


> I know I can speak for myself and think cluster one agrees, we are not trying to diss u, or put u down.


I do agree. I have been into sw for a few years and so far I have only done softies and some lps. Mainly bacause my equipment is not capable of sps at this time but my next tank will have some sps since now I can keep softies fine.

Some of the best nano reefs are softies reefs. You have vitutally and endless amount of choices with all the zoas, mushrooms, leathers, clove polyps...


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

Thank you guys for the info I will hold off on getting anything until I reach some stability. Oh and the hitch hikers are two stomatella snails


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