My 5 gallon 1.5 feet tank

[Zoa guy]

How's your water quality? Nitrates n phophates? How many sps corals do you want to keep? For sps, try to get nitrates level under 10mg/l and mantain Ca,mg.... levels. If your water is clean, you can try to add sps corals slowly. if there isn't enough light, be prepared to invest in a better lighting system. Nice tank by the way.

[Slimymadness]

For such a small tank, be careful on water parameters. Elements get use up pretty quickly in small set ups. I am using same size that act as frag tank, 2x24w t5 can bring temp up to 29.5c. Don't think this temp is gd for sps. And I notice that u don't have wavemaker, sps and many other corals need good flow around them.

Ps understocking does nt mean gd water quality, it could be that your tank have not finished cycling thus livestocks kept dying. Inverts do nt tolerate copper. Do a water check cos I am keeping sexies and they are really really hardy fellas

[Zoa guy]

i agree, elements get used up quite fast...just put in a little more effort...manual dosing...

for water movement,i think it is sufficient...if not enough just add a tiny powerhead...for all stonies, try to mantain the temp under 28c. you can try using a cooling fan but the evaporation rate will be high, you can try using an iceprobe...but it will cost.

[samuel88]

For such a small tank, be careful on water parameters. Elements get use up pretty quickly in small set ups. I am using same size that act as frag tank, 2x24w t5 can bring temp up to 29.5c. Don't think this temp is gd for sps. And I notice that u don't have wavemaker, sps and many other corals need good flow around them.

Ps understocking does nt mean gd water quality, it could be that your tank have not finished cycling thus livestocks kept dying. Inverts do nt tolerate copper. Do a water check cos I am keeping sexies and they are really really hardy fellas

my ammonia, and nitrite were at 0 during the second or third week, so i'm pretty sure it was cycled already, i'm sure that my water quality is good cause i do weekly water changes and my nitrates are at 2.5 ppm. and the 2 sexies are the only live stocks that died, i think 'kept dying' is a bit too strong a statement, haha. its more likely predation than water quality, cause i have a pistol shrimp in the tank and 2 hitchhiker crabs that have grown quite large but i think the pistol shrimp is more likely, but well, i'll never know for sure now.

[samuel88]

How's your water quality? Nitrates n phophates? How many sps corals do you want to keep? For sps, try to get nitrates level under 10mg/l and mantain Ca,mg.... levels. If your water is clean, you can try to add sps corals slowly. if there isn't enough light, be prepared to invest in a better lighting system. Nice tank by the way.

my nitrates are 2.5 ppm, phosphates not sure, but if nuisance algae is an indication it shouldn't be too bad since i don't notice any nuisance algae. I'm a bit hesitant about adding SPS corals to this tank now after listening to all the advice, and the last time i tried adding a birdnest coral the sexy shrimps stripped half of it white and i had to move it to another tank. haha, think i'll wait awhile more before adding SPS, haven't thought about how many of them i want to keep, i'll just add them one at a time and see how well i can maintain the calcium and trace element levels.

[Zoa guy]

haha lol, your tank is cleaner than mine...thats for sure..just add when you're confident and have deep pockets. Sps corals require some additional work on your part like dosing unless u are willing to invest in a dosing pump...i think your light may be sufficient but in case it isnt enuf, u may want to upgrade to par38, lumenaqua max 200...also if u're water movement isnt enuf, u can just add those cheap n tiny powerhead...something along the line of tunze mini universal pump, dymax 200

[Firestarter]

Keep up with the updates, really interesting to see how the tank is going.

Beware of the hitchhiker crabs, I suspect they are the ones who killed your sexies, not the pistol. Cheers.

[samuel88]

Update 8 week 11

Hi guys, sorry to be MIA for 3 weeks, didn't update cause never add in any new livestocks. but yesterday, i changed my 300 l/h Hob filter to a 400 l/h Hob filter with a built in oil surface skimmer, I also removed the airstone skimmer because it hasn't been skimming anything out at all. and i moved a rock that was in the way of the HOB filter. as you can see from the picture the frogspawn isn't open yet cause i just turned on the light to take a picture.

today i shall share with you more about my filtration system. its basically just one yellow sponge, as a mechanical filter with as much 'lava rocks' as possible as a biological filter.

the sponge is there for the simple reason that i don't want my lava rocks to have too much detritus on them. its also a biological filter since i rinse it out with old saltwater, and not tap water.

the lava rocks were kinda thought out, i may be wrong about this though. lava rock is a very porous kind of rock. which i think is similar to live rock, and the reason why people don't like bio balls is because they produce nitrate too fast and there's no room for anaerobic bacteria (which live rock is supposed to be able to cultivate) to convert the nitrates into nitrogen gas. so instead of using bio balls, i use lava rocks because hopefully they are porous enough to have anaerobic bacteria grow on them.

every week i change 5% of the water, and i top up freshwater once in between water changes. i've had bad experience doing it daily.

but its all just my own assumptions i may be wrong. but nitrates have been low at a 2.5ppm. but it could also be due to my not over feeding and weekly water change.

i bought this bigger filter in preparation for buying new live stocks, think i'll be visiting ML very soon.

Thank you for reading!

[stevenchia]

Update 8 week 11

Hi guys, sorry to be MIA for 3 weeks, didn't update cause never add in any new livestocks. but yesterday, i changed my 300 l/h Hob filter to a 400 l/h Hob filter with a built in oil surface skimmer, I also removed the airstone skimmer because it hasn't been skimming anything out at all. and i moved a rock that was in the way of the HOB filter. as you can see from the picture the frogspawn isn't open yet cause i just turned on the light to take a picture.

today i shall share with you more about my filtration system. its basically just one yellow sponge, as a mechanical filter with as much 'lava rocks' as possible as a biological filter.

the sponge is there for the simple reason that i don't want my lava rocks to have too much detritus on them. its also a biological filter since i rinse it out with old saltwater, and not tap water.

the lava rocks were kinda thought out, i may be wrong about this though. lava rock is a very porous kind of rock. which i think is similar to live rock, and the reason why people don't like bio balls is because they produce nitrate too fast and there's no room for anaerobic bacteria (which live rock is supposed to be able to cultivate) to convert the nitrates into nitrogen gas. so instead of using bio balls, i use lava rocks because hopefully they are porous enough to have anaerobic bacteria grow on them.

every week i change 5% of the water, and i top up freshwater once in between water changes. i've had bad experience doing it daily.

but its all just my own assumptions i may be wrong. but nitrates have been low at a 2.5ppm. but it could also be due to my not over feeding and weekly water change.

i bought this bigger filter in preparation for buying new live stocks, think i'll be visiting ML very soon.

Thank you for reading!

Hi, think ur zip for the bag will invite corrosion, once paint comes off. Might release metals to ur aquarium if corroded.

[stevenchia]

Unless its a plastic zip head, then should be safe. I think most of the bag are aluminium coated.

[tunicate]

There may be more anaerobic bacteria deep in your LR than the bag of lava rocks where O2 is more abundant.

[samuel88]

There may be more anaerobic bacteria deep in your LR than the bag of lava rocks where O2 is more abundant.

true true, well, its worth a shot. since i had to choose a biological filter

[samuel88]

Hi, think ur zip for the bag will invite corrosion, once paint comes off. Might release metals to ur aquarium if corroded.

thanks for the advice, think i'll look for another bag to hold the rocks.

[tunicate]

Somehow I feel that you may still need a protein skimmer once your bio load starts to increase. It's easier to get the setup right at the moment before putting in LS.

[Zoa guy]

u may want to use biohome or other similar products...biohome works quite well for me. Yeah, a lousy skimmer is better than no skimmer. Any new addition of ls?

[samuel88]

u may want to use biohome or other similar products...biohome works quite well for me. Yeah, a lousy skimmer is better than no skimmer. Any new addition of ls?

I just added 3 new mini zoa colonies. and i'm selling off my sexy shrimp cause they've been nipping on my zoas, getting kinda annoyed by them nipping at almost any coral i put in. so i'm getting rid of them once and for all.

in their place, i'm going to get more pom pom crabs and a glass anemone shrimp, or clapping shrimp, the kind that ML usually has.

i haven't thought about biohome before, that's a great idea, i'll look into that.

i guess i'll be on the look out for a nano protein skimmer. my airstone skimmer really wasn't of much use. sit there for a month but i think only got out 1ml of skimmate.

[Zoa guy]

i find that fishes are the ones that shit the most...so u may not need a skimmer if u dont have any fish but again that really depends...regular testing will tell. Hope to see my pics

cheers

[tunicate]

I came across a big HOB(actually should be called SOB sit-on-back)filter that may be of interest to you. It looks DIY, but done up quite nicely. Looks like a modified plastic trash can. The extra large filter compartment allows for mangrove , chaeto, & possibly a nano skimmer. Below is the link.

http://cidlyled.en.alibaba.com/product/366754529-210448331/120W_Reef_Led_aquarium_panel_with_2_switches.html

[Zoa guy]

Looks like a modified plastic trash can

HAHA lol. Depending on your bioload. i've been keeping afew fishes in my 2feet with a similar hof n used biohome only but i upgraded. U can consider regular water changes if u're diligent enough.. water changes on such a scale is easy to do..doesnt take up much time either

[samuel88]

I came across a big HOB(actually should be called SOB sit-on-back)filter that may be of interest to you. It looks DIY, but done up quite nicely. Looks like a modified plastic trash can. The extra large filter compartment allows for mangrove , chaeto, & possibly a nano skimmer. Below is the link.

http://cidlyled.en.a...2_switches.html

wow the tank looks really nice. hopefully one day mine will be like that some day. sadly i don't have the space to make that kind of filter.

[samuel88]

i've bought a few Zoas last Saturday,

at first the zoas seemed to open up until the sexy shrimp started eating them, i know that because i saw the shrimp pinching the zoa and yanking his claw back and forth before plucking out something.

sure enough when the zoa opened after i chased the shrimp away, bits of the zoa's skirt were missing, i sold the shrimp off the next day.

but now my zoas are only open a little bit, hopefully they recover by this sunday and i can post some pics of them.

[tunicate]

wow the tank looks really nice. hopefully one day mine will be like that some day. sadly i don't have the space to make that kind of filter.

What's the distance from the back of your tank to wall where your HOB filter is sitting?

[Zoa guy]

hope to see some pics of your interesting tank comming up. Happy reefing

[samuel88]

Today i went to ML and i bought a clapping shrimp, and a striped pipe fish.

sadly, my clapping shrimp seemed to be in a daze, or dying when i put it into the tank, and the hitchhiker crab wasted no time in grabbing its body and pulling it into its cave. but i don't think the crab wud have caught it if it weren't dying. cause prior to being caught it seemed to be upside down.

i introduced the fish and shrimp with drip acclimation for 45 to 60 minutes. does anyone have any idea why this happened?

can't be copper cause i used to have shrimp in this tank, and i got tons of copepods and a pom pom crab.

feel too sad to take a picture. maybe next time.

[Zoa guy]

how was it in the shop? Possibly stress from transport