Mini-Reefs

[moneyclip]

Has anyone tried setting up a mini-reef in a ten gallon tank? How hard is it to maintain suh a small quantity of water? I want some colorful soft corals and a few anemones a few snails, hermits and maybe a starfish and a clownfish

[Dovii]

at risk of being wrong, i don't think it can be done in such a small tank.

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those who know.

[junior]

I've seen it done but only by expert who have had reef tanks for years. Even with all that experience they still lose fish a lot more often. One thing they used as a trick is they added a sump to make it more stable.

[moneyclip]

well, tank is up and starting to cycle. I guess we'll see how it goes. I threw a few wild hermit crabs in there along with some sponge I collected at the beach. I also put in 2 star fish.

[Dovii]

good luck...

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those who know.

[moneyclip]

Just thought I'd update you all on this, the tank has almost completed cycling and ammonia and nitrites are are virtually nil. I added about 10lbs of live rock and that seems to have helped the cycle dramatically. This has actually been easier than I thought it would.
I am adding a 5 gallon refugium with another 6 lbs of live rock to help propogate copepods to feed the fish and increase my water capacity. Patience has definitely been a virtue with this thing. It all seems to go so slow.

[junior]

Keep us updated on how it does when you add the fish. I've been wanting to do this, but I've been told it can't be done (PLEASE PROVE THEM WRONG). I realize it will take work but I love cleaning and spending time on my tanks, so that wouldn't be a problem. Can you give me a step by step on how you set it up? I'm really curious on how you did it.

[Dovii]

i want to know what fish you were planning to keep in such a small tank? seahorses?

[stilllearnin]

I thought the "general rule" for salt water was 1" of fish per 10 gallons of water?

even with your 5 gallon refugium won't your actual water volume be under or just about 10 gallons?


I had thought it was impossiable to do but I found a few sites that listed small saltwater tanks down to 4 gallons [url=http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msub10s5to25/]small salt tanks - maybe helpful info?[/url]
It'll be interesting how it goes once you add fish.


Good Luck

[junior]

So it is possible if you do it right? Those people said they didn't do much maintence to them, I was told you have to spend around 1 hour a day on them to keep them in good health.

[TablFish]

i am attemting the same thing in a 10 gl
my lfs has been guiding me in the process
they have a beutiful 10 gl reef that inspired me.

the main thing they have suggested to me is to use lots of filtration and add slowly!

They recomended to add fish after the invertebrates were installed and the tank had cycled once more. (they produce much more amonia)

Also they said to only add one fish or invertebrate after each water change. There is a fine line between enough and too much and one more fish could cause a detremental reaction in such a small tank.

Good luck

[junior]

I think there is a BIG misconception that saltwater can't be done in small aquariums. I have kept fish in everything, even down to as small 1.5g tank. It's all about planning, most ppl go into saltwater with the same idea as freshwater. When bio loads must be much smaller in saltwater.


Good Luck
JR

[Mastermind]

I am currently running a mini reef in a 2.5 gallon, and one in a 20 gallon.... just make sure you have about 2 1/2 watts of lighting per gallon, and about 20gph per gallon of water for flow. Use livesand, liverock, and a Specific Gravity of around 1.025 if you're going to introduce corals. Cycle the tank with the sand and rock, should take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to finish your cycle with this. Oh, you want to have 1-1.5 lbs per gallon of sand, and the same with the rock. If you have any more questions... just let me know

[TablFish]

i have been running a 10gl reef for about 8 months. It is definitly a misconception that it cant be done. I don't even have a sump! I am using an emperor 400 that i used to have on my 55gl Freshwater. I am positive that the secret is to use more than ample filtration, add very slowly, use live rock and sand, and no more than one or two small fish sould be used, also live plant sid with filtration with little room required.

[little buddy]

I just started a 10 nano tank about 2 weeks ago and I love it. It can be done but you have to spend some time everyday taking care of it.
As far as what you can put in it this is what I have in my tank.
live sand
7 hermets
2 snails
2 true perc.clownfish
1 cleaner shrimp
1 sand sifting seastar
about 4-5 pieces of coral
Let me know how it turns out Good Luck