High Tide Aquatics

6 Gal nano softie & LPS reef, should I do it?

HiFidelity

HiFidelity

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Soooo my Betta passed away :(
I'm blaming it on my reef tank (it's really negligence on my part) since it takes up all my free time and attention. The Betta was living in an acrylic 6 Gal Eclipse tank with a bunch of plants, a dwarf frog & some snails.

So now the responsible thing I feel I should do is to donate all my freshwater livestock to my father in law for his 10 gal planted tank I set up for him.

But what do I do with the empty acrylic 6 gal tank? of course I only need an excuse to start another reef project :D and my excuse is softy corals, my reef tank seems to be quickly becoming SPS dominated and I have made all necessary adjustments to promote SPS growth and consequently by lowering nutrient levels to near immeasurable numbers all the softies have pretty much stopped growing, which is fine because it's quite convenient to have a small bunch of GSP, Xenya & Kenyas that don't grow. Problem is my mushrooms, Z's & P's I love these guys and the frags are simply just staying as frags.
Enter the 6 gal nano ;) considering this puppy will maintain a slightly higher nutrient load do you think I can get optimal growth from softies in this kind of setup? I'm thinking some LR, a sandbed, Koralia nano, HOB filter (or two if I need macroalgae for filtration) and some awesome LED lighting, oh & no fish if it helps keep water quality perfect, or maybe one very unique fish/shrimp/something!!

So do you think healthy growth can be achieved in something that small?
 
Hmm: Water stability, chemical warfare between softies, and so on.
Might be a "fun challenge" or might just be a "challenge".
That and softies can get BIG fast.

I think it would be fun done as a miniature "bonzai" type setup.
Meaning, mostly small very colorful zoas, each on a little pillar of rock or something,
and a couple of little critters.
 
I wasn't going to worry about conflict, in the worst case scenario if something isn't happy in the nano I can easily move it to the bigger tank where there is plenty of space, and the Zoas are in fact the main motivation for me since I really wanted a zoa garden but can't have one in the main tank now. It would be fun to make some crazy aquascape, I have a bunch of branching dry rocks in a box somewhere...
 
I swear, all of my nano tanks were a pain in the ass to take care of. I hope you have much better luck than I did.
 
I just found a fluval 304 Canister filter, this puppy might take care of filtration and circulation (260gph) and it will be cleaned thoroughly and frequently, for media I'm going to use foam blocks, LR & Carbon.

I'm going to see how well that works, I figure it allows me a massive surface area of filtration and a ton of flow, also the compartment design allows for use of any media imaginable I could even throw a bag of Chemi-Pure in there. The other benefit is having the back of the tank completely free and open that way if I need to I can even add an Aqua Clear DIY fuge in the back and fill it w/ macroalgae.

I don't know why I'm so excited about this, watch it all crash and burn in the first 3 months haha, I'm just kidding as mentioned earlier there is a very easy contingency plan so I'm sure no corals will be harmed in this experiment.

My other idea recently is to use this tank to train peppermint shrimp to eat Aaiptasia (did he just say he's going to deliberately infect the tank w/ Aiptasia) since things have gotten out of hand with the main DT, last peppermint shrimp I threw in there disappeared, the Aiptasia probably ate him :confused:. In the confines and controlled environment of my 10 Gal QT I was able to successfully train a few pepp's to ambush aiptasia so in this little 5 gal it'll be just as easy. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I'm ditching the idea of the 6 Gal Eclipse and going with a standard rectangular tank 16x8x9 that I'm going to run open top, this way I won't spend time messing with modding the Eclipse hood and instead just clamp a light to the back of this 5 Gal.

Updates will come soon, I'm waiting to get a retrofit can for my old 304 since I don't trust the first version can it came in and found a great deal on a full retro kit with pump housing and updated design clamps.
 
HiFidelity said:
I just found a fluval 304 Canister filter, this puppy might take care of filtration and circulation (260gph) and it will be cleaned thoroughly and frequently, for media I'm going to use foam blocks, LR & Carbon.

Updates will come soon, I'm waiting to get a retrofit can for my old 304 since I don't trust the first version can it came in and found a great deal on a full retro kit with pump housing and updated design clamps.
Click to expand...

I have some Fluval parts if you want them. All are NIB.

Hagen Fluval Aquastop For Fluval 104-404, 105-405 Series, Ribbed Hosing
Fluval Ceramic Shaft Assembly, for Impellers w/Straight Fan Blades Only, 304, 305, 404, 405
Fluval 3/404-3/405 gasket
Fluval Impeller Cover, for Impellers w/Curved Fan Blades Only, (Original 304, 404 Series)
Fluval FX5 Ribbed Hosing
 
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