Dedicated non-photosynthetic tank? - Page 4

I say make the 10 gallon tank the non-photo tank, and buy a 30 gallon used tank for a few bucks. I think that with a 2 gallon, you would VERY quickly run out of room and be bored with it...........i think you know that a reefer cannot survive witha 2 gallon tank, its a tease.

I agree. I was going to mention a setup like that for CK and forgot. 10 gallons would be more stable, too, when the pumps are off for feeding.

sounds like you could doa 10 gallon DT, with a 30 gal sump/refugium without even buying a tank. would be nice not having to spend all the money on lights too! could you just set the 4 gallon on top of the 30 gallon and make the 4 gallon the sump, that way you could dedicate the 30 gallon completely to the refugium? the 4 gallon could be drilled and just have some tubes running the water from the overflow in the 4 gallon to the fuge.......might not work, but in my head it does!!!

you might could set up a 2 gallon for a HUGE brine shrimp hatchery, might help cut down on costs of food, and would cost NOTHING to set up. Im not sure how long the shrimp would stay small enough for the coral to eat though(someone chime in). just a small air pump (with the garage of tanks you have im sure you already have one lying around, i had 2 when i looked) and some food for the baby brines, which cost around 2 bucks.

did one of your parents have tanks, or have you just had alot of tanks?? to have that much extra stuff at 15 is nuts!!! (not in a bad way trust me, im jealous)

someone needs to chime in, but i would go ahead and set up the 10DT with the 30 gal fuge.

so are you ever going to set anything up or just talk about it forever?

haha, by just talking about it and never actually doing it you keep the vision of the tank AMAZING!!! and you never lose any money

Any updates?

I had a 2.5 gallon for > a year and the only reason I broke it down was rampant GROWTH. At 8 wpg, all my softies multipled like crazy. I had buttons, hairy shrooms, xenia, duncans, a 4-headed hammer, and a small colt coral. Everything at least doubled but the softies were like weeds.

Just do consistent water changes and daily topoffs. Make sure the tank has a lid. Try not to keep anything that requires solid food (I broke that rule - my Duncans love raw shrimp). Do not overfeed phyto!!!! It's NEVER a good idea to overfeed anything but once u dose phyto u cant take it back!! Keep a HOB fuge and keep a small a.c. pouch and phosguard pouch. Keep their light cycle at 8 on 16 off with an LED moon light.

I assure you it is not as difficult as some people try to make it sound. Since you had a previous crash I think you need to go back to basics. Start REALLY slow. Your best bet would be to use already cycled water from a stable system and then keep LR only plus one hermit for at least 6 weeks. I know it sounds arbitrary to set that kind of time but remember...beneficial bacteria need to be in full force in order to handle a bioload in such a small tank. If you give it 6 weeks with already cycled water and then SLOWLY add corals I think you will be fine. CLEAN TESTED RO, CLEAN HANDS, COMMON SENSE!!!

good luck!

WOW
To me it seems you just want a small tank for a small display...Setting up a 30 gal as a sump for a 2 1/2...thats crazy...then just use the 30 gal.
Or better yet just use the 10gal you said u have. I presently have a 5gal goin in my kithen for 4 monts it looks great.
Just go for it and dont over think it.
Keep us up!

Did you ever make this tank?

sun corals don't need light

I have a 3 gal pico tank, I keep things very very simple. I run a tiny hob filter deco type on my tank, heater, moon light, 9" coralife 9 watt 10,000k and 9 watt true actinic fixture. No sumps or powerheads.

I have a sand bed, Florida Ricordeas, Sun Coral, Green Star Polyps, Button Polyps tiny feather duster, Cleaner Shrimp, 2 snails, 1 hermit crab, 1 pom pom crab (cool critter) and this week will add a tiny Yellow Clown Goby.

This tank is over 1 year running, things are from my 10 gal that I started out with 5 years ago and downsized to this 3 gal to keep few things I really liked.

I do weekly water changes 8 cups of water comes out of this tank each week with new water in its place. I do daily top ups. I do feedings for the suncoral 3 times a week and careful to not over feed, any extra the shrimp has a hay day with.

Love this little tank but they do need attention. My best advice is to keep it simple with regular water changes.

Depending on what corals you pick it's very doable in a nano, large mouth corals sun corals, dendros, etc would be the easiest, anything filter feeder like chili corals or gorgs would be more of a problem for cleaning but may make feeding easier being able to load the tank with food.

I just moved my non photo lps out of my Aquapod and put them in a low light 5.5 gallon to make feeding less messy and so they would look their best. Right now there's a rhizo, dendro and balano in there and I plan to add some sun coral down the line if I can find a small piece. I change out about half the tank weekly to keep water quality high and because it's really easy, it's also barebottom.