5.5 gallon nano "reef" tank

hypancistrus

hypancistrus

Member
Here are some decent pics of my 5.5 gallon nano "reef" tank.
Details:
Established: January '08
Chemistry: Ammo 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates >5, salinity 1.025
Circulation: AquaClear50 (100 gph) filter- no media except a bag of phosguard
Filtration: ~10 pounds of liverock
Lighting: 36 watts PC lighting (current fixture) w/ moonlight
Inhabitants: 3 hermit crabs of varying species, 1 small sally lightfoot crab... considered adding a shrimp for more daytime action, but am worried the crab would kill it... and 2 snails
This tank will never have fish in it.
Corals (by date added): red zoa, green bullseye zoas, red mushroom, purple tonga reef mushroom, pulsing xenia, hammer coral, yellow polyps, frogspawn coral, daisy polyps
Pics:




 
hypancistrus

hypancistrus

Member
Anyone have thoughts on shrimp and crabs in the same system? Especially one so small? I am pretty sure it will be a bad idea... if not all the time, then definitely when the shrimp is in the process of molting. My sally is very small, but I think she could take down even a larger shrimp if it was soft.
 
K

kat74

Guest
Your tank is looking great! And I absolutely love your daisy polyps! I'm going to get some too!

Wish I could help you out about the crab and shrimp question, but unfortunately, I don't know much about a sally lightfoot's behavior to know whether or not it would be okay with shrimp. But if you want a shrimp that you would actually see and that would be up front a lot, go for the cleaner/skunk shrimp.
Fire shrimp, though beautiful, a lot of people say that they hardly ever see theirs.
Mine is different though... he makes sure that you can always see him!
 
vmartino

vmartino

Member
nice looking tank. you are the first person from maryland i've seen post on here, and i know exactly where you got that frogspawn, and purple mushroom :)
 
bronco300

bronco300

Active Member
Originally Posted by Hypancistrus
http:///forum/post/2529362
Anyone have thoughts on shrimp and crabs in the same system? Especially one so small? I am pretty sure it will be a bad idea... if not all the time, then definitely when the shrimp is in the process of molting. My sally is very small, but I think she could take down even a larger shrimp if it was soft.
i'm not 100% sure...BUT all the stories i hear of sallys are horror stories...ugly and terrors...i'd personally get rid of it.
 
vmartino

vmartino

Member
sallys have a tendency to start out very peaceful but at a certain size or age they will turn agressive and start eating corals and other inverts
 
hypancistrus

hypancistrus

Member
Originally Posted by Bronco300
http:///forum/post/2529645
i'm not 100% sure...BUT all the stories i hear of sallys are horror stories...ugly and terrors...i'd personally get rid of it.
I love my Sally, and would never get rid of her. If it came down to it I'd dedicate a tank just for her. But I also don't want to add anything else that she would hurt. So far she has been quite nice.
The LFS I shop at [come on, VMartino, put your money where your mouth is... which one is it?!??! ;) ] has sally's that are quite large in with their corals. I was actually shocked when I saw how big some of them are. Right now she is MAYBE 1.5" in length from leg tip to leg tip on either side. Some of the ones at that store look every bit of 4-4.5"... in Maryland that's about the size where we start thinking about putting them in a pot with a can of beer and some Old Bay....

I just ordered a 50 gallon (36" x 18" x 19") for a proper reef that will be going in my living room. I am hoping to get it going this summer, but I teach HS, so if I don't manage to find a summer job that pays well this year it will have to keep until the fall. Keep your fingers crossed... I hate looking at empty tanks.... ;)
 
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