5.5 gallon nano

[daftboy]

Thinking of starting a 5 gallon for my desk... I would do a 2.5 but I think it will require to many water changes for me to do everyday. I think I want to keep Zoa's in there and maybe 1 or 2 small fish... what do you think I should get for start up..I was thinking a small heater under the sand and I think aqua clear makes a filter for over the back that has a 3 stage filter/mech/carbon/bio. What do you think ? BTW you can make any sand live sand right? as long has it cycles and gorws on it correct?

 

[dingus890]

I say go for it.

I recommend Marineland Stealth Pro heaters. They make a nice 10w nano heater. Fantastic heaters. I wouldn't put it in the sand tho.
As for fish/inverts you could have a clown goby or another tiny fish. Peppermint shrimp or sexy shrimp are really cool little shrimps for nanos.
Yes any sand or gravel can be made into live sand. By adding live rock or adding a small ammount of live sand from an established tank, you will have a fully live sand bed in no time.
Hope this helps and post pictures in the future of your tank when completed

 

[daftboy]

Will do...I have some live rock that ill transfer from my 28G but i want different sand so I was just making sure. =].. I guess I will have to let it have a mini cycle to get the sand going. any idea of how long that would take ?

 

[kpclown]

Check out Elfabulous's thread over at nano-reef(dot)com. He has a JBJ picotope 3 gallon reef going and it is by far the best pico aquarium I have seen! He tried keeping clown gobies but didn't have much success with them so he now houses a Yellowtail Blue damsel. I would suggest buying an Aquaclear 70 filter and modding it into a refugium. He has an excellent guide in his thread describing how to do it. By far this is the best filtration for a small aquarium as it allows for alot more water volume and a natural reliable source of filtration. With the factory lighting on the JBJ you can keep Zoas, Ricordias and mushrooms. I tried to do this type of setup but found it too much maintenance and very hard to keep the tank stable. Elfab does a good job and his tank looks amazing. Goodluckt ^

 

[daftboy]

3 gallon pico... tah dah!..need help on aqua scaping... i think i just have to much in there... what you think?

 

[fenrir]

I like the look of it but I think the rock is taking up to much water volume, especially if you want to have a fish.

 

[kpclown]

I would try to keep the aquascaping very simple and pick out one or two of your best rocks. With such a small amount of water volume one rock can take up alot of room. Small pico style aquariums also look much better with a simple but elegant aquascape. The black sand is a nice touch, I think your corals are really going to "pop". Any ideas what your going to put in there as far as a stocking list?