5 Gallon tank build

nano1714

nano1714

Member
I am new to this website and i just started to set up a 5 gallon tank. Which over time will be made into a reef with corals, Inverts, and maybe one small fish. I have it set up with 5 pounds of live sand and 6 pounds of live rock. Other then that eveything is stocked with what the aquarium came with. I will eventually be upgrading filtration and lighting. I will post some pics in a little while
 
nano1714

nano1714

Member
I just took a water test. How do i know if my tank is cycled? My levels are. PH - 8.3 Ammonia - .25 Nitrite - .25 Nitrate - 0
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
WELCOME to the site
How long have you had the tank running? Have you been testing the water???
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
I just took a water test. How do i know if my tank is cycled? My levels are. PH - 8.3 Ammonia - .25 Nitrite - .25 Nitrate - 0
By those numbers it looks like you just set the tank up. The way I cycle is I put all the rock and sand in, the ammonia nitrite will go up then nitrate will fallow, then they come back down. Nitrate being the last to drop to undetectable on an API test kit. This is what I would call cycled. Others may feed food (ghost feed) during the cycle also.
 
nano1714

nano1714

Member
Yes I did just set up the tank. It's small and I want to do it right. And when should I be expecting this spike?
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
That is what I do, till I see the trend and get bored with it. If I was new I would log and test every day so that with experience you can read in to what is happening.
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Clean up crew are for cleaning up after fish or unwanted algae. So you don't have a fish yet, other chose is unwanted algae? Add clean up crew after the initial cycle is over. good luck, keep asking question.
 
nano1714

nano1714

Member
Haha yea I know a lot of questions, I'm just trying to figure out a base plan. So basically I should add a fish first. I'm going to need to keep it small what would you recommend?
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Nano fish, are any goby, orange line cardinals, firefish, harptail blenny.
Thought of one he's cool looking Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse.
 
nano1714

nano1714

Member
I just looked at the possum wrasse, I want one! But I feel like they are hard to come across. And are they reef safe?
 
nano1714

nano1714

Member
I have to get my hands on one of those wrasses. Also I'm looking into getting a marine land LED lighting fixture, what kind of corals would I be able to keep?
 
sagxman

sagxman

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nano1714 http:///t/391862/5-gallon-tank-build#post_3477413
I have to get my hands on one of those wrasses. Also I'm looking into getting a marine land LED lighting fixture, what kind of corals would I be able to keep?
If you're talking about the Marineland Reef Ready light unit, wait until you can pick up the new version with built in timers. I love the timer version, and I hate the old one. There's no way to separately control the blues and whites without switching manually. They got it right with the new electronics.
It isn't the brightest of LED units, but for my needs it looks really nice! You can keep any softies. I've been having good luck with LPS and zoas as well. I'm just starting to test with waters with SPS. I'm not convinced it's enough light but I want to give it a try.
 
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