chrisnif
Member
Okay, I couldn't wait to get started, so I moved my fish around and free'd up a 5 gallon tank to start as my first foray into the nano world. The 5 gallon was one of those kits they sell with the incandescent light, but I've had a screw in power compact aquarium light for a while and when I get a chance I'll get one of the 50/50 screw in bulbs they sell.
On the bottom I have some playsand rubble rock mix they sell at my landscaping supply store for people who want sand but want it to stay but a bit better, its mostly quartz and slate pieces no larger than half a dime, so that should be okay with the fish. There must be some buffering capability in the sand as well because it pushed my water up to 7.8 w/o salt. Now I've got 8.4 w/ salt and 1.023 SG.
There isnt enough water movement yet, as I've only got an 80 gph HOB filter but I'm going to be supplementing that and probably building a small HOB refugium instead, but I promised my wife I would take it slow
I grabbed 2 pounds of "tonga finger rock" with VERY heavy coraline growth (lots of purple and reds) and a 1 pound bigger rock they told me was dead but it has what I'm hoping is a colony or tiny dusters (i see the worm tubes, they haven't come out yet). So far on the rocks I've found lots of tiny snails that look like turbos or "whale eye" shells all about the size of a thumb tack or smaller, and there is what i think may be a feather duster on one rock, but there is no tube, the head just comes right out of the rock, just hoping its not aiptasia, but i doubt it, the arms are frilly like a filter feeder. There was also a tiny blue leg hermit crab. One baddie i got (saw him once, and he is tiny and very fast) I think its a bristle warm, looks like a centipede kinda red and cream color about 1/2 inch long.
Well I know you're dying for pics and when I get a chance tomorrow I'll do just that.
For this tank I'm not sure on the fish stock list, so any suggestions would be good. I was hoping to get a yellowtail blue damsel in there, and a neon goby or a clown goby, let me know what you think, I know the size is very limiting.
I'm also 3 months from getting a 38 gallon glass tank which im going to do a mini (not quite nano i guess at that size) reef, so if its reef safe and gets too big for the 5 gal, I could put it there in a few months.
On the bottom I have some playsand rubble rock mix they sell at my landscaping supply store for people who want sand but want it to stay but a bit better, its mostly quartz and slate pieces no larger than half a dime, so that should be okay with the fish. There must be some buffering capability in the sand as well because it pushed my water up to 7.8 w/o salt. Now I've got 8.4 w/ salt and 1.023 SG.
There isnt enough water movement yet, as I've only got an 80 gph HOB filter but I'm going to be supplementing that and probably building a small HOB refugium instead, but I promised my wife I would take it slow
I grabbed 2 pounds of "tonga finger rock" with VERY heavy coraline growth (lots of purple and reds) and a 1 pound bigger rock they told me was dead but it has what I'm hoping is a colony or tiny dusters (i see the worm tubes, they haven't come out yet). So far on the rocks I've found lots of tiny snails that look like turbos or "whale eye" shells all about the size of a thumb tack or smaller, and there is what i think may be a feather duster on one rock, but there is no tube, the head just comes right out of the rock, just hoping its not aiptasia, but i doubt it, the arms are frilly like a filter feeder. There was also a tiny blue leg hermit crab. One baddie i got (saw him once, and he is tiny and very fast) I think its a bristle warm, looks like a centipede kinda red and cream color about 1/2 inch long.
Well I know you're dying for pics and when I get a chance tomorrow I'll do just that.
For this tank I'm not sure on the fish stock list, so any suggestions would be good. I was hoping to get a yellowtail blue damsel in there, and a neon goby or a clown goby, let me know what you think, I know the size is very limiting.
I'm also 3 months from getting a 38 gallon glass tank which im going to do a mini (not quite nano i guess at that size) reef, so if its reef safe and gets too big for the 5 gal, I could put it there in a few months.
