So, this is my first time making a tank thread and i decided that it would be cool to do it for a first time with a new project. My budget is killing me right now so this wont be one of those success story tanks.. but hopefully it will still turn out nice.
The first thing was the tank size, i wanted to go really small and i have seen many threads with small picos doing half gallon tanks and such.. and when i seen the size of them i was kind of turned off because i just felt that they weren't going to house too many coral so i decided to go a lil bigger .. i then seen the 2 gallon which i thought would be pretty neat but i still wasn't happy because the glass on this tank seemed very brittle and i was just afraid that i was goin to shatter it. So one day i went to my LFS and i saw a small tank that i was attracted to it was rated at 3.64 gallons .. i loved the size and i thought that was still in the really small range so i went for it .
As Far as other equipment goes My first though was the lighting .. This topic is always a non conclusive thing and i was debating if i was goin go use .. Pc's , Led's or even a small halide. I figured in the winter the halide would be ok since it would warm the tank up enough that i wouldnt need a heater but in the summer even with a fan i think it would still be a pain in the arse. Led's are too complicated for me and the pre-made fixtures can get costly .. so i went with the pc's. Probably the underdog of all lighting.. the colors are great and the bulbs can get pretty bright.
With all the research that i've done on lighting most people will argue that u need like 3-5 watts per gallon if u want to keep nice coral, which may be true to an extent, but i feel that the reality isnt so black and white. So with the idea of using pcs i had two choices ... either building a canopy and install 2x 20 watt bulbs or go with an 18 watt fixture. From approx where my sandbed will start to the point of where the light will sit on my tank is 9 inches, i would assume that even if i went with the fixture it would be pretty bright .. and looking at the watt/gal rule i would say im geting sufficiant lighting approx between 5-6 watts. So it seems that this issue was settled if im not satisfied with this i can always make a canopy in the future.
The next thing was filtration .. on my 55 gallon reef all i use is a hob skimmer ... not sump, no reactors and my tank is doing pretty good and this is also with 3 tangs a wrasse blenny and pipefish .. the tangs can get messy. Wit this tank there will be no messy eaters.. i'm considering a shrimp(s) either cleaner , fire, or sexies . Fish are unlikey but a goby is a possibility. with that said there will be much less bioload which weekly water changes would take care of .. I was also given a small hob filter that had carbon media and sponge free .. so i said why not.
So this is what i got so far :
3.64 Gal Pico
18 Watt pc 50/50
Small Hob filter
5 lbs Caribsea aragonite
and apprx 6 pounds of Fiji LR
Oceanic Salt
things i didnt get yet that i want to get:
Electronic thermometer
(maybe) Small powerhead , since i get water movement from filter.
L.E.D Moonlights
My Goal for this tank is COLOR, i'm planning on adding ricordias, some lps, zoos.
The first thing was the tank size, i wanted to go really small and i have seen many threads with small picos doing half gallon tanks and such.. and when i seen the size of them i was kind of turned off because i just felt that they weren't going to house too many coral so i decided to go a lil bigger .. i then seen the 2 gallon which i thought would be pretty neat but i still wasn't happy because the glass on this tank seemed very brittle and i was just afraid that i was goin to shatter it. So one day i went to my LFS and i saw a small tank that i was attracted to it was rated at 3.64 gallons .. i loved the size and i thought that was still in the really small range so i went for it .
As Far as other equipment goes My first though was the lighting .. This topic is always a non conclusive thing and i was debating if i was goin go use .. Pc's , Led's or even a small halide. I figured in the winter the halide would be ok since it would warm the tank up enough that i wouldnt need a heater but in the summer even with a fan i think it would still be a pain in the arse. Led's are too complicated for me and the pre-made fixtures can get costly .. so i went with the pc's. Probably the underdog of all lighting.. the colors are great and the bulbs can get pretty bright.
With all the research that i've done on lighting most people will argue that u need like 3-5 watts per gallon if u want to keep nice coral, which may be true to an extent, but i feel that the reality isnt so black and white. So with the idea of using pcs i had two choices ... either building a canopy and install 2x 20 watt bulbs or go with an 18 watt fixture. From approx where my sandbed will start to the point of where the light will sit on my tank is 9 inches, i would assume that even if i went with the fixture it would be pretty bright .. and looking at the watt/gal rule i would say im geting sufficiant lighting approx between 5-6 watts. So it seems that this issue was settled if im not satisfied with this i can always make a canopy in the future.
The next thing was filtration .. on my 55 gallon reef all i use is a hob skimmer ... not sump, no reactors and my tank is doing pretty good and this is also with 3 tangs a wrasse blenny and pipefish .. the tangs can get messy. Wit this tank there will be no messy eaters.. i'm considering a shrimp(s) either cleaner , fire, or sexies . Fish are unlikey but a goby is a possibility. with that said there will be much less bioload which weekly water changes would take care of .. I was also given a small hob filter that had carbon media and sponge free .. so i said why not.
So this is what i got so far :
3.64 Gal Pico
18 Watt pc 50/50
Small Hob filter
5 lbs Caribsea aragonite
and apprx 6 pounds of Fiji LR
Oceanic Salt
things i didnt get yet that i want to get:
Electronic thermometer
(maybe) Small powerhead , since i get water movement from filter.
L.E.D Moonlights
My Goal for this tank is COLOR, i'm planning on adding ricordias, some lps, zoos.
