| General Reef Discussion In this forum we discuss issues related to keeping marine and reef aquariums in a friendly flame-free environment. |
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11-12-2001, 12:18 AM
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#1
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Reef Dork
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 287
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4 gallon reef set up..suggestions?
I was browsing through the lfs today when i stumpled upon at the counter a small 4 gallon tank that had bee set up as a mini reef tank. I guess tank is the wrong word for 4 gallons, "box" would probally be more appropriate. I got to talking to the manager about the small setup and got suckered into buying one. It was nice and had a good deal of aesthetic appeal, the one in the store had some live rock and polyps in it and a tomato clown who looked like he was trapped like a prisoner. Now I doubht that I will add any fish, I just think its too small, but does anyone have any suggestions for low light requiring soft corals or other neat things that could mke it in such a small enviromnment? I beleive the lights were 18 watts, the live rock and polyps looked decent to good in the show tank. It has a mini powerhead and the heat from the pump maintains the water temp at 82 so no heater is required. So any ideas for things to keep on this little desktop mini tank?...er box? 
Cheers
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11-12-2001, 07:17 AM
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#2
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Nothing to See Here
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Montana
Posts: 5,815
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Hi Shack!! Our LFS had one of those small mini-reef(5 gallon). They had shrooms, polyps and a little clown goby in the system. It looked pretty cool. Johnny  |
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11-12-2001, 07:40 AM
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#3
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: TN, USA
Posts: 8,829
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Hey Shack,
Is it one of the Eclipse systems? They are really neat little self contained units but they have to be modified for lighting to keep any serious corals. That raises heat issues, of course, but certainly shrooms, some polyps; Tubastrea; non-photo corals, etc., can be kept with care as to water quality. The "little" fish, like Neon Gobies or even a Damsel, make good choices, as are a variety of inverts. A Sabellastarte sp. featherduster looks good in there, too.
Charles Delbeek wrote this article about fish for Nano's:
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/li...=&RecordNo=267
Brooke's old site has some good links to Nano Reefkeeping:
http://people.mn.mediaone.net/bearthman/reef.html
Also, see these Nano sites:
http://www.nano-reef.com/
http://home1.gte.net/rhe1/nanoreef/frindex.htm
I've been sorely tempted to get one of these myself, but seems like there's always something else needed/wanted for the big tanks! 
Dick
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Every day is a good day!!
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11-12-2001, 10:31 AM
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#4
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Reef Dork
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 287
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Thanks FishDaddy for the links they were great!! They gave me alot of info! Im picking up the tank today before work, I had to leave it over night so the guy could rewire better lights for me. So hopefully Ill have something to play with when I get home tonite! Its going to look good on my desktop!
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11-12-2001, 11:14 AM
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#5
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: TN, USA
Posts: 8,829
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Hey Shack,
You're quite welcome!
Have fun with the Toy Tank!
Dick
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Every day is a good day!!
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11-12-2001, 03:14 PM
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#6
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: northwest indiana
Posts: 403
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hey dick
is it to late to get rid of my 125 and get a 4 gallon instead?...
might save me some money
hehehehhehe
brad
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11-12-2001, 03:31 PM
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#7
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: TN, USA
Posts: 8,829
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Hey Brad,
That's a great idea!! In fact, I'll save you some real money by bringing you a brand-new 4 gallon and even haul off your old 125 for free!
Dick
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Every day is a good day!!
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11-12-2001, 03:41 PM
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#8
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: northwest indiana
Posts: 403
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dick
a few weeks ago you could have had my 125 cheap!...when my wife found out how much all this was gonna cost!...she was ready to sell it all on ebay!...it is gonna cost more than i thought but i hope it will all be worth it...
i've always loved the idea of sitting in my living room in winter with snow outside in the midwest and looking over at my own little slice of the ocean...with fish collected from around the world...
(of course for now all i got is "the worlds largest humidifier," as my wife calls it...my canopys not on yet!)
brad
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11-12-2001, 03:54 PM
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#9
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TRT Staff The Mominator
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Just South Of Seattle
Posts: 10,493
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Hey Shack;
I'm sure those articles touched somewhere on ambient room temperature and the effect it has on very small tanks but just in case....
I have a small tank at work (but at 17 gallons, still much bigger than yours  ) and temperature has been a problem because the tank is close to the heating and cooling vent. (I also had a heater stick on and wipe out most of my tank but that's another story of woe  ) I recently bought a controller into which you can plug the heater and it will shut the heater down if the temp rises past a certain point. There are also controllers that will turn off your lights if the water temp gets past a certain point. They work with a probe so you wouldn't have a bunch of stuff cluttering up the tank.
Just something to consider!
~Alice
__________________
 "A BRW Original"
Only Dead Fish Go With The Flow... 
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11-12-2001, 11:05 PM
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#10
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Reef Dork
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 287
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Well since its only for my desktop and only 4 gallons I might have to experiment a little, but if it crashes once or twice it wont be as horrible as if my 125 crashed. I picked up the tank before work and I just got home so Ill set it up tommorow and try to notice extreme temp fluctuation over te next couple days. If its ok the ill throw in some rock and stat my cycle, if not ill look into some chap modifier. Thanks for the input |
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