Nano Plan

[jeepjon]

I was planning on converting my 3 gallon eclipse into a little reef...I wanted to ask a few questions...will the water chemistry be stable enough for some xenia, green star polyps, and mushroom anemones in that tank? I would like to have those few corals in there. Also, would just a powerhead be ok for filtration? I would do water changes weekly or twice a week...or should I add a small HOB filter or even put my Red Sea Prizm Skimmer on there? Also...would a 13 watt PC light be enough? what about the standard flourescent that came with the tank? I am a college student on a budget that my 15 gallon depletes a lot already, so I want to make this cheap...any suggestions? I was told to get the ballast for the 13 watt from Home Depot and the light from mail order...hopefully it will be cheap! Thanks guys. Any other suggestions or comments would be great. As far as organisms...I was hoping to have those three softies I mentioned before and a mantis shrimp in there.

[SaltBlock]

I can't tell you anything about their effectiveness (I've only had them a month), but these 13 watt 50/50 have a real nice color and there cheap. I have two over a 5 gallon. I used the ballasts from a "Booklight" from Menards and modified them for the stock 5 gal eclipse hood.

http://www.hellolights.com/13w5010dayac.html

good luck,

AEB

[ckreef]

Yea 13 watt 50/50 should work over that for shrooms, and what not.

If you have decent LR then a power head would be all that was needed for circulation with the LR doing the filtering. A skimmer would be way overkill on a 3 gal tank.

If you wanted (but not needed) you could put a HOB on it instead of a powerhead. That would allow you an area to put carbon in on a temporary or permanent basis. (I prefer "Purigen" -- a synthetic carbon)

There are a lot of people doing a reef in a 2.5 gallon Minibow tank with a 10 watt PC over top of it.

My 4 year old son for example ---- his crab "Godzilla" just recently went to the great reef in the sky --- tears of sorrow --- he was getting old so it was sort of expected. Anyway we have the tank back home from his classroom at school and are going to put a few frags in it along with a shrimp or something.

Just watch out about over feeding cause it's a small tank that can go bad quick and keep on top of those 1/2 gallon (or less) water changes.

[jeepjon]

Thanks for the intel! I just don't want to spend much on this tank...but I am dying to set up a new tank...and I am now especially intrigued with a mantis...and the thought of a small octopus species has crossed my mind. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me! I'll tell you, this site has been such a great resource! Thanks for all the great help!