need advice on a making a 6G nano reef, is it possible?

[gobidon]

Originally Posted by 110galreef

Get a 96w PC light over it and you can keep about anything. They are only 18" long!

and do these cost an arm and a leg? I have a limited budget. also, the filter is in the hood, you know, and I can't ditch the hood. I only really want shrooms,anyway.

[avalanche wolf]

Check out Hellolights.com for retro kits . They seem to have some killer prices.

I was going to get a PC retro for the 6g only ran 24 bucks. Still better than the incandacent one the eclipse 5g comes with

		18.5" 1x 96W CF Daylight Quad Retrofit Kit -Square Pin $119.95
		18.5" 1x 96W CF 50/50 Quad Retrofit Kit -Square Pin $99.95

[gobidon]

well, as you know, i'm going to get a 12G reef, not a 6G, (ahh, it was gonna be too hard anyway) I think I won't invest in any lighting yet, and just see what the light the kit comes with is like.

[Birdlips]

I have an Eclipse system 6 on my desk at work and it has been running great for about a year and a half. It contains about 5 lbs of live rock, a clownfish, a yellow clown goby, various crabs & snails, and some caulerpa. I added a mushroom about a month ago from my 20gal at home and it seams to be doing great under the stock tank flourescent light. So far I've only done two 1gal water changes over the past year and a half, and the nitrate levels are always very low.

[110galreef]

Originally Posted by Birdlips

. So far I've only done two 1gal water changes over the past year and a half, and the nitrate levels are always very low.

Are you dosing any supps??? As your chemicals have to be very low and or used up?? Now that you have some corals in there you may want to try to do some MORE frequent WC's

[Birdlips]

I add 2 drops per week of "Red Sea Reef Success calcium +3". The tank has been an experiment and all seems to be well so far. I would'nt add any more corals without upgrading the lighting but the mushroom seems happy so far.

[Drfumanchu]

2 fish in 6......insanity!

[8x10Elaine]

I have a little 3 gal eclipse with the original lighting and hood. I added a bubbler for air flow and circulation.It contains live rock, macro algae ( a refugium package),assorted feather duster worms, many tiny critters that I don't know what are, and a few micro stars.

I originally bought this tank to be a home for some little H . rubra shrimp but received the macro algae ball. It had a couple feather duster worms in it. I like them so I turned the tank into salt water rather than brackish and added a few more tiny feather dusters.. The bubbler cured my red slime problem and it is now slime free for a few weeks

The tank is stable and everything appears to be thriving. My question is is there any one fish or something else I could add to this tank for color? This is my first salt water tank and I know small is hard but it is what fits on my kitchen counter. I need easy to keep alive. I can just add more dusters but would like something different if possible although assorted duster wouldn't be all bad. I really like them.

[Birdlips]

Alot of people think the 6 gal shouldn't work the way I have it set up but if all the creatures are thriving & all the levels are acceptable (yes I use fresh test kits-not expired) why knock it. The tank surprised me from the beginning when it cycled in less than a week. The 4 LFS in my area all told me it will be impossible to set up a 20gal reef tank when I was buying supplies for my tank at home . They all said you can't run a saltwater tank with anything less than 30gal---but as noted on this site, plenty of people have 20gal or less reef tanks that are running fine. My 6 gal has been running with 2 fish for over a year and a half and so far so good.

[110galreef]

I have been running a 10G Softie & LPS reef for a few months now w/o issues.....I even just dump in ~20oz of tap water for my top off every few days.....
I wanted to see how easy I could do this w/o killing things. The only test I run is Salinity before and after WC's and that's it. No dosing anything. As long as everybody looks happy and is growing no need to worry!

I do do a little more regular WC than you as I have a lot of corals and LPS....

[Birdlips]

I'm also pushing my 20gal to the limit. It's been running for just about 2 years with a yellow watchman goby, purple firefish, royal gramma, a maroon clown, numerous snails & hermit crabs & a few corals. The clown & gramma didn't get along well for the first few weeks but they've grown to like each other. The firefish & watchman goby sleep up against each other in the same hole with my peppermint shrimp. I haven't lost a living thing yet in either of my tanks due to poor tank conditions. (my 1st clown jumped out through the open top & a flame angel got sucked into a powerhead early on). I'm running a CPR skimmer & hang on tank refugium & I do a 3 gal water change every 2 weeks with RO/DI water from a filter in my basement. Other than occasional small amounts of cyano in one corner where I have low flow, the tank is running great. This is the first aquarium message board I've posted on but I have done my research over the past 2 years I've been involved with the hobby. I really appreciate these boards because this is where most of my education comes from.

[110galreef]

That sounds like an ideal setup and tank maintenece!