Saltwater Newbie wants to make a 5g hex nano...

[GeeWilakers]

Okay, so I am a college kid going stir crazy in my apartment because for the first time in my life I can't have pets *Shakes angry fist at apartment people* Well I can have pets they just have to be fish Soooooo...

I want to start a salt water nano aquarium. So far I have in my possession a marineland eclipse hex 5g and I would like to use it because it was a gift from my mother and it was free. Now I know I could have some nice freshwater fish with fake coral, but I have been down that road, and I want something new.

Now I am looking to get some coral and maybe a couple of fish.

I am completely new at this so I wanna know.

1. Can it be done with what I have.
2. What else I will definitly need.
3. What should I be doing first of all.
4. Next weeks latto numbers.

Any help will be greatly apprechateed...

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by GeeWilakers

Okay, so I am a college kid going stir crazy in my apartment because for the first time in my life I can't have pets *Shakes angry fist at apartment people* Well I can have pets they just have to be fish Soooooo...

I want to start a salt water nano aquarium. So far I have in my possession a marineland eclipse hex 5g and I would like to use it because it was a gift from my mother and it was free. Now I know I could have some nice freshwater fish with fake coral, but I have been down that road, and I want something new.

Now I am looking to get some coral and maybe a couple of fish.

I am completely new at this so I wanna know.

1. Can it be done with what I have.it can be done but I'd buy more light.
2. What else I will definitly need.Test kits,saltmaybe a heater,rock,RO/DI water,pump.
3. What should I be doing first of all.Setup water with salt and put rock in and let cycle.
4. Next weeks latto numbers.I can give you yesterdays for 50% off.

Any help will be greatly apprechateed...

Welcome to TRT! PS when I was in a apartment I had tanks and rabbits.

[jschulzpt]

First, don't go crazy...let the tank cycle like Lover said. I let mine cycle for 3 months but you can search for threads on the site that will say more or less time. I lost quite a few snails and hermits due to not letting my tank cycle (also not acclimating them). You will probably want to start looking at what fish and what corals you may want, figure out the tank size you will need, feeding requirements and what they are compatable with, lighting requirements for the corals that you may want. Are you going to be ecofriendly and purchase aquacultured vs. live caught corals and fish or do you want things directly from the ocean? I would say sit down figure it all out as far as what you want to and can stock in a 5G then put your plan into action.

Anyone have any thoughts on how many # of LR he will want in his tank?

[OneDummHikk]

For your first SW tank, a 5G is a horrible idea. The water quality is going to change so much and so often that its going to get extremely frustrating very quickly for you.

If you are just bent on using the 5G, I have one of those also. It was a FW in my daughters bedroom til she got tired of it. Change the light on it if you want corals. The stock light on it isn't going to work. You can use the little filter that came with it for filtration but you are going to have to clean it every other day if not every day.
Top offs are going to be extremely critical. Without doing them every morning and every night, the salinity is going to go crazy on you.
Fish, you could put one, maybe two in it, but its going to be a tight fit no matter what you put in it.
Live rock, enough rubble to get a decent "look" in the tank that you like.

Personally, I would recommend you keep FW fish in the 5G and look into one of the AIO (All in One) nano kits in the 24-30 gallon range. Your chances of success in a first tank will go up dramatically if you do.

HTH, Good luck and welcome to TRT.

[YLChik]

Originally Posted by GeeWilakers

Okay, so I am a college kid going stir crazy in my apartment because for the first time in my life I can't have pets *Shakes angry fist at apartment people* Well I can have pets they just have to be fish Soooooo...

I want to start a salt water nano aquarium. So far I have in my possession a marineland eclipse hex 5g and I would like to use it because it was a gift from my mother and it was free. Now I know I could have some nice freshwater fish with fake coral, but I have been down that road, and I want something new.

Now I am looking to get some coral and maybe a couple of fish.

I am completely new at this so I wanna know.

1. Can it be done with what I have.
2. What else I will definitly need.
3. What should I be doing first of all.
4. Next weeks latto numbers.

Any help will be greatly apprechateed...

Welcome to TRT!!!!

Ah I am very familiar with that tank - it was my first horribly failed sw tank

BUT you came to TRT FIRST, so you have a much better chance at success than I did!

Question 1. Um yes you CAN have a 5 gallon saltwater tank.
Question 2. What do you need
a. PATIENCE
b. MORE PATIENCE
c. research - I know your in college, really who wants to study, but with a small water volume you have less time to correct mistakes, so the more you know... well yeah you get the idea.

4. you will need - saltwater - you can make it yourself or see if you can purchase from your local fish store ( LFS). To make water you need, something to mix it in, a power head to mix it, a heater, and a refractometer to measure the specific gravity - you can use a hydrometer, but they are not as accurate.

5. you need live rock - can be bought on the internet, from local reefers with extra or your LFS

6. You need substrate - a fine sugar type sand is usually reccomended

7. heater

possibly an auto top off ( ATO) this would keep your salt content more level.

8. later on - clean up crew ( snails, hermits)
9. fish
10.coral


debatable.....
Others have mentioned a different light... with the shape of that tank that might be hard to do. Let's see what others have to offer.

If you can fit a compact flourecent light bulb in there you may be ablt to keep some low light corals - but remember you don't have that much room. search zooathinds, mushrooms, and leathers that's a good basic place to start.

There are plenty of very fun small invertabrates that you can keep- look into shrimp - I am a fan of the sexy shrimp which would be oh so cool in a 5 gallon tank.

fish - think blenny or clown gobie, or watchman gobie and pistol shrimp pair... 5 gallons is really not a lot of swimming room for a saltwater fish, esp since it is more of a taller than wide tank. Those are some of the fish I would look into and I would honostly only put 1 in.

question 3.
research research reasearch to make sure you really willing to do this. It's not so much that it is hard, as that it takes detication. THe more you add the more time it takes.
Fish only that would be least time intensive
fish and inverts ( shirmp, crabs, snails) a little more time
add coral to that and you are adding more time

the choice is yours and we will do our best to help you with what you decide!

Keep us posted!

[aviationnut12]

One thing that is frustrating to me is that every forum I've visited, everyone has said it's either not worth it to do a 5 gallon or it won't be successful. I am proud to say I have had a 5 gal hex for 4 months now and have not had ONE SINGLE loss! I change 10-15% of the water every week, and top off with freshwater every other day. I put a 10W coralife 50/50 mini-compact in the stock hood and it has dramatically improved the coraline growth. I am currently in the process of switching to a 10 gallon mini-reef, but as long as you are diligent it is most certainly possible contrary to what others may say. The tank is stocked with:
1-Royal Gramma
1-Pygmy Angelfish (female-3 inches)
1-Cleaner Shrimp
1-Zebra Legged Hermit Crab
1-Turbo Snail
1-Hawaiian Feather Duster
5 lbs of Live Rock
5 lbs Aragonite Crushed Coral
Equipment:
Stock filter with Chemi-Pure Elite and filter floss
50 watt Heater
Hydor Koralia Nano
I would say go for it, just know you WILL want to upgrade in the near future as there is so much cool stuff available that is way too big for a 5 gal.