Help me get started please :)

Ominae

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 22, 2012
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I have a fluval spec v that I want to convert to saltwater. I know I'm really limited in what I'll be able to put in it, but I think it'd be a cool coral tank or something.

Any advice on upgrades, stock, and how to even get started would be great! Thanks! This will be my first salt water tank, so I have no idea how to approach this..

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sharkfinsean

Feeder Fish
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Dec 14, 2012
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For a tank as small as you want to do, you probably want to stick to softies and LPS (I don't know much about SPS but I do know that you will have to upgrade your lights if you want to keep SPS). I forget how much sand you need to start a tank but I have a 29 gallon nano and I have 25 lbs of sand in it and I have about a one inch sand bed. I ordered 25 lbs of rock but I have like 15-17 lbs of it actually in the tank. So for a small tank like the spec, I would suggest 5-10 lbs of live or dry sand and 5-10 lbs of live or dry rock ( you may want to cross reference this with someone else just in case)
Also, you can start with live or dry rock and sand, I started mine with live rock and sand, it took a month to cycle but if you want to do this quickly, you can use nitrifiying bacteria, I suggest one and only, its production has a very good background and many major aquariums use it to start their exhibits. I'm not sure what the spec comes with for filtration, so if you can tell me this that would be great. As for stocking, you are on the right track wanting to go exclusively with corals, personally, I think its kinda small for fish but if you do decide to go with fish, go with a small goby. As for corals, I suggest zoas, palys, discosoma mushrooms( other mushrooms I have no experience with but mushrooms are generally easy to keep), xenia, leather corals for the softies ( I'm sure that I have left our quite a few). LPS generally need more flow and are more aggressive than softies, but euphyllias, bubble coral and acans are always great choices with lps. Acans do fine in pretty much anything so they would probably be the best choice for a pico. I use instant ocean reef crystals which have elements and compounds that are beneficial to coral health and growth, I suggest you use a salt mix for reef conditions. Also, a shrimp might be a cool idea to put in your tank, don't buy the peppermint shrimp there are some species of peppermint shrimp that eat corals but wait for your tank to be more established, I have had some troubles with shrimp before with that. Good luck
~Sean

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Ominae

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 22, 2012
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Thank you for the reply! I know literally nothing about saltwater, so I'm unsure what LPS and sps are. But the fluval spec v has a built-in filter that outputs "53 gph with adjustable flow control and output nozzle"

I was thinking of mostly coral with a shrimp and maybe a small fish.

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sharkfinsean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2012
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I am happy to help! So, first things first I can't go any farther with out saying that the tank you have picked out is very small and can be kinda hard to keep, the salinity can be hard to maintain. But I don't want to discourage you, its a great place to start and maybe one day you will be maintaining a bigger tank. But anyways here is how I see the different types of coral,LPS stands for Large Polyped Stony, LPS is one of the 3 main types of corals. The name gives a decent description of the coral but I like to describe them as the fleshy corals with a calcified base because not all LPS corals have long polyps/tentacles such as Euphyllia (Frogspawn/ Torch/ hammer) and are more fleshy and don't have their tentacles extended at all times like other LPS, Examples of these include Acanthastrea, Cynarina, brain coral, blastomussa and chalice coral. SPS coral stands for short polyped stony, SPS is in my opinion, the hardest coral to keep because most SPS requires near perfect water conditions and high lighting but in case you are interested in the types of SPS here are some species of SPS: Acropora, Seriatapora, Hydnaphora, montipora, pavona and stylophora. Also, these types of corals have a calcified skeleton, just look these up on the internet most types of SPS are very stunning but most corals are very stunning. And last but not least, probably the easiest type of coral to care for soft corals, this type of coral does not have a skeleton, this includes all of your zoas, palys, mushrooms, xenia, GSP, and kenya trees. For you, I suggest you stay away from the SPS as you don't have the kind of lighting to maintain the health of SPS. I think you should start out with discosoma mushrooms as these are the hardiest of corals and almost impossible to kill, these come in many vibrant colors. Also, if you are to even try to keep a fish in a 5 gallon aquarium, I suggest that you preform weekly water changes of 1-2 gallons of water. For your tank I think that a clown goby would be perfect as they don't get above an inch, another good suggestion for the stocking is maybe a fire fish but you will need to keep a lid on your tank as these fish are prone to jumping. Personally I wouldn't keep a fish in that size of tank but this is your tank and therefore your choice. The best corals for you to get would be discosoma, zoas/palys, maybe Acanthastra, sinulara(soft coral), and a type of leather coral. Remember not to go crazy when stocking your tank, you have a small tank and should respect the fact that you don't have all that much room. Speaking of which when buying corals, always buy frags, they are cheaper than whole colonies and will grow out in time. You can even find out when the next local frag swap is in your area and the swaps usually have a great selection of corals from other reef keepers at a lower price than what a lfs you sell you. As for shrimp, I suggest a skunk cleaner shrimp or a fire shrimp as these are both very beautiful and are generally easy to take care of and reef safe. Never buy peppermint shrimp as they can be labeled reef safe but aren't (I have had trouble with this before). When buying from the lfs, don't let the person whom comes to help you talk you into something you don't want or can't take care of (they have tried to do this before). As for your filtration, that should be good enough to take care of a couple pieces of coral and a shrimp... Maybe a fish but you know how I feel about fish in a tank that size but again it is your decision. Something I forgot to mention was that soft corals and lps generally don't need that high of lighting, which is why I have recommended them to you. Also, I need to correct myself from my previous message, for a 5 gallon tank, you would need 5-7.5 lbs of rock. Every tank needs a clean up crew, so you should be getting some snails and hermit crabs and if you choose to I wanted a star when I started and I ended up losing a $50 anemone to one of his meals. Please forgive me for jumping around so much.
If you have any more questions, please ask, I enjoy helping out with tank builds!
~Sean
 

Ominae

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 22, 2012
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LA
Wow very useful information. Thank you very much. I chose to do a Nana tank bc I used to have a betta in there, but now I want to go a different direction.

This may seem like a stupid or completely noob question, but should I mix my own salt water? Or buy it from the Lfs? Cuz I see that they do sell it at the stores.

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sharkfinsean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2012
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I always mix my own in a 5 gallon Lowes bucket with a spare water pump to circulate so I don't have to stir it. Personally I haven't seen it in stores but if I were you and the premade stuff is cheaper than buying a couple gallons and mixing it yourself, give it a try... As long as it has the essential chemicals that corals like to keep them healthy. Also where have you seen it? There are a couple places I suggest not to trust with anything.
Any other questions I would live to answer.
~Sean

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Otherone

Feeder Fish
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Feb 2, 2009
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With a 5 gal tank don't worry about using dry rock your only looking' at $25-30 bucks for live rock - if you can't afford that don't do SW. When you buy the rock - cure it! This will remove hitchhikers, unwanted bacteria, + flora.

As for premixed water - I would not touch it. Everything in SW needs to be in motion other wise elementals including salt fall from suspension and you have no control or knowledge of what's really in that water.

I'd stick to small species of corals - get to know what's what. Most if not all stony corals get to large for 3-4 gals of water. 5 lbs of rock will displace 1-2 gal. Corals are animals - they do very much attack each other, some like polyps, with the deadliest neurotoxin on the planet.
 
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