3 gallon stocking.

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nstanley

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Dec 8, 2008
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Im going to be setting up a 3 gallon eclipse saltwater nano tank.

I've read that I should replace the bulbs. What should i replace them with? can anyone shoot me a link?

Also. How many lbs. of live rock and live sand should i be using?

I plan on stocking it with a pair of shrimp.

and, in what order should i be doing things? I assume somthing like this?

1. Fill tank, set salinity to 1.021?
2. Add live sand in 3 days?
3. Add Live rock in 3 more days?
4. Add shrimp 2 weeks after everything else is in there?

I also wanted to add in some polyps or mushrooms or somthing like that. When should these be added and what would do well in the set-up
 
as for the steps i see nothing wrong with that. as for polyps, they would be fine but mushrooms im not sure about. i think you should have a feather duster (carribean variant) they look cool and in a 3 gallon could be the centerpiece. or you could do the hawaiian variant and have the feathers take up most of the tank (that would look cool with some polyps surrounding it!)
 
4 to 6 pounds of live rock should be sufficient. The amount of live sand is up to you. I generally like to keep a 2 inch sand bed. It's also find to add the sand and the rock the same day.
 
How long should I wait to add shrimp and coral? 2 weeks?

I have some saltwater biozyme stuff that establishes tanks immediately or whatever, should I use that or no?

and would a 5 gallon hexagon work for saltwater too?
 
nstanley;2550079; said:
How long should I wait to add shrimp and coral? 2 weeks?
Yes

I have some saltwater biozyme stuff that establishes tanks immediately or whatever, should I use that or no?
No, just let it set itself up naturally

and would a 5 gallon hexagon work for saltwater too?
Yes
Click to expand...

Red = answers
 
I'm not sure if the Eclipse series are really well-suited to be reef tanks in the long run. I don't think it's possible to get reef-caliber lighting inside an Eclipse hood, and from everything I've read the Eclipse's biowheel would end up being a nitrate-producing detriment in a saltwater tank.

One popular 3-gallon pico reef choice that you might want to look into is the JBJ Picotope: (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3730+18534+15493&pcatid=15493) which is better suited for saltwater/reef applications. The lamp it comes with is a compact fluorescent 50/50 daylight/actinic which is generally considered a better choice for photosynthetic corals than the full spectrum bulb in the Eclipse, and as it isn't part of a hood you could easily upgrade to a more powerful 12" compact fluoresecent or T5 fixture.

The filter in the JBJ is also a hang-on-back (HOB) model instead of hood-integrated like the Eclipse, so it would also be easier to upgrade in time should you feel the need. The AquaClear 70 HOB filter is a popular upgrade for the Picotope, and can be modified into something of a makeshift refugium without too much hassle. The AquaClear filter also has the benefit of being much larger than the stock Picotope filter and thereby adds a not-insigificant amount of water volume to the system, which can serve to increase stability. In a 3g pico, any extra stability is your friend, hehe.
 
subtraho;2552869; said:
I'm not sure if the Eclipse series are really well-suited to be reef tanks in the long run. I don't think it's possible to get reef-caliber lighting inside an Eclipse hood, and from everything I've read the Eclipse's biowheel would end up being a nitrate-producing detriment in a saltwater tank.

One popular 3-gallon pico reef choice that you might want to look into is the JBJ Picotope: (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3730+18534+15493&pcatid=15493) which is better suited for saltwater/reef applications. The lamp it comes with is a compact fluorescent 50/50 daylight/actinic which is generally considered a better choice for photosynthetic corals than the full spectrum bulb in the Eclipse, and as it isn't part of a hood you could easily upgrade to a more powerful 12" compact fluoresecent or T5 fixture.

The filter in the JBJ is also a hang-on-back (HOB) model instead of hood-integrated like the Eclipse, so it would also be easier to upgrade in time should you feel the need. The AquaClear 70 HOB filter is a popular upgrade for the Picotope, and can be modified into something of a makeshift refugium without too much hassle. The AquaClear filter also has the benefit of being much larger than the stock Picotope filter and thereby adds a not-insigificant amount of water volume to the system, which can serve to increase stability. In a 3g pico, any extra stability is your friend, hehe.
Click to expand...
All in all I agree. The only thing I disagree on is the lighting. Where there is a will there is a way, I have seen some insane mods on those hoods to make them reef compatable. Also, don't know about the 3's but the eclipse 12s now have 50/50 lighting if you get the salt setup. Sure you could hack it with the 3 gallon, but I agree with subtraho that it would be easier in the jbj, which all in all is the better system then the eclipse even in the 12s too, as you can at least replace the filter on the 3 or the pump on the larger one. Heck you could even get a 5.5 gallon and throw a cheap coralife light and AC filter on there, and that would better suit your needs. Are you set on a pico in terms of size?
 
The longer you wait to add shrimp and corals the better you want some nice algae growth before your system can sustain your inverts... A month or 2 of a tank with just live rock would be great. Zoanthids (most colorful compact corals) and yellow polyps would be your best bet for a tank this small. You could go crazy with color as they tend to get along with other species of the same genus. Mushrooms could eventually expand too much to be in a permanent 3 gallon display causing problems with other corals. But the smaller the coral species the greater impact your tank will have, you'll have more of an advantage with aquascaping it. You can create more depth with smaller livestock and small pieces of live rock. I would do daily water changes and keep a close eye on the salinity/calcium... you dont want to create a snowstorm with such a limited amount of water. As for lighting, a small power compact fixture is the way to go on a tank this small, run a daylight and an actinic combo.
The only fish I'd remotely consider for an aquarium this small are Elacatinus sp. or Eviota sp. (small gobies) that is if you consider fish at all. Inverts only would be pretty cool. All you'd really need for a clean up crew would be maybe 5 blue legged hermits, and some small algae grazing snails. If you do daily water changes, have good water circulation and lighting, you wont need any other filtration. You really oughta just chuck the 3 gallon idea and go with a 10 gallon nano. a 10 gallon tank is cheap.... and you could probably find a cheap t5 lighting system that would fit it. T5's dont run as hot as power compacts so you wouldn't have overheating problems... Plus you have a larger volume of water to keep things safer chemically.... You could then keep some shrooms and some branchier coral specimens. Good turbulent water current would be more difficult to achieve in a 3 gall. as well.
Just some thoughts,
Adam
 
Well i do have a 50/50 light that will fit in the 5 gallon hexagon eclipse. and would be doing weekly water changes, just dont have time to do daily ones.

Would that set-up still work, or is it just not enough even with the lighting?
 
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