Ne0eN June 19, 2012 Share June 19, 2012 Hello again! After a 4 year break from the hobby, I'm finally ready to start on a new nano adventure. The reason I'm going nano this time is that there is a perfect spot in my living room wall for a small tank. Couple of months ago a Fluval Edge 6gal aquarium caught my eye. It's not exactly intended for a reef set-up, but apparently I wasn't the only one who was thinking SW reef. There have been some success stories on RC and I was up for a challenge. So here we go, a very simple set up - no sump, just a HOB unit, 50W heater, built-in 21 LEDs lights, 8 lbs of live rock, 10 lbs of my old sand and a bit of reef rubble from another Wamas member who sold me the live rock. (thanks again Nathan!) I haven't yet decided what life stock to put in there. Right now I'm thinking mostly softies and maybe 1 or 2 small fish (purple firefish?) I definitely will have a cleaning crew and a cleaner shrimp or two. The tank is still cycling, and I'm looking for some live sand to seed some life back into it. Down the road, I may upgrade the lights depending on how softies are doing. A 20-30% weekly water change should counter the lack of skimmer. Set-up day: Sand storm: The next day: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecool2 June 19, 2012 Share June 19, 2012 Looks really nice. You might be shooting a bit too large for your livestock. You could go with maybe a clown goby or two. I would steer clear of the cleaner shrimp, they are far too big for a tank that size. You could go with a few sexy shrimp though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S June 19, 2012 Share June 19, 2012 I think that a clown goby and sexy shrimp would be great in there. Either way, that little tank looks super sharp. Good job so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef June 19, 2012 Share June 19, 2012 in this months CORALS there is a whole list of nano gobies! and a few sexy shrimp or maybe even a goby/pistol pair? (depending on the gobies needs of course) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN June 20, 2012 Author Share June 20, 2012 Looks really nice. You might be shooting a bit too large for your livestock. You could go with maybe a clown goby or two. I would steer clear of the cleaner shrimp, they are far too big for a tank that size. You could go with a few sexy shrimp though. Thank you. Not sure about a goby. Don't they just sit perched on a rock and do nothing? I'd like some movement around the reef. I think my kids would enjoy that. As far shrimp, I've had 2 sexy shrimp in a refugium in my old system, and they are pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN June 20, 2012 Author Share June 20, 2012 I think that a clown goby and sexy shrimp would be great in there. Either way, that little tank looks super sharp. Good job so far! Thanks! So I guess I should put the inverts in first, and then fish, to sloooowly add to the bio-load? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S June 20, 2012 Share June 20, 2012 Clown gobies do tend to just sit there; same for sexy shrimp for that matter (with their sway movement of course). If you want movement, I am not sure what is a tiny fish that would work for you. After you have cycled, I would add a couple small snails for your CUC. Then add the shrimp. Then the fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecool2 June 20, 2012 Share June 20, 2012 At 6g, you'll be hard pressed to find an active fish. There are some sandsifters that stay small, but I don't think they'd work in a tank that small. Clown gobies certainly do spend most of their time perched. MAYBE one or two long-spined cardinals? They aren't very active, but they don't perch, they swim around slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN June 20, 2012 Author Share June 20, 2012 At 6g, you'll be hard pressed to find an active fish. There are some sandsifters that stay small, but I don't think they'd work in a tank that small. Clown gobies certainly do spend most of their time perched. MAYBE one or two long-spined cardinals? They aren't very active, but they don't perch, they swim around slowly. According to nano-reef.com, firefish can be held in a 5gal nano. They only get to 2.5" and are reef friendly. I think this is my current top candidate. http://www.nano-reef.com/fish/?fish=7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals June 20, 2012 Share June 20, 2012 Panda Goby would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecool2 June 20, 2012 Share June 20, 2012 According to nano-reef.com, firefish can be held in a 5gal nano. They only get to 2.5" and are reef friendly. I think this is my current top candidate. http://www.nano-reef.com/fish/?fish=7 I personally wouldn't put a firefish in there, but that's just me. Still not an active fish though of that's what you are looking for. Nice colors though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dipg June 21, 2012 Share June 21, 2012 my fav. nano tank. I kept a pair of clowns for more than a year in the edge. here is a pic of them week before they were moved to my current 36G tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocko918 June 21, 2012 Share June 21, 2012 According to nano-reef.com, firefish can be held in a 5gal nano. They only get to 2.5" and are reef friendly. I think this is my current top candidate. http://www.nano-reef.com/fish/?fish=7 Now there is a Name i have not see in a long time! welcome back. I think the biggest issue with the firefish and your tank is when they get scared they jump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimboy123 June 21, 2012 Share June 21, 2012 That may not be a huge problem. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the majority of this tank is covered right? Except for right in the middle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocko918 June 21, 2012 Share June 21, 2012 that would be cool. then by all means add some fire fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN June 21, 2012 Author Share June 21, 2012 Now there is a Name i have not see in a long time! welcome back. I think the biggest issue with the firefish and your tank is when they get scared they jump. Hey Bob! Yeah, I'm kinda back. We'll see how far I can take this Nano. And yes, Edge has a unique top glass cover, so jumping is not an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN July 6, 2012 Author Share July 6, 2012 A quick update... Not even 3 weeks old, and my nano-reef seems to be teeming with life - I'm seeing a ton of marine plankton - copepods, amphipods, isopods, etc. As a matter of fact, I may have too many amphipods. Every square inch of live rock is full of these little critters. Some of them are approaching 1/2" size. I've also got a few softies which seem to be doing fine. Next week I think I'm ready to add a fish. (still deciding on what to get...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN July 18, 2012 Author Share July 18, 2012 I've upgraded the stock 1W LED lights to something more powerful: 12W Aquaray MiniLED 500HD. (4-10,000k white lensed Cree XP-E & 1 blue unlensed Cree XP-E LEDs) The difference is quite amazing. For my lifestock, I've added 2 mated firefish. They are quite active and seem to be doing well. I also have 2 hermit crabs: blue and burgundy legged, and 3 Nassarius snails. Also, I'm not cleaning the back wall, as the white specs visible in the pic are some sort of isopods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef July 19, 2012 Share July 19, 2012 Looks AWESOME!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbit September 6, 2012 Share September 6, 2012 Just wanted to note how funny it is (to me, anyway) that I too have just returned to the hobby after a four year hiatus, and have done so with the purchase of a Fluval Edge 6G with a lighting upgrade. Great minds, I suppose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef September 6, 2012 Share September 6, 2012 Hows this tank been going? Havent seen an update in a long time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN March 20, 2014 Author Share March 20, 2014 Sorry about not updating this build. I have dropped off the forum for a while, but I'm slowly making a come back. The tank has been going well, but in the past 6 months I have been fighting a case of bryopsis algae which slowly took over the Live Rock. This was a good excuse to start a new build, and hence I went a slightly different direction and purchased a CAD Lights 8G Mini-II reef system. Stay tuned for some pics under a new build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crob5965 March 21, 2014 Share March 21, 2014 cool looking tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR-Tanked150 March 21, 2014 Share March 21, 2014 Looking forward to your update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now