2.5 gallon dorm reef

Maddlesrain · Oct 5, 2016

Hey, it's been awhile. Having started college, I haven't found much time to focus on my fish, however, I'm playing with the idea of attempting a hilariously low, college-budget, pico reef in my dorm. I have the tank, and most of the other equipment I plan to use on hand, and figure it's worth assembling and running a test to see if my ghetto little tank might be a success. Right now it's all speculation as I haven't been able to try putting together all the pieces, but I'll share my current thought process and we can hash out the kinks before I play around with it this weekend. This will be my diary for the project.

Equipment:
• 2.5 gallon tank
• Glass top (if the equipment can fit around it)
• Old biological filter (I will remove the sponges and use the chamber as a small refugium. This will also be the source of flow for this tank)
• Enough large-particle sand to get a good base layer of an inch or so
• As much rock rubble as I can scrounge up
• A desk light
• Small heater (one of the only pieces of equipment I have that I'm iffy on, so I may buy a new just to be safe. I would love to try sticking this in the filter chamber if I can find one small enough. All suggestions for cheap, durable, nano heaters are welcome!!)

I live close to home and go back to check on the tanks every weekend, so I'll be filling a gallon a top of water and carting it back and forth along with any water change water I'll need. Not ideal, but more appropriate for this project than purchasing any sort of rodi unit.

Critters:
I'm going to start off with a couple hitchhiker feather dusters, micro starfish, and maybe a button polyp or two and go from there depending on success. I've kept these critters in thumbnail jars, switching out the water with a syringe everyday with success for short periods of time, so I'm thinking they should be ok in this environment.

Hit me with your ideas!

Reef2zach · Oct 6, 2016

Maybe throw in a small patch of GSP and let it take the whole tank over the. Throw a small clown in there that'll host in it.

LetItReef · Oct 6, 2016

Sexy shrimps and PomPom crabs, but PP hides alot.

Maddlesrain · Oct 7, 2016

Reef2zach said:
Maybe throw in a small patch of GSP and let it take the whole tank over the. Throw a small clown in there that'll host in it.

I'd like to keep some other corals, but this got me thinking that maybe I can get GSP to cover the back glass as a sort of natural backdrop.

LetItReef said:
Sexy shrimps and PomPom crabs, but PP hides alot.

I like the look of both of these a lot! I'd love to have a mini maxi anemone for the shrimp if possible.

Maddlesrain · Oct 8, 2016

Set it all up tonight, save for the lighting. Just stuck an oversized moonlight over it to check things out.

I filled the tank with about 75% of the water the critters were coming from, seeded the new sand, and added a small live rock from my main display, so I decided to stick a couple polyps, micro starfish, and dusters in there right away.

The filter worked as a storage unit for the heater, and I hand-sewed a small mesh bag for carbon to clear up the currently cloudy water. Because the compartment was filled, I decided to keep the algae intended to be put in the filter into the display tank and see how a mixed macro algae/ coral environment works out.

The filter is also pushing enough water to make the algae wave on the other end of the tank, so it looks like everything turned out fairly perfect equipment wise. Now just hoping the critters thrive!

You might not be able to tell from the picture, but there's a white plastic mesh I installed along the back glass. I'm hoping the polyps will be able to grow more smoothly along it than the glass, and have attached them to it to - I'm hoping - create a natural background.

Reef2zach · Oct 8, 2016

Looks cool. Like the idea for the polyps on the back

Maddlesrain · Oct 8, 2016

Reef2zach said:
Looks cool. Like the idea for the polyps on the back

Thank you! I'm hoping they spread like I'm imagine! Haha

Maddlesrain · Oct 8, 2016

This morning everything is looking pretty good. The only thing off is the tank smells a little rank. I've been changing out a few cups of water with freshly made saltwater every hour or so in hopes of just switching out most of the water over the course of the day, and getting rid of the smell. I think it may be coming from some dried algae breaking down that was stuck in the crevices of the dry rock I used. I took a small tube and siphoned as much as a could out during one of my little water changes, so I'm hoping that helps a bit.

The corals are showing signs of opening, and the dusters are doing their thing, so I'm not worrying too much right now.

Current corals include:
1 yellow polyp
1 green button polyp
A nickel sized piece of cabbage leather coral
A 1/3" piece of Yellow Sea whip

Other critters:
Feather dusters
Micro starfish
Hitchhiker mini snails
Caulerpa algae
Ulva lettuce

Jaag · Jul 20, 2017

What filter did you use and what heater? I wanted to do the same thing with a 2.5 gallon tank I have.

REEFIN RIOS · Jul 20, 2017

Lol i did something simalar to a 5 gallon tank i had laying around all I had to do was buy an hob filter had everything else only spent 16 bucks for the filter and that is the expense I've had! And I would suggest to gets some mushrooms! Would be great for ur tank since it's had basicly low flow! And a pistol shrimp would be pretty cool too! I've got one in my 5! Anyway happy reefing!

Maddlesrain · Jul 20, 2017

Jaag said:
What filter did you use and what heater? I wanted to do the same thing with a 2.5 gallon tank I have.

The filter is just the media area in the back. I've shoved it full of live rock for now and ditched the media. As for the heater, it's one of the pre-set aqueon heaters. That's the only one that was small enough to fit in the back portion of the tank and would actually shut off before cooking the fish. They sell another, smaller version, that will literally never turn off! What a ridiculous design! Haha

So just be sure to check that any small heaters you look at are either adjustable or have a pre-set temperature on them