6g office nano cube

[DaninSarasota]

just joined the forum, glad to be here!

i have had saltwater tanks off an on over the past 10 years, always at home and from 20g to 90g, all were mixed reefs. i had downsized to a 29g but a couple of months ago i had a sudden mass die off of all my corals. all were completely dead in 1-2 days. after that i was pretty bummed, kept the tank running as FOWLR for a while and eventually sold it off. the last straw was when my beloved cleaner shrimp died. been without a tank for a month or so.

came across a great deal on a 6 gallon nano cube (LED version) that i couldnt pass on, and decided to get me an office tank!

its up and running and had a mini cycle when i brought in and put a larger piece of LR in the display. i removed all the bio-balls and ceramic from the back area, and broke up some LR and put in there.

for stocking i am planning probably just shrimp and crabs, and some easy LPS/zoas. i might consider a goby/pistol pair instead, but i think maintenance and keeping nitrates lower would be easiest with just the inverts. thoughts?

 

[Bigbaby]

Welcome!!

You've come to the right place There's so many great reefers on this forum. Can't wait to see how your nano turns out!

 

[coral49]

add a few sexy shrimp and watch them dance all day. welcome

 

[Katrina71]

Yeah! A little tank. Love them!

 

[Ledreef]

I want that tank [emoji24][emoji24]

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Wow! Talk about coralline algae! Good looking tank for sure

Welcome, and keep us updated on your progress

 

[Ranjib]

Welcome to reef2reef , very nice tank
What is your filtration strategy , that will determine how much bioload you can have. Coral stocking plans ? I don’t know how good the stock leds are. Should be ok for most softies

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks great! Welcome to R2R!

 

[GoPitt88]

Welcome to R2R! [emoji16] Are you saying no fish?

 

[DaninSarasota]

Welcome to reef2reef , very nice tank
What is your filtration strategy , that will determine how much bioload you can have. Coral stocking plans ? I don’t know how good the stock leds are. Should be ok for most softies

definitely going low tech. using the stock compartments in the back, but only plan on using the sponge filter that is in the first compartment. i removed all bio balls, ceramic, etc that was previously in it when i picked it up. when i replaced the LR, i broke up the old stuff into a few pieces and just put those in the center compartment. i may consider removing the sponge all together and just use filter floss when needed. i plan to manage the system with weekly water changes of 10-20%

bioload is going to be low, as i am leaning towards no fish and having some nice shrimp and crabs. if i do go with a fish it would be a small goby/pistol pair.

i have seen decent reviews of the LEDs, and the previous owner had it full of LPS and some SPS at the top and it did great. my plan is mostly LPS and Zoas.

 

[DaninSarasota]

Welcome to R2R! [emoji16] Are you saying no fish?

on the fence...either a goby/pistol pair or just crabs and shrimp.

for the crab/shrimp option i am thinking of a pom pom and porcelain crab along with a coral banded shrimp and another smaller shrimp (maybe a sexy shrimp).

 

[DaninSarasota]

Wow! Talk about coralline algae! Good looking tank for sure

Welcome, and keep us updated on your progress

Thanks...and the best part (i didnt mention ) was that i got the tank setup (incl stand), lots of food, dosing chemicals, multiple test kits, refractometer, carbon, etc....for $40. thats why i couldnt pass on it.

 

[Captain Quint]

Welcome aboard. Your office tank looks great.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Very cute tank. Just a thought: I think Cleaner shrimp are nice looking, however they tend to ‘swim’ (dog-paddle?) around a lot, which I wasn’t fond of seeing in my two 7-gallon tanks (about 5-gallons of water), and so I have switched over to Coral Banded shrimps. Beautiful looking, but they also tend to stay down on the piece of rock in a King-of-the-mountain pose. Note that both my Coral Banded shrimp have grabbed tiny Damsels—likely a nighttime sneak-attack—and enjoyed a $7.00 meal!

 

[DaninSarasota]

Very cute tank. Just a thought: I think Cleaner shrimp are nice looking, however they tend to ‘swim’ (dog-paddle?) around a lot, which I wasn’t fond of seeing in my two 7-gallon tanks (about 5-gallons of water), and so I have switched over to Coral Banded shrimps. Beautiful looking, but they also tend to stay down on the piece of rock in a King-of-the-mountain pose. Note that both my Coral Banded shrimp have grabbed tiny Damsels—likely a nighttime sneak-attack—and enjoyed a $7.00 meal!

i have had both and i would agree with your summary of the two

i think for this smaller tank i would go with the CBS.

 

[RomoFL]

Great nano cube! I'm following.

 

[Nano man]

Go with the corals and ditch the CBS. Get this guy instead.....

 

[Ledreef]

Nice

 

[Nano man]

But seriously I would personally go with a small cuc and a bonded pair of something small. I pistol goby combo would create a sand storm as the pistol constantly digs. Not so bad but he would redo your surface.
How about this pair? I like these.....

 

[DaninSarasota]

Go with the corals and ditch the CBS. Get this guy instead.....

As my wife would say... It's on sale!