Help Choosing Filter and Lighting for Pico Reef

[Amelia Lee]

Hi everyone! I have planned on starting my first nano reef in a 5 gallon Fluval Chi. I am attaching a link to the tank so you can see the specifications. Yes, I already know many wouldn't pick this as a marine set up but for budget and space constrictions, this is what I'm going with. Please give ANY and ALL suggestions, I am a newbie and don't know anything outside of my research!

http://www.petsmart....36-catid-300065

The tank is 12.5"L x 12.5"W x 12.5"H.

I know the LED lights and filter that came with the tank will not be plausible with what I'm looking for. I am going to go with a canister filter most likely. I want a cheap one that is also very efficient and quiet. I found this one online fairly cheap but not sure if it is worth it. Keep in mind I will be upgrading around the tank as needed. The reviews on this filter seem pretty good so I guess I'll try this unless I get any other suggestions.

http://www.drsfoster...atid=16742&s=lh

I will most likely replace the filter media with something I prefer. I like the idea that it has a spray bar which will help with water flow around the tank. I am adding Kent Marine Nano Reef Start Up Additives. I also have Instant Ocean Bio-Spira Start Up Aquarium Additive. This helps prevent new tank syndrome.


I am ordering live sand (6 lbs) and live rock (6 lbs) for my tank online. I found an All-In-One Reef kit online that includes a good start out Clean Up Crew. They ship the sand and rock first through airline shipping which I will pick up at the airport approximately January 11th. I want to have the water ready just to make the transfer process a little more stress-free. I am headed to the petstore tomorrow to get a salt mix and a bucket to practice mixing saltwater for my water changes and as needed in the future. I am planning on getting a Water Dechlorinator as well so I don't have to use an RO system.


LIGHTING-HUGE questions here
I know I want soft corals, Zoanthids, a feather duster, and some button polyps eventually! I know I will need lighting that is moderate! I also want some actinic lighting to bring out the bright colors of the corals and fish (when they are eventually all in there). I need a clip on light most likely as the tank has no top and is somewhat of an awkward size. I would like to be able to put the lights on a timer if possible! I really like the neon look with the actinic lights and can add these in an extra light accessory if needed.

Help anywhere you can! I am most likely going to start the set up of the tank on January 11th. I will add the live sand and live rock from my online vendor, and the premade saltwater mix from the petstore! I will have the canister filter, protein skimmer, LED lights, heater (if needed), and hopefully an automatic top off system (eventually).

I am planning on letting my tank complete a fishless cycle, although the live sand and rock are shipped in saltwater. I want to prevent any deaths by pH or ammonia spike due to small critters dying. I am going to receive my clean up crew once I have let the vendor know I am ready! I am going to use the additives and to help cycle, not using the light to help prevent too much algae growth. I want to start growing my corals as soon as possible, but also don't want to rush anything. I want very vibrant and bright corals! Please give any suggestions if you think you may have a better idea! I know I want some polyps and Zoanthids, maybe some small mushroom corals. Obviously, fish and corals are going to be much later on! Just trying to get an idea of what I will want in terms of equipment.
Please help!

 

[Sabellafella]

Welcomee, well with a smaller tank your not really going to need that much equipment, look into a kessil A160 with a gooseneck would look awesome, also just try not to rush it, its hard not to, depending were you live because ur going to use dichlorinated tap maybe run some gfo and carbon in the canister filter, your on the right path!!

 

[dkray944]

Personally I would stay away from declorinated tap water. It's not worth the risk and algea breakouts. With the size of the tank I would probably just buy 5 gallon buckets worth of RO water from a local fish store. If that's a pain I would invest in a RO unit.

 

[Amelia Lee]

Buying RO isn't a problem, thank goodness!

any suggestions for a canister filter? or any other suggestions?

I hear rumors about canister filters turning into nasty nesting grounds if not taken care of properly.

 

[Ares]

I ran a 5 gallon EcoPico from Ecoxotic for 2 years just using a small (60 gph) powerhead and a heater. Live rock for filtration and topped off evaporated water daily and did a 1 gallon water change each week. Grew plenty of zoas, mushrooms, and other low light corals. Their setup came with a light with 3 LED strips, I bought 2 more LED strips and attached them to the fixture. Worked perfect. No other equipment and I kept 2 really tiny clown fish until they got bigger and a skunk shrimp. Never had a problem.

EDIT: I meant to say I would stay away from the canister filter and stick with LR for filtration, just keep up on your water changes to keep the parameters in check or things can go south in a hurry.

 

[Amelia Lee]

I ran a 5 gallon EcoPico from Ecoxotic for 2 years just using a small (60 gph) powerhead and a heater. Live rock for filtration and topped off evaporated water daily and did a 1 gallon water change each week. Grew plenty of zoas, mushrooms, and other low light corals. Their setup came with a light with 3 LED strips, I bought 2 more LED strips and attached them to the fixture. Worked perfect. No other equipment and I kept 2 really tiny clown fish until they got bigger and a skunk shrimp. Never had a problem.

EDIT: I meant to say I would stay away from the canister filter and stick with LR for filtration, just keep up on your water changes to keep the parameters in check or things can go south in a hurry.

thank you for the suggestions! do you suggest any sort of filter, even a hang on to put on occassionally? I have heard some people prefer all-in-one media reactors as well. I have found a light at the LFS that is fairly inexpensive and high enough wattage for any sort of soft corals.

 

[Ares]

not for a pico tank I don't
That was literally all I had in it for over 2 years and it was flawless. You have to watch how much you feed and everything else too because on such a small tank the parameters get out of whack real quickly. I took the tank down a while back but actually am setting it back up now on my office desk.

I run GFO and carbon on my large system (250 gallons) at home when necessary but not on that pico.

Remember, live rock has all the good bacteria on it that will break down ammonia and nitrites for you. Do the weekly water change to keep the nitrates and phosphates in check and there's no need for a skimmer, canister filter, reactor, or anything else. I can't stress enough though do not overfeed or overstock the tank or you will have problems.

 

[Amelia Lee]

not for a pico tank I don't
That was literally all I had in it for over 2 years and it was flawless. You have to watch how much you feed and everything else too because on such a small tank the parameters get out of whack real quickly. I took the tank down a while back but actually am setting it back up now on my office desk.

I run GFO and carbon on my large system (250 gallons) at home when necessary but not on that pico.

Remember, live rock has all the good bacteria on it that will break down ammonia and nitrites for you. Do the weekly water change to keep the nitrates and phosphates in check and there's no need for a skimmer, canister filter, reactor, or anything else. I can't stress enough though do not overfeed or overstock the tank or you will have problems.

thank you so much! what do you suggest stocking with? I have heard all different opinions on it. I have a small clean up crew being shipped in soon but that is all.

 

[Ares]

For CUC I had...
10-15 Dwarf Ceriths
1-2 Nerites
1-2 Florida Ceriths
5 Scarlet Hermits

I took them from my main tank.
For fish I had 2 really small ... as in 1.5 inch clownfish and 1 really small skunk shrimp. They were outgrowing the tank when I shut it down and moved them back into my big one.

Corals, I stocked up on frags from my main system. I eventually had 30 or more varieties of zoas and several varieties of mushrooms all growing and covering the rock. I had 1 big pieces of rock right in the middle of the tank like a pyramid.

You have to add things very slowly though. Once it is cycled you have to provide some sort of food for your CUC or they will simply die. So getting a fish at the same time isn't a bad idea, or at least put a little food in for the CUC to have something to eat.

Just take it slow.
The bad thing about the small tanks is bad things happen fast.
The good thing about the small tanks is it doesn't take much time or money to do a big water change

You could even do a half gallon water change every other day if you were worried about water quality. Heck, a 200 gallon box of salt mix will last you a year.

 

[Ares]

and on water changes be sure the water is the same temp as the tank...again small water volume you can affect the temp of the whole tank very easily if you dump in a gallon of 60 degree water...

 

[WetWhistle]

Buying RO isn't a problem, thank goodness!

any suggestions for a canister filter? or any other suggestions?

I hear rumors about canister filters turning into nasty nesting grounds if not taken care of properly.

If you are willing to clean the canisters every few weeks they will work fine for filtrstion with a small footprint inside the tank as a bonus. If you let them clog and don't clean them for months that is when they become nutrient sinks. Kept clean you can cover all your filter needs in one spot. Carbon or Seachem Purigen for chemical, prefilters\ sponges for mechanical filtration and biological. As most things like carbon or the sponges you put in the canister will develop bacteria. You can even get inline heaters that will work with canisters so you have even less to add into the tank.

I am not a fan of all in one products as I find they tend to exhaust at different rates.

 

[Amelia Lee]

If you are willing to clean the canisters every few weeks they will work fine for filtrstion with a small footprint inside the tank as a bonus. If you let them clog and don't clean them for months that is when they become nutrient sinks. Kept clean you can cover all your filter needs in one spot. Carbon or Seachem Purigen for chemical, prefilters\ sponges for mechanical filtration and biological. As most things like carbon or the sponges you put in the canister will develop bacteria. You can even get inline heaters that will work with canisters so you have even less to add into the tank.

I am not a fan of all in one products as I find they tend to exhaust at different rates.

Ended up getting a small canister online, very cheap! I purchased Seachem purigen, and Seachem Matric Bio Media for my filter media. I got activated carbon and a bag to put it in as well. Thank you for the help!

 

[klesel]

Would recommend chemi pure blue it's a all in one chemical filter replaces carbon gfo and puragen type of treatments. It will keep your water Crystal clear . lighting there a lot of options long as you keep your tank simple you won't need anything big far as lighting. Just remember tiny tank won't take much to mess water parameters up . but sounds awsome won't be long you be setting up a larger aquarium.welcome

 

[Amelia Lee]

Would recommend chemi pure blue it's a all in one chemical filter replaces carbon gfo and puragen type of treatments. It will keep your water Crystal clear . lighting there a lot of options long as you keep your tank simple you won't need anything big far as lighting. Just remember tiny tank won't take much to mess water parameters up . but sounds awsome won't be long you be setting up a larger aquarium.welcome

Thank you! That is much much easier. I am looking at two Fluval lights. The Fluval Sea Halo vs. the Fluval Nano Aqua Life.

http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Aquar...-Sea-Nano-Halo-High-Performance-LED-Lamp.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Fluval-Nano-Aqua-Plant-Performance/dp/B00BNRZB0S

I plan on having small soft corals and zoas eventually. Which light do you think is more plausible?

 

[jautry77]

Halo is a great pico reef light.

 

[Amelia Lee]

Halo is a great pico reef light.

have you used it? thank you!!

 

[WetWhistle]

Looking at the LED the Halo is better then the second one. The second one is more for plants or for freshwater. If you are using the 5 gallon tank the Halo should be enough light for what you want to keep. Any bigger a tank and it will probably not work very well or as well as you would want. If you plan to go larger tank in the future you should look at other options like Rapid LED or other DIY LED that are dimmable and go a little larger then you need now and dial the intensity back. So you don't have to buy lights twice. Or keep an eye out for used LED on the forum.

 

[Amelia Lee]

Looking at the LED the Halo is better then the second one. The second one is more for plants or for freshwater. If you are using the 5 gallon tank the Halo should be enough light for what you want to keep. Any bigger a tank and it will probably not work very well or as well as you would want. If you plan to go larger tank in the future you should look at other options like Rapid LED or other DIY LED that are dimmable and go a little larger then you need now and dial the intensity back. So you don't have to buy lights twice. Or keep an eye out for used LED on the forum.

thank you! I think I am going to just buy the Halo. To be honest, I believe I'm going to stay with the 5 gallon long enough. I don't really have the room or funding to increase size by that much.

 

[WetWhistle]

If it is going to work for you now and you are going to stick with this tank for some time nothing wrong with that. First before you get it you should see it on to see if you like the look of the color if you have the chance.