New Fluval Spec V Reef Tank

[Tetra1]

Today was the greatest day ever!! My hubby told me that I could go ahead and set up a fish tank. Un-be-knownst to him I was planning on surprising him this weekend with the set up while he was away on a business trip. He caught me sneaking around some boxes and got nosy. Oh well, the tank will be started this weekend as planned and I am very excited about it. This is my smallest tank ever and 1st time attempt at a coral and invert tank. Any suggestions would be helpful along my journey and as always thanks for all comments in advance. Items I am planning on having in the tank are zoanthids and/or riccordia. I want this tank to have tons of color! If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to give me your two cents. :cheer2:

 

[Diamond1]

Sounds like fun. Just take your time with everything you do. With a tank that small I would do weekly water changes of about 20% to 25%. Keeping an eye on parameters is always a good thing because in smaller tanks things can change quickly.

 

[Tetra1]

Thanks Diamond1, what kind of corals would you put in a tank like this that wants tons of color? Suggestions?

 

[Diamond1]

Since I'm not sure about the stock light that comes with the tank, I would say your pretty safe to start with some discosoma mushrooms and maybe a florida ricordea. Lets of cool colors for both and they are very hardy. See how they do then try a small frag of zoas and see if the lights keep them alive.

 

[Tetra1]

Since I'm not sure about the stock light that comes with the tank, I would say your pretty safe to start with some discosoma mushrooms and maybe a florida ricordea. Lets of cool colors for both and they are very hardy. See how they do then try a small frag of zoas and see if the lights keep them alive.

The Lighting for this tank:

37 LED lighting system with 7500K daylight LEDs and a deep blue night light setting, 3 position on/off switch and low voltage power supply.

In addition I also bought a clamp LED light that has 48 LED's in a mix of 8 blue and 40 white. I cannot remember the K's on it though.

 

[Dendro Dude]

I would do a gallon a week water change as far as stocking stay away from most shroom & maybe Ricordia they can quickly over take your live rock on a tank that small. Be sure to watch your ph & salinity during those water changes you don't want any big swings. For palys and zoas right now I'm loving my utter chaos, BBEBs, Rastas & Spongebobs

 

[KorD]

I have a 4 gal, and I love the compactness of it on our countertop. Think about some Lavender Clove Polyp because It looks beautiful in there flowing around. also don't forget about a few small cleaner shrimp or hermits. They do wonders!

 

[Diamond1]

From what I've heard the stock lights on your tank are not very good and 7500k is not the spectrum you want. As for the clamp on lamp if it's 10k or better you should be fine. The reason I suggested mushrooms to start is that mushrooms are very low light demanding corals, not very expensive are easy to keep. Without knowing that you have enough lighting to keep zoas and palys I would hesitate to say put a bunch of expensive frags in just to watch them melt from not having enough light.