What Should I do?

MSB123 · Oct 23, 2017

Hey everyone! I am getting some bounce mushrooms and chalice's and torches and frogspawns tomorrow. I have a 5 gallon (Fluval Spec V) nano/pico tank that I want to put them, to really make them "pop". I have some general questions:
Will the 80 GPH return be enough flow?
Will a 2-bulb T5 fixture be enough for the light?
Can I keep a small firefish goby (or two) in the tank without having to worry too much about ammonia?
I will be using cycled media, rock, and water, from my display.
Thanks!
-MSB

Diesel · Oct 23, 2017

Hold on wait a minute.................... TOMORROW??
And you haven't set up the tank yet?
I thought you ask first questions before you jump in with a few hundred of $$$$ of corals.
But maybe I'm old fashion here.

As far as your questions and I never had a 5 gallon tank but 80 is kind of overkill as that is 18x the turn over.
Not sure how many watt these 2 T5's are but it might work, just watch out or over heating the water.
Using cycled media rock/sand will be your best friend.
But IMO let the tank at least run for a week on it's own and test a few times.

spiraling · Oct 23, 2017

wow - I don't think I would trust myself with those corals in a 5g. That tank has NO room for error. Have you considered putting them in your display then slowly moving them over and see how they do?

Alfredo De La Fe · Oct 23, 2017

Ditto the other comments. Wayyyyy to fast to risk so much money in livestock, a very small system and it sounds like you have left ZERO room for error. If you rock has a mini cycle you may kill the corals.

MSB123 · Oct 23, 2017

LOL, sorry- I forgot a few things- I have a 180 display, a 240 frag, and an 80 frag. I have been doing this for a long time and I have taken care of many tanks and types of corals. I want them in the 5g because I really like the way they will look in there- I am going to constantly cycle (pulling water out and putting water from my DT in) so I am not going to worry about levels. Sorry about that!

MSB123 · Oct 23, 2017

I also have triggers in my DT and my frag tanks are completely full- I have another 80 on backorder.

EriksOasis · Oct 23, 2017

Pulling water from your display won’t cycle a tank using the bio media from your established tank will. I would put the frags in on if your other tanks on a frag rack while your five gallon cycles for at least a week or two even tho it would be a instant cycle by using the media.

MSB123 · Oct 23, 2017

EriksOasis said:
Pulling water from your display won’t cycle a tank using the bio media from your established tank will. I would put the frags in on if your other tanks on a frag rack while your five gallon cycles for at least a week or two even tho it would be a instant cycle by using the media.

Sorry, I misused the word "cycle" What I mean to say is that I will pull water from my DT and remove water form the 5g- its the same as hooking it up to my main system, but without tubes going in and out

MSB123 · Oct 24, 2017

What?

nautical_nathaniel · Oct 24, 2017

Throwing in my two cents here but what you're describing doesn't sound very consistent and the corals you're talking about putting in there probably need a little consistency. I know your motto says go big or go home, but it just seems reckless to me with that many valuable corals. I would do it the tried and true way and cycle the aquarium slowly, learn the ins and outs of it, take your time before adding corals and such. You can add water and media from an established system to help the cycle along, but it's still going to be a couple of months before it would be absolutely stable and established enough for corals in my experience.