Fluval Edge 6g, What is best?

[ratherBreefing]

Hello,

Seeking advice from the experienced hobbyist out there. I have a fluval edge 6g sitting around empty and would like to make it alive. I have a 32g mixed reef with a few fish which is going well. I have few ideas and need opinion.

1. I can make another 6g reef I can use for frags and quarantine.
2. Make it a betta tank.
3. Leave it alone.

Anybody knows if I will need an auto doser for ALK or CA if I stock zoas, GSPs, shrooms etc but no fish. For hardy simple corals how far do I have to go with equipments. Without fish would it be a low nutrient system which will eventually starve corals?

Thanks

 

[cody6766]

It's a little small for a frag tank, but you could do it. You'll also find that it's a real pain to work through that little hole. I removed the top on mine and ran it for a while, but evaporation became more of an issue than I wanted to deal with without a small ATO, so I took it down. It's definitely possible to make it a reef, but it's a little like cramming a square peg into a round hole. It'll fit, but you have to fight it at first.

As for the extra equipment, you don't need much. A light and powerhead will do the trick. You'd be better off going without fish, and your corals will be fine. Any of the smaller reef fish are possible, but will increase your maintenance schedule.

A betta tank would be easier to keep up, but a reef is possible. It's all about how much room you have and how much work you want to do.

 

[lionfish300]

I have a 6 gallons reef that been going for 6 months now with light and hang on back filter. I have acans, mushroom, hammer head, Cynarina, Scolymia. I started cause it hard to feed the corals in my 375 DT plus with all the fish stealing food from these gugs

 

[ratherBreefing]

Thank you Cody for the advice. I understand the difficulty.

 

[ratherBreefing]

I have a 6 gallons reef that been going for 6 months now with light and hang on back filter. I have acans, mushroom, hammer head, Cynarina, Scolymia. I started cause it hard to feed the corals in my 375 DT plus with all the fish stealing food from these gugs

Thank you lionfish300, that sounds encouraging but how do you maintain chemistry. I mean how do you keep Kh, CA in check? Water changes only?

 

[Tastee]

Take a look at brandon429's posts about Pico tanks on the "˜other' forum. I believe he just works on 100% WCs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[cody6766]

I mean how do you keep Kh, CA in check? Water changes only?

That's how I kept my levels in check up until I set up a 120g with pretty heavy SPS stocking. That was about 6 years after I started the hobby. My tanks before were all in the 30-40g range with a mix of all types of corals. I tested for Ca, Alk and Mg and had to occasionally manually dose when I got behind on water changes, but I never had to do it on a regular basis.
You'll notice that ion levels don't change between water changes much at all when you only have slow growing LPS and soft corals. The biggest challenge with nano reefs is salinity swings from evaporation and just keeping them clean. It's easy to over feed if you have fish in there, which will quickly cause cyano or algae issues. If you are consistent with your tank maintenance and keep inverts instead of fish and don't try to pack it full of acros, a nano is pretty easy to keep.

 

[lionfish300]

Thank you lionfish300, that sounds encouraging but how do you maintain chemistry. I mean how do you keep Kh, CA in check? Water changes only?

I just do water change every 2 weeks ( 3 gallons) sometime water from my 375 DT sometime from new saltwater. I haven't bother to check water chemistry at all. For evaporation water I have an extra head on my doser so I use that ( take a bit of figure out how much) and it work fine. Everything is happy