Noob. Need Help.

F

Fxhound88

New member
Hey guys, So i decided to start up a small 5 gallon reef. I decided on dead rock because of a terrible experience years ago with some live rock i bought. So its been 5 weeks of cycling my tank with no lights in order to avoid an algae bloom. I did the tests and my tank has finished cycling. Since i did not get an algae bloom during my cycle do i really need a clean up crew? Or can i start adding corals or maybe a fish first? Then worry about the clean up crew later if/when algae pops up?:confused:
 
I would suggest putting small piece of good quality live rock in there as well, look over it yourself. What did you use to cycle? Small tanks are best to move slow, I bet when the lights are on you will start to get small amounts of algae, id try and get a coral on a small peice of live rock and dip it to remove pests. Then get a cuc and then a fish,
 
With the coral on a rock your killing two birds with one stone(live rock and live stock) maybe some zoas or somthing that is more robust
 
I seeded my tank with a free piece of live rock from my local shop. It was just a tiny piece not even a pound so i got it for free. But i've noticed that it has a tiny feather duster and some copepods running around. Thats been my entertainment the past week :D
 
The tank runs consistently at 82 degrees. Salinity is 1.026 and ph 8.0. All my test read zero except nitrate which was at 10 but i did a partial water change and now its down to 5
 
Lol the live rock I got for my tank sucked, had not much life on it at all for 9.99 a lb. Noob mistakes, ive learnt lots on the road to success, I even changed my lfs. What's your though on a stocking list
 
You don't even want to know how bad my previous live rock was! Well since its such a small tank i was thinking a goby of some sort. As far as corals go i was going to go the route of softies and LPS. I wanted to do a mixed reef with sps but ive read that its just a bad idea in such a small tank.
 
Maybe you can help with another question. The tank is 10" deep and i have a par 30 bulb about 4 inches over it. Its 27 watts (9 3-watt bulbs). Do you think thats enough light to keep an sps and Lps tank instead? Or should i stick the softies route
 
Maybe a watchman goby, a shrimp, hammer coral, zoas and Acans? Or somthing in that mix, wait a week and get a piece of coral or your goby
 
I'd stay away from sps, I'm having a hard time with a 30 gal tank with 30 gal sump, I don't know much about that lighting, I run 117w of t5ho
 
Did you buy that light at home Depot? I don't think that light is sufficient enough for most corals to grow, maybe macro algae
 
i'll take that advice and stay away from sps. No need to kill a coral. As far as corals i was considering acans. Idk about the hammer. I wanted peaceful corals that i wouldn't have to worry about kicking the crap out of everyone. I was considering mushrooms/rics/yumas, zoos, candy cane, acans, and either a toadstool or yellow fiji as my centerpiece.
 
ive read a lot of success stories with par30 bulbs. My light actually has more bulbs than boostled's par 30 bulb. Theirs only brings 5 3-watt bulbs. I have 9 (6 whites at 12,000k and 3 blues at 20,000k)
 
i was hoping by next year i can set up a 20 gallon to transfer those bad boys. Or maybe my frags can help feed the addiction by supplying extra income :)
 
Seems fairly good for small tank! The write up on the website for the boost led one really sells it, hope it works well!!
 
I've seen 30 gallon tanks with 3 or 4 spread out across the tank due to the small angle of dispersion and they seem to be thriving. My main reason for going with this option is that my tank is cylindrical so old fashion strip lights don't fit my tank.
 
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