Starting a 3 gallon, need help.

Maxi

Maxi

New member
I have done a lot of research, and I have read over many threads and looked at tons of pictures. I have a 3 gallon currently stocking saulosi fry then they are passed on to their 12g for growing out, and then selling. Instead, I'm just going to put them in the 12 right after stripping from now on.

So, I have done a lot of looking up on lighting and what to stock in it. (mainly research on fish)

So on my lighting I currently have a .78 amp on the 3 gallon, lol.

Luckily for me, I found this link while browsing threw threads...
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=11418&N=2004+113345

Im wondering if that is good for my 3 gallon?

I have no clue as what to stock in here as corals. I will need some advice on that. I do not quite understand what "live rock" and "live sand" is. I am not new to the cycling of the tank... so no worries about that.

I have been looking around for fish to have in here, and I really only want 1 fish in here and some sexy shrimp and snails. I have also heard of a blue hermit.
I am interested in the catalina goby, and wondering if I can keep it in my 3 gallon?

I am also wondering what I can use for the current in the water. I have no idea what to use for that. I have heard of a return something..? I am not sure.

For heating, my room is 75 degrees as the whole house is, will I need a heater for that temperature? Or will the lighting be enough?

And for filtration, my 3 gallon is from eclipse, and it came with its filter. It uses a cartridge type "Z" and it has a biowheel and it uses carbon. I don't know if carbon matters or not in here. So, is this filter good for this tank? I'm not sure how many GPH it does.

How often do I have to do water changes? Do I put the live sand and live rock during the cycle? How do I get saltwater? What is the item called that measures your salitiny? (I think that is how its spelled).


Thanks in advance
-Maxi

:rollface:
 
okay, the light seems like it would be fine, that is a lot of light however. at 18 watts that comes out to about 6 watts/gallon.

the size limits what you could get but LPS, and soft corals are really all that would do very well out in the open under that light. mushrooms and zoas are also a good choice, but the shrooms and most of the zoas would need to be shaded. other corals like SPS should be avioded unless you plan to add better flow, as tey do need very large amounts of flow. nems are anther bad choice, as their is not 1 kind that wont grow to large for this size tank.

pls pls pls, dont get a catalina goby, they are a coldwater fish and last only weeks at anything over 70 degrees, you may be able to get away w/ up to 72 degrees, but thats pushing it. keeping 1 very small fish is your best bet. maybe 2 with decent maintnence and a lot of LR. good fish would come from the genus trimma, as they stay under 1", a single fish or a mated pair of gobies from the geunus Elacatinus would be okay, as they stay under 2 1/2". the most common choice being a neon goby. look into liveaquarias small gobies, and brin back a rated list of which you like.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1850
you could also check out shrimp gobies
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1852

powerheads are used for flow, but they are ussually more than a 3 gallon can handle, I would just use the filter that came w/ it, tho it produces very little flo, and settle with low flow corals. dont use the filter pads that come w/ it, they get very dirty fast, lose the bio weel as well, they are nitrate factories. maybe run carbon in the filter, only filtration you need is LR.

if the tank stays a steady 75 degrees then that is fine, no heater needed, if you notice sings in temp then get a heater to stabalize the temp.

whater changes should be done evey week, and the specific gravity should be 1.023-1.025, and should checked with a swing arm hydrometer, or a refraftometer. get at least 3 pounds LR, and 3 pounds LS. you have to mix the SW your self, go out and get a good quality salt from an LFS, mix with either distilled or ro/di water and match SG in main tank, this is to be used only for water changes. for top off use reshwater (not tap water).

here is what I would think would be a resonable tank plan,
specs
3 gallon tank
6 lbs LR (this means you can keep more fish)
2 lbs sand (dont need to get LS)
filter that can w/ tank

cleanup crew
3 dwarf hermits (zebra, scarlet, red leg, or blue leg)
3 cerith snails
1 mini brittle star
1 skunk cleaner shrimps
1 pepermint shrimp
3 sexy shrimp

fish
1-2 small gobies

corals
assorted LPS
assorted shrooms
assorted zoas
assorted soft corals
 
Thank you very much Moonstream. About the top-off water when it evaporates, do you mean I just add more saltwater to it when needed? Or just freshwater?

I found this online at petco for the hydrometer, I'm wondering if its good to buy this one...
http://www.petco.com/product/9183/Aquatic-Gardens-Aquarium-Hydrometer-with-Thermometer.aspx


Where can I get those corals? I have a LFS here that has a whole side of their store for saltwater. They have a room full of corals, but they are WAY too expensive. I looked at the price for a small one, and it was 49.99. Do you know any online retailers that sell assorted corals?

Another thing about the filter... How is it going to work without any cartridge inside of it? Do I just put live rock inside of the place where the cartridge was?


About the fish, I like the red striped goby, the black barred convict goby, and if it is possible I like this one http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/produ...id=44&osCsid=5eadc94947f52f5a028cfc698b847129
The royal Gramma

I also have a question about feeding... I do have new life spectrum but I'm not sure if this is for these fish.

-Maxi
 
The 18 watt lamp that comes with those 3 gal deco tanks are fine, they sit up high enough and actually make for a pretty good setup as far as 3 gal systems go.

I don't think you'll need a heater, but if your temp swings exceed 3 degrees or so, a VERY SMALL thermostat controlled heater may be in order, but carefully monitor the temp (highs and lows), regardless until you can get a handle on what's going on.

The hang-on-back filter that it shipped with is all you can do for this small of system, if you could find a powerhead that was small enough, it would only serve to heat up the system and probably cause too much water ruckus. The primary purpose of this filter, in this application is for water movement, not too little, not too much.

Only replace evaporated water with PLAIN water, not salt mix. Evaporation does not remove any salts or trace elements and if you replaced evaporated water with salt mix, you'd keep raising the salinity, and eventually ... bad things would happen.

The live rock should only go in the display area, not in the filter. It would be ok to leave the biological filter plate in, and the mechanical/chemical filter could be used as needed.

Be very careful with fish selection, and try and talk yourself into NO fish, and perhaps only several "sexy" shrimp. But if you do get fish, for sure keep a few tiny hermit crabs or shrimp to clean up uneaten food.

I think more than 2 inches combined fish length is all that I'd try. mushroom and other suitable coral stock by themselves can make for a very enjoyable tank.

Take it slow. Read up some more. There are plenty of online stores to aquire livestock. Coral stock, live rock, sand, etc can be pricey, shop around, factor in shipping and if you can be home to receive shipments, then make your purchase decision. Look here on reefcentral.com and check out their many sponsors and advertisers.

If you live within a 100 miles or so of a "large" and quality salt-water store, take your credit card and go. this way you do not end up with peices that are too big or not right, and you can get some more perspective on what you are buying. With these tiny systems you have to be VERY particular about purchases to avoid paying too much and/or for too much.

Good luck
 
the top off water is just FW, but needs to be done every day. you also have to use distilled water or ro water (can get distilled at walmart for like .49c per gallon. maybe you could get 2 a bucket for top off water, and keep that filled all the time, add to tank while needed, and get a bucket for water changes, fill and mix water at least 1 day before you plan to use it.

srry, forgot to say that you need a swing arm hydrometer like this one,
http://www.petco.com/product/12201/Aquarium-Systems-Instant-Ocean-Hydrometer.aspx
thats the kind I have, fairly accurate, and not ugly.

the corals can also be purchased on LA.com, tho 49.99 is a common price, what I paid for my large zoa colony (later fraged into 3 separate colonys) and shroom colony (only corals in that tank).
here is LAs coral section
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?siteid=22&pCatId=597

for the filter, its not like FW, the LR dose all the filtration, and the filter was just recomended for flow. I would however run carbon to keep the impuritys out of your water, maybe use aquaclear filter carbon packs, and relpace monthly.

as for the fish, those gobies are great choices, the royal gramma however needs a larger tank, and dose need a fair amount of teritory, the smallest tank I would keep it in would be a 15 gallon. I would keep only one goby until you have the hang of this, and you must stock very slowly. also, you can add inverts like crabs that make up for lack of fish. some kinds would be porcelin, pom pom, any thing but emerald arrow, and sally light foot, which are either too risky or too large for such a small system. another cool invert is a pistol shrimp, maybe look into shrimp gobies, see if you like those. they should be introduced at the same time.

for stocking it will take about a year to stock what I mentioned erlyer, here is the order I would stock,
add LS and LR to start cycle, should get cured LR, takes less time to cycle. after nitrates are less then 10, 0 is best, add the hermits and snails. after a few days add the cleaner and perpermint shrimp, as well as the mini brittle stars (if you cant find them then dont add any stars, others get too big). at this point start on weekly WC. after the cleanup crew have been in the tank for 2 weeks, if all levels are good then you can add the sexy shrimp, and 1-3 small coral frags (make sure that you dont get xenia of star polyps if you dont want to have to frag them weekly). after a week if everything tests normal, add any other inverts you wanted to add, and some more coral frags. wait a week, and you can add your first fish. this should pretty good and after you feel like you have mastered taking care of it you can get a second fish. I would wait until it has been set up for at least 6 months, 1yr is better. keep in mind that nanos are harder to care for then normal sized tanks.
 
Thanks again rakeck and Moonstream.

I have another question to ask though, what does "frag" mean?
What do I feed the fish and corals?
 
frag=fragment

depends on what kind of fish/corals you have. some inverts need to be fed too, nems and harlequen shrimp for instance. some corals like zoas and shrooms will filter feed. others like LPS need to be fed often, not sure about soft or SPS. I dont think soft needs to be fed, no idea about SPS. the fish you are considering do best when fed pre-domonently (sp?) on frozen food, as well as live food. a good diet would be a very small pinch flake food every day, with a small amount of frozen food fed every 2 days, and live food once a month. frozen food would be things like brine, mysis, cyclofreeze, ect... live is things like BBS, mysis, pods, ect...
 
Thanks moon.

Almost forgot something important. I have a water testing kit from marineland, I got it for my freshwater tank. Will using these to test my water be any difference? Or do I have to buy a kit specifically for saltwater?
 
so even if they are different colors, they are still accurate or no? I gotta buy a new test kit?
 
Thanks for that link rakeck, I'm looking threw it.

I am just wondering another thing, when filling up the tank for the first time... do I use tap water with dechlorinator? Or, do I have to use distilled water?
 
Forgot another thing..haha...

So the 6watts per gallon with that light will be ok right? It wont fry anything will it?
 
The 18 watt light will be fine, and should not heat the system enough to be noticable much less a problem.

The great thing about nano systems, especially systems under 5 gallons is the ease of water changes and starting new. 3 gallons of ro-di water will cost less than $3, go with bottled water from your local wal-mart or other store, and you won't have to worry about whether or not the base water quality is in question.

Your tap water may be superb, but probably not, and in reefing, most tap water is highly suspect at best. What you can get away with in fresh water will cause major problems in a delicate reef eco-system. So why take the chance to save $20-30 year with regards to a 3 gallon system. And you needn't worry about de-chlorinator either as long as you use bottled water.
 
Your tap water may be superb, but probably not, and in reefing, most tap water is highly suspect at best. What you can get away with in fresh water will cause major problems in a delicate reef eco-system. So why take the chance to save $20-30 year with regards to a 3 gallon system. And you needn't worry about de-chlorinator either as long as you use bottled water.
Click to expand...

Thanks again rakeck, but are you telling me I have to use bottled water for this? lol. I'm sorry but that sounds kind of silly to me :smokin:
If I have to I will...but, can I use the water purifier I use to drink my water?
I have to know everything by this weekend so I know what to buy.
I have heard of "instant ocean" to make saltwater, and I have heard it is excellent. So, I'm thinking of using that, or if you can reccomend me to something else. The thing is I don't know how to use it :p It comes with instructions on the back though right? (kind of a stupid question, lol)

Thank you all for helping me a lot.
-Maxi
 
Thanks for the quick reply kyle. So I guess distilled water it is.

Almost forgot something else :p
Whenever I get my corals later on, how do I put them on the live rock? Or do they just climb themselves on there?
 
Last edited:
Instant ocean or reef crystals are what I use and I've never had any sort of issues with either of these. 1/2 cup per gallon of water.

Most purifiers I'm aware of are basically a carbon filter that will at most only help to lower bad odor and taste issues, but still leave in nitrates, phosphates, and most other things that we really do not want to introduce into a reef system that you may or may not have.

Most of the coral stock you should be concetrating on will be attatched to a small peice of rock. you will buy the coral and the rock it is attatched to and simply place it where you feel it is best suited. there are reef safe 2 part epoxy type adhesives that can be purchased if you need to place the peice in an odd place where it needs to be stabilized or held up.

Just get your tank set up, add salt mix and start pump and let temp stabilize 6 hours or so, while waiting set your light timer and get your light going. Then add some sand, preferably "live" sand and some "rubble" and a few pieces of quality live rock. These alone are typically enough to cycle a tank. The cycle can be anywhere from a several days to 4 weeks, depending on how "fresh" the rock and sand is, and how much/little die-off occurs in transit and in the new tank.

Take your time and don't rush it any more than you may have to for whatever reason.

P.S. Rubble is the small "gravle'y" stuff that is left in the bottom of a box of live rock that has just been unloaded, many small critters such as copepods (a good critter) and such also settle out of the rock pieces and into the rubble ... to many here (me included), this stuff is good as gold, and many fish stores throw it away for fear of the unknown that may lie within it but the good life form that it holds outweighs some of the negative life form it MAY have.
 
Just get your tank set up, add salt mix and start pump and let temp stabilize 6 hours or so, while waiting set your light timer and get your light going. Then add some sand, preferably "live" sand and some "rubble" and a few pieces of quality live rock. These alone are typically enough to cycle a tank. The cycle can be anywhere from a several days to 4 weeks, depending on how "fresh" the rock and sand is, and how much/little die-off occurs in transit and in the new tank.
Click to expand...


Light timer? Something new for me to learn too... I know what they are obviously..lol. But you can't leave the light on as long as you want?
 
not really, the fish need to sleep, and the corals need a light cycle. some fish are nocturnal, some inverts are more active at night, ect. you can get a blue moon light that replicates the moon, to veiw them at night, but waste if you wont be around at night, or dont want to see it at night.
 
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