13 gallon frag tank build

aeo29067 · May 20, 2022

Hello y'all,
I've finally decided to try my hand at keeping corals. Just picked up this lovely 13 gallon aquatop at my local fish store yesterday. I'm gonna start getting supplies together for the build but before that, I would love any and all advice on getting into corals and how best to aquascape a nano for this in mind. I've kept fish only saltwater nano tanks before so I'm familiar with the upkeep/maintenance in small tanks. My main question is how do y'all schedule things like dosing? What kind of lighting would go with this tank? It came with a skyaqua mini. Will that cut it for corals?

rsyver · May 20, 2022

I don't know anything about that light, so no comment there. However, I've found that All for Reef and a Kamoer wifi dosing pump work great for keep up the required elements in a nano/pico tank. It's made life much easier for me. While I check Alk regularly, I only check everything else once in a while for piece of mind.
Also, a Tunze nano has been my ATO solution. It's helped tremendously for stability in such a small system.

Steven Garland · May 27, 2022

That light will not cut it. Simple things like Zoanthids would barely survive. You can look into the AquaKnight V1 or V2 on amazon for about $80 and $150 respectfully. There are almost Aqua Illumination Prime 16HD or the original Primea for sale on the forum here almost daily for around $160-$200. If those lights are out of the budget,I hate and sound negative but you may as well go ahead ans call it quits.

There are also Vipaspectra's on Amazon for about $80-$100 as well.

You will need a reliable auto atop off unit which can be had in the marketplace section as well here for roughly $60-$100. I personally would go for the JBJ ato from Premium Aquatics,it used their old float sensors and a newer dc pump for $110. I have had terrible luck with newer optical sensors.

Dosing,eh I would not worry about dosing. Unless you keep sps which,I would not being a new reefer (I think you are,right?) OR have experience with them. Weekly water changes should take care of replenishing trace and minor elements enough for soft coral and LPS.

I would suggest upgrading to return pump with whatever pump will fit in the return section and add a VCA Random Flow Generator.

I would say about 8-10lbs of rock,if you go with dry rock,add a nice little chunk of live rock from a local fish store to jump start the aquarium with benefical bacteria.