I'm finally going to do it, I made the choice to try a saltwater tank, I maintain planted freshwater tanks and have been doing my research...plus I watch a lot of BRS-TV lol
I am in no rush to stock the tank but I did order it already, should be here this week. I have already gotten the wrap about starting with a small tank from people and I understand their points but I have decided to go with it anyway due to space. It will be bedside so forgetting to top it off precisely every day will not be an issue, I will do this right. Starting with being very patience I am in no rush to stock it, I will cycle the tank for a good 3 months using live some-what cured rock and live rock rubble that is all readily available from my LFS for $8/lb. People tell me with such a small tank about 5lb of live rock not to bother dipping it first? I also will not bother using live sand since it is such a small amount and I have easy access to live rock 20 minutes away. If I find a really ruby red chunk at the LFS but its has no character to it or is too big can I just frag some off it leaving a new clean surface exposed? I am gathering the proper SW test kits, refractometer, etc, in the meantime...any recommendations on salt? Seems like Red Sea products are popular, Coral Pro? Does anyone think adding something such as BIO-Spira is worth it with live rock? I do plan on letting it set for several months, I will add a cleanup crew when people think it is safe I will wait the 3 months if I have to. When it comes time to add a fish I will consult the community wisely first as it would have to be humane, small, not need the space to be an active swimmer, etc. I may not even add a fish with it being so small but at least the cleanup crew will add some movement and the coral eventually are what I am after.
The lighting that comes with this tank supposedly will work for some corals because there is evidence of it growing coralline algae for this individual:
I have done the research in lighting kelvin temperatures and it is generally agreed that anything over 7200k is purely for aesthetics. Personally I feel almost all living things can benefit of temps as high as 10,000k that is what I use for sunlamps (personal health) and on some planted tanks it really does not look purple/blue for very long. I have several spares I can use, I am not sure of the factory wattage on the light-bar that comes with the tank but these are 15w directional bulbs (5x 3w)
Another great reason for me to upgrade the lighting to my bulbs is that I can hang some higher to grow plants in the rear mini-sump section. No I am not referring to micro-algae the space for hardware back there is way too small for that, but a Mangrove tree I think would look nice and from my freshwater experiences with ripariums anything that uses tank water with emerging foliage uses a great deal of nitrates (not sure about phosphates?) but would not help nearly as much as the massive water changes I will be performing without a skimmer. The tree can be topped and pruned to grow into more of a shrub with dense foliage, and all I have to do is use a circle saw to drill a hole in the rear cover to insert a basket. Once the roots really take off back there it may be more effective than you think in a small tank like this between water changes. Another mod I was thinking about for the rear is a secondary pump and nozzle set. This would be way more sleek than trying to cram the smallest unsightly powerhead in the front of the tank, with a nozzle now mounted in an opposing location I could use timers to stagger them and create a differentiated flow...not exactly a wavemaker though I do not want to burn the pumps out with on/off cycle too tight together.
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