Fluval spec 2 gallon. Will it work?

Coco Go · May 29, 2017

Hi guys, first time posting here. I was hoping to get some advise. I am an Arowana keeper and now would like to try my hands on corals. I got this fluval spec 2 gallon from Craiglist and I would like to grow some corals. I purchased this live rock at my LFS, will ecosystem work with that big rock on a small tank? Please advise. Thank you.

CalebWBrink2000 · May 29, 2017

If you don't intend to keep any fish, it will be fine. You will likely need better lighting. Look into a Kessil A80 perhaps. Do keep in mind though, you may need to take out a lot of that rock; almost all coral species will get larger than the size of that tank. Otherwise, you will need to prune and frag them frequently to keep them to a modest size.

Coco Go · May 30, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
If you don't intend to keep any fish, it will be fine. You will likely need better lighting. Look into a Kessil A80 perhaps. Do keep in mind though, you may need to take out a lot of that rock; almost all coral species will get larger than the size of that tank. Otherwise, you will need to prune and frag them frequently to keep them to a modest size.

Thanks for the advise, I am only putting corals in it, I did purchase this light.

Mrx7899 · May 30, 2017

I had one set up for about 2 years changed the light to an Innovative Marine 8 watt LED put a intank media basket in the back and upgraded the return pump to a Rio 180. Had some Zoas in there and some lps it was an easy tank 50% water change weekly and that was it also had a clown goby

Coco Go · May 30, 2017

Mrx7899 said:
I had one set up for about 2 years changed the light to an Innovative Marine 8 watt LED put a intank media basket in the back and upgraded the return pump to a Rio 180. Had some Zoas in there and some lps it was an easy tank 50% water change weekly and that was it also had a clown goby

Pico tank looks so pretty. So it does work. What media filter are you using?

brandon429 · May 30, 2017

not only is that tank workable for most coral, we're doing it in half the gallonage on the longterm in many posts its plenty good.

longevity tricks:

don't feed mid week and let rotting food sit. only feed before water changes. hit the corals with refrigerated/frozen hq feed. reef roids, oyster eggs, reef chili for ex and let that soak in a couple hours then do full water change, your corals wont mind. I leave mine drained up to 20 mins often before a refill, for conditioning/toughness factor. that long of a drain is obviously not the popular approach, yours will be just fine with a refill and brief air exposure.

have no sandbed that can cloud the tank at anytime. take your whole reef apart and rinse it perfectly running clear when it develops the condition. re assemble back as a skip cycle setup. this method of cleaning makes a pico reef ageless...hands off, a 2 gallon system is good for about 40 months max. try to see how many you can find living longer than 40 mos with an unrinsed sandbed.

when you build your reef, use as much rock as you are able to fully remove for disassembly cleaning at any stage. never have an unremovable setup in a pico reef or you will hate the choice one day though it may be delayed.

algae
animals are for preventing and your hands are for removing. have an algae free tank forever, simply allow none to grow. research ways to kill it. if you are doing something to the water in the research, that's a preventative move not an algae remover. If you are seeing something about animals or nutrient controls for algae care that's for prevention, none of those remove algae when you see it, we do. Algae cannot takeover in a tank where its not permitted. all problem algae tanks were made that way via design, but the opposite option exists and we have tanks modeling it (immune to invasion)

kill algae when your tank is drained in those water change intervals for example...a time of direct access. act on the algae directly, so that its gone soon after, then use the other things you read about as preventatives. when they don't work, our removal is the final say.

that light is just fine, how you feed will govern the success long term here, and hardware integrity/luck.