Thinking about starting a 2.5 gal

wejlick1

no fish just coral...... what should i do? ive never tried saltwater before and i want to get started with a tiny tank to learn about it..... then maybe once im good switch over to like a nano or something a little bigger.

fishy-mush

hello,
its best that you try to maintain a fresh water tank so you get the hang off taking care of a tank. even without fish or inverts, it is pretty tough to maintain a reef tank,very expensive too. i would try to handle a couple of fish, small ones, so you learn about basic saltwater needs before considering coral.

wejlick1

yea i have fresh water tanks now and am wanting to try salt. soo keeping fish is easier then coral?

Melissa

corals require stronger lights than fish need, they also need to be fed supplements. All you could really fit in a tank that small is zoanthids, polyps and some mushrooms. And if you want to keep fish i would reccomend nothing smaller than 20 gallons.

caferacermike

If you try it, get one of those little Azoo tanks with the itty bitty HOT filter. They come with just enough light to keep zoa and shrooms alive, the filter creates some current mixing o2 into the water and exchanging co2. You could probably even keep one red cap or a panda goby with a little sexy shrimp. Keep a bottle of RO water right next to the tank as you'll need to keep it topped off twice a day. The tiny amount of evaporated water will quickly condense the specific gravity.

wejlick1

ok soo if just starting with a 2.5 gal tank what else would i need to get started?

Nanoguy

If you really want to do a pico I say go for it. The 2 biggest problems you will face is heating and evaporation. Whatever tank you go with I would suggest making some sort of lexan top to cut down on evap thus cutting down on salinity swings. You can find quite a few kits with hand on back filters and PC lighting. You can use them both if you keep easier corals like the ones mentioned. Remove any media from the filter and run LR rubble. LR, sand and some good salt along with a test kit and hydrometer will about be it. It is true, a 2.5g tank will require DAILY work, mainly in the form of topoffs and a larger tank would be easier to maintain but that certainly doesn't mean you have to do one. This is just the tip of the iceberg on picos, search around and you'll get the idea of what it takes.

BTW, great idea not to have any fish, it will make things a lot easier. Inverts like a few sexy shrimp would add interestin behavior and not add muh to the bioload.