Soupysteve
Apathetic Master
- Aug 24, 2008
- 92
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- Real Name
- Stephen Hess
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- Samsung Galaxy 7 Active
Let me throw my salt water nano idea your way again. Not trying to keep you from freshwater (currently, my freshwater tank has more of my time than my reef tank), but some folks shy away from the saltwater because of some crazy misconception that you have to be wealthy and/or a biologist to keep them.
Lighting over a 10g with soft corals - mushroom (discosoma), ricordea, zooanthids, xenia, colts, kenya trees, etc could all be kept under this lighting no problem.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13734&pcatid=13734
Coralife makes a fixture similar to that one that is like, a 10" model. It would work over a 5gal.
I gave my buddy an old 5 gal I had, about 15 lbs of live rock from my display, the 10" coralife fixture, and a 20lb bag of black Tahitian sand. He bought a low gph rated powerhead for it for some flow... That was three months ago - his tank is friggin stunning. He keeps a peppermint shrimp and a clown goby in it. The few frags of zoanthids, discosoma, and kenya tree I gave him have really taken over.
When my buddy swings by, I fill up his 5gal PLASTIC gas can with RO/DI water. He tops off his tank when he says the trickle is too loud. We've done two 100% water changes in the past three months. Looks great!
The amount of live rock you would need would depend on your personal taste (aesthetics) and IF you put fish in there, you'd need to keep the added bio-load in check with some additional live rock. Another benefit to having more live rock is that with frequent water changes, you may be able to get away with not even having man-made filtration... your live rock and "clean up crew" will keep things in check.
Take a look around at nanoreefs.com for some GREAT info (especially their DIY section - they should rename it "stoner fish nerds and what they do in their garage"). Reefcentral.com is also a great source, but seems to have more snooty trolls than I care to deal with... search Soupysteve (consistency for the win!) there to see my salty tanks
Good luck either way, a planted Amazon freshwater tank can be easy on the eyes as well.
Lighting over a 10g with soft corals - mushroom (discosoma), ricordea, zooanthids, xenia, colts, kenya trees, etc could all be kept under this lighting no problem.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13734&pcatid=13734
Coralife makes a fixture similar to that one that is like, a 10" model. It would work over a 5gal.
I gave my buddy an old 5 gal I had, about 15 lbs of live rock from my display, the 10" coralife fixture, and a 20lb bag of black Tahitian sand. He bought a low gph rated powerhead for it for some flow... That was three months ago - his tank is friggin stunning. He keeps a peppermint shrimp and a clown goby in it. The few frags of zoanthids, discosoma, and kenya tree I gave him have really taken over.
When my buddy swings by, I fill up his 5gal PLASTIC gas can with RO/DI water. He tops off his tank when he says the trickle is too loud. We've done two 100% water changes in the past three months. Looks great!
The amount of live rock you would need would depend on your personal taste (aesthetics) and IF you put fish in there, you'd need to keep the added bio-load in check with some additional live rock. Another benefit to having more live rock is that with frequent water changes, you may be able to get away with not even having man-made filtration... your live rock and "clean up crew" will keep things in check.
Take a look around at nanoreefs.com for some GREAT info (especially their DIY section - they should rename it "stoner fish nerds and what they do in their garage"). Reefcentral.com is also a great source, but seems to have more snooty trolls than I care to deal with... search Soupysteve (consistency for the win!) there to see my salty tanks
Good luck either way, a planted Amazon freshwater tank can be easy on the eyes as well.
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