Heading over here to the Marine section....

~*LuvMyKribs*~

~*LuvMyKribs*~

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Nov 15, 2003
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Vancouver, Canada
www.aquaticescapes.ca
Well I'm finally starting my first Marine tank. After wanting to for a very long time, I am setting up a 5.5 gallon marine tank. Yes, its small and I understand its harder with smaller tanks, but my aspirations are dwarf seahorses and they need a small tank.

So, my setup is as follows:

5.5 gallon tank
Crushed semi-fine agronite substrate
Aquaclear mini (can easily be upgraded to a 150 or 200 if you suggest it, i have some laying around).
150 watt heater Temp 78F
18 watt Coralife Mini Aqualight (9 watt True Actinic 09 Blue + 9 watt 10,000 k daylight)


I will be adding some live rock this week, not a whole lot but a couple peices. Also i will add a damsel to help cycle.

So, my aspirations are dwarf seahorses, but i will not be able to get my hands on them until at least the summer. I am thinking the damsel until then, a cleaner shrimp (or maybe sexy shrimp if i can find some), and some snails + crabs. I know there is not much else that will fit in there.

I would like some soft corals and mushrooms, would there be enough lighting for them? I know not to add these right away. Also i will be getting some macroalgae and 'plants?' for the seahorses to hitch on.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...
I am so excited! :D
-Diana
 
use a raw shrimp to cycle not a fish.
 
I understood that adding live rock is pretty much an instant biological filter, which needs an ammonia source, which will be the damsel, and you dont technically need to cycle to the same extent as freshwater..... because with live rock you dont really notice an ammonia and nitrite spike, minimal if at all?

Correct me if im wrong. I've fishless cycled all my tanks previously, but thought it was different for saltwater if i'm using live rock.

Although, i wont have the standard 2 lbs per gallon, so does that make a difference?

Thanks
-Diana
 
It is not really different with SW than FW. Cycling with a fish and live rock causes the same amount of stress and can take the same amount of time. Personally, I would suggest a fishless cycle. I used cured live rock, ammonia and Bio-Spira. Within 2 days my tank had cycled. All the other FW cycle tricks work too. If you are patient you can just use uncured live rock and let it cycle.

I have noticed you are going for dwarf seahorses. Okay, I am pretty sure any tank mate you put with them will bully them. Also, they need pristine water conditions, and using crushed coral will not be conducive to this. CC is a nitrate trap. It would be better to go without a substrate or use play sand.

As far as your corals the nitrates need to be really low for them as well. I think your light will probably be all right for some low light mushrooms and coral, but you need to be pretty selective to low light specimens.

Hope I have helped, I will probably need your help when I get rid of my Oscars in my 55g and go to African Cichlids here in the near future. Good luck!
chris
 
Hey Diana,

Welcome to this side! I won't enter the debate about fishless cycle, but a 5 is pretty small for a damsel. If you start out with some good, cured live rock, and keep an eye on things, you will probably be able to get some hermits in their right away, followed by a few snails. If all goes well for a while, then add the shrimp. Cleaners may be a bit too boiterous for the ponies, though. Anyway, as you say, with good live rock, you may not see an ammonia spike at all.

Because the dwarves are so tiny, they wouldn't add a lot of bioload to a tank that was already supporting snails, shrimp and hermits, you shouldn't need the damsel to maintain the biological filter, and it would terrorize the horsies.

In my experience, mushrooms do well in young tanks, and with low light, so they would be a good choice. Because you will be feeding the horses with small live foods, like brine shrimp nauplii, you might even try you hand at some non-photosynthetic corals. If you can get gracilaria or botryocladia (red grape), they are two types of macroalgae that will look good, give some hitching posts and not take over the tank.
 
Great, thanks guys.

Yes, i planned on removing the damsel when getting the horsies. I've read they dont fare well with tank mates. It would only be temporary for a couple months, so i wasnt too worried about it out-growing the tank.

Could i use a established filter sponge from one of my freshwater tanks? Thats always the trick i've used.... will the bacteria survive the move to saltwater?

I'll be getting cured live rock. Oh and the substrate is really fine... its crushed to the point of being coarse sand. I'll be adding a small sea fan as well for the horses to hitch on, also some macroalgae. Thanks for the suggestion mogurnda i'll look into those species.

Are there any shrimps you can suggest that will be okay with the horses?

Thanks again

-Diana
 
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