Tank for Christmas

Mustang Boy

AC Members
Aug 6, 2008
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Tampa,FL
Well my family does secret santa every year and i put a 5-7g tank on my list among other items like a redsea nano HOB, petsmart gift card, n something else that i dont remember. Well my aunt got me(n i just so happened to have gotten her lol) and she bought me an eclipse 5g hex tank AND a $25 gift card for petsmart. i have a few ideas of what to stock in it but i do not want to modifiy it too much if at all, at the very most putting a different light bulb in it(which will be mandatory).

so far all that i have set in stone is the cleanup crew so i will go ahead and list it now:

2-3 nassarius snails
2 dwarf cerith snails,
1 astrea snail(maybe a star astrea i dont know yet)
1-2 small blue leg hermits

i have also decided that im gonna try to make most of the rock structure out of tonga rock to help utilize some of the height that is associated with hex tanks(little trick i learned from the FW world with driftwood lol)

and as for corals ive decided the easier the better so they will consist of mushrooms, zoas, paly, and MAYBE an island of green star polyps.

now the big question. This tank comes stock with a screw in CFL bulb now i read the warning and it says max wattage allowed is a 15w tube style bulb(may have been worded differently but im not sure i read it like 5hrs ago). now since i do not want to go and change the hood or modify this hood at all(unless there is an easy mod) would this bulb(10w version) be suffecient for the easy corals i listed above:
http://www.oceanicsystems.com/products/505...scent-lamps.php

i also remember seeing in the threads about modding an aquapod 24 for more PC bulbs that there is a mirrored acrylic/plexiglass or somwthing like that, now if i can find this i will try to add this to the underside of the hood where any bit of light will reach and try to angle it back towards the tank so that there is no wasted light hitting anywhere.

now this little tank only comes with a 35gph HOB(style dont really know what to call it) now i know that even for these little corals that this will not be enough flow so i was thinking of adding a small powerhead i was thinking like 60-70gph should be suffecient. now i remember seeing a thread about someone talking about a pump that fit this bill perfectly and i will be looking for that thread to find a link to the powerhead but if any of you have a link to it or one like it that would make my search a ton easier.

i also have a hydor miniheater that i was going to use on a different tank but it wasnt needed so if need be i can use it on this tank.

is there anything you all will recommend to run in this filter besides the funky shapped filter cartridges that are used in it? also would you guys recommend using the biowheel or no

and dang i always forget all of my questions before i finish the thread but oh well if i remember the rest i will make a reply with them.

also i am sorry about all of the questions i had only planned on asking one and more just started popping into my head lol
 
thank you.

and yes i have been planning on doing a small tank like this for sometime now i just had to modify my plans a little with it being this style tank and all but luckily i do research on all kinds of things so i am more informed about my possibilities
 
well i was going to update my original message with my equipment wishlist that i have been making in my head but i will add it here and just add to it in any future posts i make if anything changes or gets added to it


equipment wishlist:
Hydor Pico Evolution Mini Pump
Aquarium Surface Skimmer(not sure if it will be too tall or not but its worth test fitting)
Coralife Mini 50/50 mini compact bulb
 
that tank in the vid you posted was way over stocked, it has gross amounts of hair algae and probably wasnt in the best shape, hate to be a dream assassin but tanks that small are gonna be hard to keep.
 
in a 5 to 7 gallon tank you can have 1 clown fish. nothing else i wouldnt even advise putting a shrimp in there but that IMO, its really hard to keep algae down because he probably had so much waste in the tank. daily water changes are probably irritating..

a 5 to 7 gallon is not gonna be the best choice for someone just starting but you seem like your researching so i hope it all goes okay for you! no bio wheel.. and get a better heater then a hydor mini heater.
 
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