Anyone think a 2.5 gallon would be possible?

[nvillacci]

saw a little 2.5 gallon glass tank at petsmart. It came with a coverglass for 9.99. Anyone think this would work? My concerns...
1. What to use for light?
2. Filter and where?
3. Do they make small enough powerheads?
4. Would you even be able to keep a fish in there?

Lets see what you guys come up with:)

l8rs:bum: Nick

[Pseudo Boy]

Hello,

Everything is possible. Rio makes a powerhead, a Rio 50 I think it was that would work. Lights from AHsupply, a couple of 9 watters in a cheaply made hood. The hood is easy, just make a square box add lights a fan and viola'. Filtration could be a piccolo skimmer or just live rock and live sand.

The only problems with a 2.5 gallon is that there is no margin for error. You might even have to make constant water changes just to keep the water quality within tolerance levels for the creatures that you decide to keep.

Then you have to consider very carefully what you intend to keep in a tank that small. A fish might be possible, but they would have to be more of a sedentary fish like gobies or a small neon goby and the like. You would have to ask some of the other members that question.

I have seen some sites with people keeping tanks that size. I don't know how successful they would be over the long term but you can always try. The thing that you must try to remember is that as a real reefer you are trying to maintain animals in an environment that is conducive to living while enjoying the hobby as a whole. Most of what the hobby is about is the fulfilment you get from keeping a slice of life in your home and watching them live and grow and experimenting with new techniques and passing your experiences along to others.

Hope that this helps..Good luck and let us know how it goes.


Pseudo :smokin:

[nitritetest]

Sure, it's possible. I've had a 3 gallon eclipse set up for about 8 months, and it's doing fine. I'm more experimenting with the nano thing with the 3 gallon than anything, but things are growing nicely. I don't skim it, don't use any filtration. I have a penguin mini hang on filter to break up the surface and for water movement, and a thermometer. I've got 2 X 13 PC's from AH supply retrofitted in to an 18 inch light strip which sits on top of the open tank. I've got mushrooms, button polyps, green star oplyps, feather dusters, snails, hermits, and come coraline LR. I found even the smallest power heads to be to much, so I don't use any.

I'm moving things to one of the 7 gallon bow front tanks though so I can add a fish or 2, because I think the 3 gallon is too cramped for fish.

[galleon]

It is very feasible, but very difficult. As someone already acknowledged, there is literally no margin for error. I have kept Acropora sp., Montipora sp., and Porites sp. in 2.5 gallon All Glass. I even experimented with a Jaubert Microcean in the little tank, however the sandbed was too deep enough to allow adequate growth in the bulk water above
1. I used Natural Sunlight
2. 2" of Caribsea Geo-Marine and a small piece or two of live rock.
3. Yes, there are very small powerheads, including the Rio 180 (which I used upon recommendation from David Mohr, it suits the job perfectly) and Aquarium System's Microjet.
4. I didn't keep any fish. Carbon and nutrient budgets were meet via Stomatella sp. and your typical grazing gastropods, which were all that was needed in such a small volume.

-On a further note, calcium and carbonate demands were meet using local tap water (I live in Florida, so my water is very hard). A water change of a few cups was done weekly.

[Bell]

Someone had a 1/2 gallon nano. :rolleyes: Impossible, I thought. I wish I had bookmarked the page -- if I run across it again I'll throw the link out.

[mr9iron]

Give it a try and let us konw how it does. I am so into this nano thing that I think Im gonna break down my main tank and just keep nanos.

[nvillacci]

If someone donates the lights and pump ill do it:) Ill be happy to trade some callerpa, kenyi tree, or SPS frags:D

What lighting to get? I just bought a 7500.00 MX6 last week, so I cant dish money into a new venture...:(

Need donations guys!!

Nick

PS. 9iron, did the wife get a hold of you when she found out what your spending all the money on?

[Angel 1]

I've got a 2 gallon nano. Its an eclipse exporler, took out the filter added heater and mini-jet 404. 3" of sugar sand and 2 little chunks of rock. I don't have any lights on it but it would be easy to put a PC or two in it. All I keep in it is a hermit and coral banded shrimp. If I added the lights (2 13w PC) shrooms and polyps would be doable.

[wasabi]

hi, first post a nano forumn allright.i have a 2.5 up and running. i have a plenum,eggcrate, 1 inch crushed, coral 1.5 inch sandbed,1 pound liverock.25 watt heater,minimight18 watt pc lights,airstone behind an angled piece of plexiglass.1 scarlet hermit,1 astrea,1 frag of greenstar,1 ricordea,1greenstriped shroom,no waterchanges. feed tiny amount twice a month. topoff 1/2cup a week

[mr9iron]

nvillacci, the wife hasnt killed me yet. Shes really getting into the nano thing to. Thats a plus in my book

Wasabi, You have a pic of the nano I would love to see it. Keep us posted on its progress.

[Pseudo Boy]

This is the site that has a 2.5 gallon reef tank . You might fid it interesting HERE (http://home.pacifier.com/~tab/pico.htm)

Pseudo :smokin:

[ocean]

I've kept a 2.5 g hex tank on my desk at work for awhile. It was a little cheap acryllic tank from walmart. I added the smallest heater I could find (can't remember what kind) and put a fluorescent bulb into the light hood it came with. I was able to keep a blasotmussa, mushrooms, 2 hermits, some macroalgae (to control any algae that wanted to control the tank), several polyps and a very small damsel that had to be moved to a bigger tank eventually. I would recommend leaving out the fish as they make the tank a lot more maintenance. I only did a water change twice a week (which isn't much for that small of a tank). And had slow growth of everything in the tank. The tank was up for a little over a year.

[Reef-lite]

Here is another site of a two gallon nano:

http://www.homestead.com/valsmarineaquariums/home.html

[kennerd]

I think this takes the cake for the smallest "kit" available: they claim 3/4 gallon volume with a pretty neat JBJ light on a "boom" over the tank

JBJ Mini Micro Reef Tank Product Page (http://www.jbjlighting.com/rel_prod_mini_tank.html)

Here's a link to one setup:

http://www.homestead.com/valsmarine.../microreef.html


Unfortunately, they run in the $50-70 range. A little steep, but neat looking....maybe a DIY lighting setup and a glass vase might work cheaper!

[nvillacci]

A LFS couldnt sell them at all. Basically where do you find a pump thats small enough for circulation?

Not much you could do with that, huh?

Nick

[kennerd]

I have a Micro-Jet that is adjustable for 32-70 GPH that is maybe 1.5" cubed in size. Might work.

I certainly wouldn't put a fish of any kind in something this smalll: It's like an ant farm!

[MarkS]

http://www.nano-reef.com/valnano.htm

I haven't seen any smaller than that.

Mark

[nitritetest]

That 3/4 gallon is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I can see putting a bunch of shrooms in there, a bunch of hermits and snails, maybe some green star polyps and a tiny powerhead and sitting it on the corner of a desk somewhere.....

[Aquamans Reef]

As mentioned above anything is possible but keep in mind that the smaller a tank is the harder it is to maintaine meaning if you have a problem it will much much harder to solve than say a a 55G. FWIW Joe

[moviegeek]

I had a 2.5 gallon for 3-4 months about a year ago. I tore it down. It was simply too much of a pain to clean the algae off the glass. I had to basically take everything out to clean it. Even in an empty 2.5 gallon there isn't much room to maneuver your hand.

If I ever do another nano it will probably be a 7 gallon AGA.