5 gallon hex.

[blind1993]

:up: what would you guys think about a 5 gallon hex aquarium. just with corals and live rock. i am doing that because i want to grow corals and i have a lighting system and all for this and alot of flow in there right now. so do you guys think it will work. for now i put it filled with water in the spot just to see how much evap will happen.:fish:

 

[dakota]

I had one set up for about a year.

It had about 100gph of flow and no filtration. 18 watts of 50/50 lighting.
Eagle eye and Radioactive dragon eye zoos did okay in it if placed up high.

Then it turned into a holding tank for live rock and hermit crabs while I considered my next move for a few months. Probably had about 20 pounds of live rock in it.

The tank had a pod and bristle worm population that had to be seen to be believed....and the nastiest sand ever due to the lack of filtration.

I got maybe a cup or so evaporation a day.

Sweet little tank. I especially liked the reflections off the side making the central rock placement look bigger.

I have a few pictures of it in its prime in my phone. PM me with your cell # if you can receive them and want to see them. Be worth the quarter it'd cost to share them with a fellow hex fan.

The only problem with the tank might be getting enough light on it for good coral growth without the temperature being too high.

 

[blind1993]

do you think an mj 900 is too much flow for it.
also it is going to be a bare bottom most likely with a bioball floating at the top.

 

[dakota]

I think you'd be fine with a MJ400.

I had an Aquaclear 20 hanging on the back just to provide flow. It would have worked great for running carbon or Purigen and a sponge for filtration as well.

I had about a inch of fine aragonite sand in it, and the flow didn't move it. But with the MJ you would probably be better off without the sand.
I don't think you need the Bioball. Any liverock in there will give you better bio filtration.

Will this be a display tank or strictly grow-out? If only a growout tank you might want to make an eggcrate shelf to hold the corals up closer to the light.

Good luck with it. I enjoyed mine.

The one thing that I didn't like so much about it: the acrylic they make it out of is pretty soft and very easily scratched. If it's going to be display, then you need to be very careful cleaning it.

 

[blind1993]

well it is just going to be to have corals and do you mean mj900 or 400 becuase i have a900 in there at the moment. i measured the evap and it is a mm a day so i think i am good. but what do you guys say is the max and least temp for the corals because i think i might let it get down to 65 or so.

 

[dakota]

65? Seriously?

25 watt visitherm stealth set to 78.

 

[blind1993]

well i though corals like the nice cold temp that is why. so far the temp is at 81. i will make it into salt tommorow. then i will let it cycle with a dead shrimp. then live rock and corals.

 

[dakota]

Okay.

The shrimp might be better on your dinner plate than in the tank.
The live rock will cycle the tank just fine without it.

Good luck.

 

[blind1993]

ok i will start a build thread on it today. thank you.

 

[reeferjw]

The mj900 might be high, but as long as it isn't blasting right on anything, it may be ok, not sure though. I had a 3 gal for a while and the issues with all these tanks is that if something goes wrong, it goes bad real fast. It always seems to happen when you go away for a few days.

The last straw was when I went out of town for the weekend and came back to find that one of my hermits somehow knocked over my frogspawn. The frogspawn died fouling the water and in less than 3 days my tank was done. Daily water changes ensued and I was able to save a few corals, but my awesome mated pair of gold coral banded shrimp were lost.

Good luck. Keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[blind1993]

the mj is pointing at the wall makeing a hurricane motion. and i am going to keep just corals that people give away in this aquarium. but when i get some lights on my 55g then i will start with bigger and better things.