Corals in a 5.5g?

[shanepike]

So I'm resigned to not having any fish in my 5.5g, and I'm fine with that. I'm concerned about what corals I can have in there, though.

I know my options are pretty limited, but would any of these work?
<ul>
<li>Red Candy Cap Montipora</li>
<li>GSP</li>
<li>Toadstool Leather</li>
<li>Birds Nest</li>
<li>Frogspawn</li>
<li>Galaxea</li>
<li>Plate Coral</li>
</ul>Obviously, placement will be key.

 

[frantz]

Size really only is limiting in the fact that you have to be even more on top of maintenance and the entire tank is going to be closer to one habitat (rather than a high flow section and low flow section or high light and low light. How much time are you going to spend on the tank and what sort of equipment do you plan on using? Or pick out a few you want and the forum will be better able to tell you what you'd need to make it work. if its too much for the equipment and effort you wanna put into it, pick your next fav setup =-)

 

[shanepike]

Is 15 min/day a lot or a little? I don't have any frame of reference. Right now I could spend 2 hours a day on it, but I know that's not realistic long-term.

My current setup is here:

 

[blind1993]

what type of lighting is it?

 

[frantz]

Ah yes, I remember your setup now. Lighting is the big question and also the flow. Its better to have a few little bumps than one big one. I'm not sure what that power head you have is rated for and is it your only source of flow? The front of your thank will not get much as its sitting. I have some moni plate coral that even with flow near by requires my squirting water with a baster on it to clear some fish poo every day or so. There is a book called

 

[hiimsean]

check out my thread in the members tank sub forum. i have a single par38 bulb, HOB filter and a MP10es on a 5.5g. im keeping SPS, LPS, and z&p's. everything is doing great in the tank. the only coral i've lost was a monti. digitata. i have an encrusting monti that was doing poor but has turned around. i have a few acros in the tank and they are all doing very well. LPS are thriving as are z&p's.

 

[shanepike]

Frantz;743331 wrote: Lighting is the big question and also the flow. ... I'm not sure what that power head you have is rated for and is it your only source of flow?

The lighting is two 6-watt T5s (10,000K and Actinic). The powerhead is rated at 110 GPH. It seems to have really good flow (things really swirl around in there), but I don't really have any accurate frame of reference

Frantz;743331 wrote: I really suggest you research a few corals and then build your system around it rather than building a system and hoping its right for the coral you like. You can be very successful!

Setting up this 5.5g has been absolutely invaluable in terms of helping all these terms actually become real instead of just words in a book, and that advice is something I have realized very quickly. Rather than just build a system and figure out what to put in it, I need to do it the other way around. Thanks for that!

Edit:

HiImSean;743365 wrote: check out my thread in the members tank sub forum.

I've bookmarked that to read tonight! Thanks!

 

[dakota9]

<ul>
<li>Red Candy Cap Montipora= Monti grows too fast for such a small tank</li>
<li>GSP= a bit invasive, will take over</li>
<li>Toadstool Leather= Perfect</li>
<li>Birds Nest= Without a skimmer, it might brown out a bit</li>
<li>Frogspawn = space needed so it wont sting other corals</li>
<li>Galaxea = invasive</li>
<li>Plate Coral = spot feeding can pollute the water of a small tank, don't overfeed</li>
</ul>
How about;

Mushrooms
Zoas
Cabbage coral
Palys
Tree leather
Duncan
Dendro

Where did you find such small T5 lighting?

 

[shanepike]

Dakota9;743502 wrote: How about;

Mushrooms
Zoas
Cabbage coral
Palys
Tree leather
Duncan
Dendro

I'll check those out!

Dakota9;743502 wrote: Where did you find such small T5 lighting?

I got it at PureReef. It fit almost</em> perfectly on the cover I already had. It's a Coralife.