My 17 Gallon

[mr130gallon]

im thinking of doing my 17 gallon into an invert only salty tank, what kind of equipment do you need for a tank like this?

 

[AK77]

im thinking of doing my 17 gallon into an invert only salty tank, what kind of equipment do you need for a tank like this?

Hi,

It depends on the type of tank its going to be. IE FO, FOWLR or Reef (just minus the fish part lol)

Personally I'd go for:

Live rock
Heater
Circulation pump rated at 170 GPH
Sand
Saltwater at 1.026
Lighting (If you are having corals then T5 compacts or a metal halide would be good)

What inverts were you planning on keeping? Peacock Mantis Shrimp would be awesome!

 

[mr130gallon]

i dont know what IE FO or FOWLR means, but i was thinking reef, i was thinking a bunch of hermits, and some shrimp and some snails.

 

[AK77]

LOL. Sorry, I re-read my post and yeah, I can see how I managed to confuse you.

IE or ie/i.e, "Id est", "in other words".

FO = Fish Only
FOWLR = Fish Only With Live Rock

If its a nano reef, with corals and live rock, then the same as before:

Live rock
Heater
Circulation pump rated at 170 GPH
Sand
Saltwater at 1.026
Lighting (If you are having corals then T5 compacts or a metal halide would be good)

In a 17G tank, I'd suggest a 2 small hermits, a fire shrimp or a pistol shrimp (pistol shrimp with a watchman goby would be nice but only if you want a small fish), 5 bumblebee nassarius snails, 2 astrea snails. You could add an orange llipped conch but you'd have to target feed it with pellet food, pretty much indefinitely. If your tank is void of any fish, then the bio-load will be very small, meaning low ammonia and subsequently low nitrates. With low nitrates you'll get very little algae for the conch and the hermits to feed on, so bare that in mind.

Although an ammonia free tank sounds great, its actually not. The live rock houses the bacteria like the filter sponges do in an external filter. The bacteria need ammonia to feed on, breaking it down into nitrite and then nitrate. The nitrate then gives rise to algae in the tank, which forms the diet for many inverts. If there is no ammonia, the bacteria will start to die off. Having a small goby or another fish suited to a nano tank in there would contribute to the bio-load sufficiently to feed the live rock and subsequently the rest of the critters in your tank.

 

[mr130gallon]

ok, then ill get a small fish, you didnt say i needed a filter in the list, is that because i should know i need one? or because the water moving through the live rock will be the filter.

 

[AK77]

ok, then ill get a small fish, you didnt say i needed a filter in the list, is that because i should know i need one? or because the water moving through the live rock will be the filter.

Hi.

Live rock is the biological filter. You don't need an external or internal mechanical filter on a FOWLR or Reef tank. Some people do run them in tandem, although often with the filter sponges removed and replaced with activated carbon and phosban.

 

[mr130gallon]

sweet, sounds good, i dont know if i want a pistol shrimp though, as it might be in my bedroom and wake me up.

 

[steelhealr]

Check out the nano pins. They will help you get you on your way. SH

 

[mr130gallon]

yeah, ive read them a bit, but untill i know for sure weather ill be going for a nano salty or a dwarf channa i will continue to do nothing lol