Nano reef set up

Question
HI, im brayden,i havent asked any guestions related to saltwater fish, so forgive my informality. I am currently looking at purchasing a 5 gallon tank from the lokal pet store and it says on the box "Marine Compatable". Could i put a pair of orcellias clow fish in there with a apple sea annenomy, and if so, do i need to sit the annenomy on live rock, or not?

P.S. I currently have 2 freshwater tanks with Tetra in one and Cichlid in the other. Other than that , i have no experience with salt water tanks.

Answer
Hey Brayden,

You can use almost anything to keep saltwater critter/coral...

A 'reef ready' or Marine Compatible, could mean many things...

Some tanks are better then others, in that they have 'built in' type of filtration systems.. (some folks refer to this as AIO, or ALL IN ONE)

some tanks have a 'hang on filter' that is exactly that, probably similar to your fresh water filters...

Maybe you can tell me the 'brand name' of the tank  you are looking at??? JBJ???  maybe???

BUT, PLEASE, keep in mind that salt water folks use the word FILTER, but, we really dont have a 'physical' filter...

the 'FILTER' is actually a bunch of organisms that live in and on the rock and sand...

And as long as the tank has good water flow/circulation, from the use of 'power heads', and it has healthy live sand and live rock, then a BIOLOGICAL FILTRATION SYSTEM will grow/develope to become large enough to process the waste from the number of fish and critters you have in your tank.

IT is this 'growing' of biological organisms, (BO) that is referred to as CYCLING...

other then that, I am sure that the tank you are looking at from your LOCAL FISH STORE, (LFS), will work fine...

BUT, I should also state that smaller tanks are a bit more difficult to maintain then larger tanks..

the main issue here is that REEF tanks need/thrive on STABILITY... that is, the temperature doesnt go up, and down and up and down, multiple times per day... SAme for pH, and Salinity, and Nitrates, and EVERYTHING ELSE

With a small tank, if you evaporated some water cause it might be a hot day, and you add a 1/2 gallon of water one day, and that water doesnt match the tank temperature, then that 1/2 gallon of water will change teh water temperture more then it would if the tank was much larger

1/2 gallon to a 5 gallon tank is basically 10%

but, 1/2 gallon to a 50 gallon tank is negligible  (1% per the math)

so, the ability of 1% change in temp is much less then 10% difference


there are other issues involved, but, suffice it to say, that smaller tanks have a unique issue with that regards...

other then that, it is cheaper to maintain/keep a smaller tank, as it doesnt take much chemicals or lighting or electricty to keep the smaller tank...


I dont mean to confuse you, and to truly answer your question, i would need more info on the tank you are proposing to get... but at this point, think that your LFS is ok in this suggestion...


good luck.


ALSO, you might want to join my new forum, (updated just last week)

the address is

www.thelittleocean.com

IT will be much easier to post online there, and you will get feedback from other 'experts' as well as other members who might e in similar stages of setup as you are...


good luck again, and hope to see you around



BILL