Anyone have a nano around 5.5g?

[Hotrod32487]

I have a 5.5 gallon ive been neglecting. The past couple of weeks ive been fixing it up and paying more attention to it but wholly crap i have to top-off a lot. Anyone else have tanks that small? If so, what do you have going on as far as lighting, filtration, flow, top off, skimmer etc...

[apedroza]

I have a picotope (3gal). It is stock with the original equipment except the lighting. Lighting is intense for such a small tank. 36watts of PCs from a coralife fixture. I do weekly water changes and top off daily. No skimmer yet haven't found one to fit .

[villjr]

I used to have a 5.5 It had a coralife 36 watt fixture, HOB filter with chaeto, 10-11 pounds of liverock, small heater, and a powerhead off a current fission nanoskimmer for circulation. Did a weekly 1 gallon water change and manual topoff. It was my dad's tank and was really nice. I tore it down when I upgraded him. I still have a the pieces and have been thinking of setting it up again for me.

[Headless_donkey]

I have a 2.5 picotope. I upgraded the lighting with NO florescent (should have gone PC). For filtration I use the stock filter to run carbon and I converted an AC70 into a fuge(best improvement). There is quite a bit of evaporation. I do 50% water changes every week. There is an HOB filter that hides the heater by tetra I think. I would go that route. I had an auto top off for a while, but moved it to another tank. The corals seemed happiest with the ATO because there weren't any salinity swings. They also improved when I added a heater. Best of luck. I recommend a shrimp/goby combo or harlequin shrimp.

[Hotrod32487]

Lighting is intense for such a small tank. 36watts of PCs

Lol i have a 96 watt quad 50/50 on my 5.5 gallon. Its pretty intense and probably adds significantly to the evaporation.


There is an HOB filter that hides the heater

The heater is in the filter?
Also, where did you get the auto top-off? Id like to learn how to build one that wont cost too much

[stoneroller]

My son and I have a DIY 4 g acrylic with builtin overflow and three chambers, first chamber has a heater, second is purigen, and then the return pump, a microjet. I just have a clamplight with a 5500 K bulb and will be upgrading that soon. Not heavily stocked. I will be building my own cheap ATO very soon like this: electronic float valve will tie into a battery operated "bubbler" and when activated will pressurize a Gatorade bottle to send RO to the tank. I am using a leftover plastic blind from HD window shades (the big wide white ones) for the mount. It cuts easy, bends with a hair dryer, and looks good to boot. PS. I have spare float switches I'll be looking to sell or trade.

[klondike4001]

I've got a 5.5gal, pm if you have any questions.