Digging out my old Fluval Chi - Ideas Please :)

[BSVKilbey]

Hi all,

Welcome and thanks for reading.

Whilst I am not a "newbie" to fish tanks it has been about 3 years since I filled a tank up. However... never an SW tank! Always been a vision but not reality.

Upon clearing out my garage yesterday I found my old Fluval Chi 19L 5 Gallon Fishtank. I didn't bother cleaning it because the intention was to throw it away, however, I may have found a new home for it.

My first job is to give it a proper clean using nothing but water and a razor blade!

The reason for this post and joining the forum is some ideas for the tank.

As mentioned above I have never done SW and the dream is to eventually persuade the Mrs to put a nice hole in the wall between the Kitchen and kids playroom.
I know 5G is small and I will be limited but it is an ideal starting point so... HELP!

Any ideas, advice, or pictures of what you have done similar will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!! If you do a search for pico tanks then you should find some helpful info!

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[WIReefer]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Hello and welcome to the channel

 

[Bo.]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[jtp7004ft]

Welcome!
Fill your tank up and add some citric acid with a powerhead/pump and let it flow for a few hours, you wont need to scrape as hard with the razor

@Peace River gave you some good advice

 

[Waters]

Welcome !!

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.
You can get the UK banner here:
Click "Join User Group", scroll to the bottom and click on "United Kingdom User Group".

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Welcome

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[fuelman]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[mijan]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[DaneGer21]

Welcome!

Any thoughts on your filtration? I assume it’s glass since you’re taking a razor to it, so maybe just a hob?

Or no actual filtration. A good power head or two and just water changes?

I can’t wait to see it going!

 

[CMMorgan]

I have a Fluval Chi! It is currently holding a betta fish but I stare at it every day and wonder how I can convert this to SW eventually. (Given the relatively short life span of a betta fish ... )
So, this would work well for a FOWLR (fish only with live rock). I have some live rock in with Emily (betta). It does help. The Fluval Chi filter is really just some basic mechanical with carbon. The light is definitely not suited for any kind of coral.
If you want to do more with coral, I would suggest ditching the Fluval light / filter mechanism and going with a HOB filter and a small in tank protein skimmer. Fluval makes a nano light that is designed for rimless tanks. There is also the AI Prime. Go with the Fluval if you just want to do a basic soft coral, it's cheap. If you want to do anything LPS or SPS, spend a few bucks and get the AI Prime.

 

[G Santana]

Welcome to R2R good luck on your build

 

[BSVKilbey]

I have a Fluval Chi! It is currently holding a betta fish but I stare at it every day and wonder how I can convert this to SW eventually. (Given the relatively short life span of a betta fish ... )
So, this would work well for a FOWLR (fish only with live rock). I have some live rock in with Emily (betta). It does help. The Fluval Chi filter is really just some basic mechanical with carbon. The light is definitely not suited for any kind of coral.
If you want to do more with coral, I would suggest ditching the Fluval light / filter mechanism and going with a HOB filter and a small in tank protein skimmer. Fluval makes a nano light that is designed for rimless tanks. There is also the AI Prime. Go with the Fluval if you just want to do a basic soft coral, it's cheap. If you want to do anything LPS or SPS, spend a few bucks and get the AI Prime.

Thanks so much for this Answer. Nice to see we are in the same boat.

I will do some research tonight and also start a proper thread somewhere

 

[BSVKilbey]

Welcome!

Any thoughts on your filtration? I assume it’s glass since you’re taking a razor to it, so maybe just a hob?

Or no actual filtration. A good power head or two and just water changes?

I can’t wait to see it going!

It is a Glass tank yes, as for the rest, I am open to ideas, however, it seems I may need to change some bits.

 

[vetteguy53081]