It dosent look like there is much to cycle, there is only one small piece of live rock. Do yourself a favor and get a lot more *live* rock for that tank and some better lights, then you will be going.

There's 3 pieces in there, 1 with coraline algae on it, and the other two with some attached randomness.

I have 1x15w 65k and 1x27w 65k w/ a 24w led bulb added on.

I figured that would be more than enough for a 5.5g tank, that's pushing 8.4 wpg and it's a very shallow 5.5g tank.

I may add in s'more live rock, but I thought this would be a good start now

Sorry man but that piece in the middle looks tuffta rock from a fw setup.

Ah - Don't think it is. Anthony (seahorse_fanatic) had it in his sump with a ton of other LR.

I need that man to chime in, ANTHONY!!! :)

Yes, I told him about taking it slow but everything is from my established tanks & the live rock was fully cured in my sump & then transported in a bucket filled with 5 gallons of saltwater from my reef tank. The rock was out of the water for a couple minutes max. He has prepared extra water & is testing parameters. He also knows that if something happens, he can bring the frags back & recycle the tank & wait the normal period (like I originally advised).

When I set up my wife's nano, it was also done the same way without going through a cycle so this method was "tested" prior to Mr. Too-Excited came over. Not the best way (rushing like this) but we've discussed what to do already.

ahh...okay. i set up a .5 gal pico in the same fashion and it was successfull as well, although not the safest start.

I have stared a few tanks by transfering water and LR from another reef and I don't really see a reason to wait a long time. If the water and rock has been in a reef for the past X years then what exactly needs to cycle? The glass? Because that is all that's changed.

That is going to be a real nice little tank. If I were you, I would top up the water, add some more LR, and get some better lights. No one uses the "watts per gallon" rule anymore because it doesn't really tell you anything. What kind of lighting do you have? It looks really dim. The watts per gallon rule suggests that reducing the amount of water you have in your system somehow makes your lighting stronger... it doesn't. Some animals have minimum requirements, and those minimums don't change just because we decide to put them in a nano tank.
I went down the same path you're going down and I know that some of those "getting started" articles online have some really bad advice. When I first started my 2gal nano, I had a 13w power compact (I thought, 'hey 6.5 watts per gallon'), but it became apparent that it wasn't even enough light for my zoanthid corals. I switched to a 70w metal halide which sounds like a lot in watts-per-gallon, but it's still fewer watts than a houshold lightbulb and really isn't a huge amount of light, compared to what these animals are used to in nature. I'm not saying that you need a halide or anything like that, infact maybe all you need is better reflectors, or high output bulbs instead. The best thing is too find out how much light your livestock requires. A frogspawn coral would need as much light under 5" of water in your nano as it would under 5" of water in a 2000gal aquarium. Hope this makes sense - I can be confusing sometimes.

- Chad

I did the same with my 10g, my Mom's 5g and now my 2.5g....nothing to cycle as it is all cycled...even took the sand from the older setups...so was simple. Good luck...you start nice and slow...and BAM just like Marie says you will also be lurking on every reef board, and finding that new (used) tank that you HAVE to HAVE as it is such a good deal...that's why we are on our 5th tank...:redface:

With our lighting as of right now, we've got 2 CF bulbs at 6700k - 1 running a 15w and the other running a 27w (total of 42) so not great, but I know I'm not going to do anything too much fancier than basic zoos and such.

My main goal is to not have this be so expensive that my wife divorces me ;) She's put up with a lot of my buying, and I"m not sure the cost of a mini MH light, but something tells me it would involve my death ;)

I would assume for what I have right now, I should be okay. If I want to do anything fancy, I may have to suck up BIG TIME... or just find a wicked deal ^_^

Anyone getting rid of any tanks? ;)

Mr. Too-Excited

you might want to switch your lighting to the little coralife 18w hood they alow you to get some Antic lighting in there. Zoos look much better under 10000 K and antic lighting then under 6700 k lighting IMO... Or better yet Gut the Coralife hood and try to fit the bulbs + 6700k 23w bulb into your hood thats what i did on my 5 G nano and my zoos grew like crazy with good color.... and the fixture is $30 or so