Help setting up a 2 gallon nano

[Acei]

My wife has a small 2 gallon tank on her desk at her office. It's made by eclipse. I believe it's called an explorer or something like that. It has the typical eclipse biowheel type filtration. She wants to set it up as a coral only nano tank. My concern is the built in lighting is horrible. It comes installed with what looks to be basicly a night light. What I'm wondering is if anyone has any experience retrofitting this particular aquarium with adequite lighting to support corals? Any help or tips would be appreciated.

Right now I'm considering picking up an adapter that will take the socket from the small 'nightlight' type socket to a standard sized socket and using a screw in 50/50 10W mini compact. Would this lighting work?

 

[lordroad]

That's how I'd go about it if I were more handy with changing ballasts and sockets. I use a similar screw-in bulb for my 1 gallon and it works like a charm.

That light will be fine for the corals that will work in a small tank, like zoanthids and star polyps and shrooms.

 

[Acei]

Thanks... I assumed it would be okay, but all my experience is in large african cichlid tanks. This is the first saltwater I've done in about 10 years or more. Just wanted to get someone else's input before jumping in... BTW is there a small goby, clown, or damsel that would work as a single specimen in this setup?

 

[1979camaro]

no fish will do well in a 2g. could definitely keep a snail or a hermit crab

 

[lordroad]

Some people keep fish in that small of a tank over at nano-reef.com, but a lot of them have a bunch of ridiculous gadgets like mini skimmers, a .5 gallon fuge, etc. I personally wouldn't keep a fish in anything less than a 5 gallon because of their bioload, but a shrimp could make a cool centerpiece invert.

I have a 1 gallon vase and I only keep corals, with 5 baby ceriths to clean the glass. I had some sexy shrimp in there but I lost some, so I moved my survivor to my main nano and don't have any plans on adding a shrimp any time in the future.

With a tank as small as this, you really notice the smaller life, like bristle worms and baby starfish, and in my opinion, they can be as cool as any fish. And I could watch my green star polyps wave in the current for hours...

Good luck!

 

[ram man]

sexy shrimp would be good. my new adition to my eclipse six was a mantis and blue legged hermit crabs. the hermits would sound like a nice additon. i feel bad for mine kinda because they are so small.