Setting up a JBJ 6 Gallon nano pod.

[Daquan]

Hi everyone! I just purchased a 6 gallon nano pod online last night for my boyfriend. We know absolutely nothing about salt water tanks other than that the smaller the tank the harder it is. We saw quite a few successful people with small tanks so we thought we give it a try. So what should we do when we receive our tank? We don't want to put live fish shrimp etc until the tank is ready, and from what I've read so far this could take a month or more before we put live animals in. We're wanting to put a few live rocks, 1-2 small fish, and maybe an exotic shrimp inside. Is what the tank comes with enough, or should I buy more accessories? Your response Is greatly appreciated. Have a great day !

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND!

You will need to read through this thoroughly and then begin to start the setting up - slowly: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

The instructions are for a fish tank, however that tank is too small for marine fish. So you will not be adding fish to it. That tank will need to be stocked with corals (maybe one or two) and invertebrates (snails, shrimp, crab).

[Seige]

Can you provide a link to the kit you bought so we can see what it came with?

You can add live rock and a sand bed to start your cycle. Don't use tap water, buy some RO water instead. I think walmart sells it in the states. A test kit would be nice too but if you want to wait on that you should be able to bring water to the fish store to have it tested. You want to test for amonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph and salinity. You can get away without amonia and nitrite tests but your tank is really small so I'd get them so you can tell as soon as possible when you have a problem. My 55g tank is considered small to give you some perspective.

Don't panic if you see a brown algae bloom in your tank. That occurs near the end of the initial cycling process.

After your tanks cycled add a few nassarius snails and maybe a turbo and/or cerith. The nassarius snails will interact with each other which can be fun.

Any idea what type of fish you want? 6g is extremely small so you can't add much. Don't try adding a tang or anything that needs a lot of swimming room.
liveaquaria.com displays a list of fish for 10g tanks. Nano Fish

You can also do some research here to see what fish are compatible if you get 2.
Saltwater Fish Species, Aquarium Fish Profiles

Make sure you read up on drip acclimatization before you add fish. Adding saltwater fish is different then adding freshwater fish.

For shrimp you could possibly go with a peppermint shrimp or sexy shrimp. I think the other types need larger tanks.