20 Gallon Sps?

[moonp13]

so lay down egg crate under my LR, then pour about an inch worth of sand? Also, how do you maintain a shallow sand bed, just leave it? Seed it with some sand from an established tank and/or pod pax?

 

[Chris Lakies]

I would never use egg crate in the sand bed...

I usually just use 1.5-2" depth. You can seed it if u want but i usually use live rock which will seed it over time.

My cerith snails burrow in the sand during the day and come out at night.

The ecotech shouldnt allow for much if at all detritus build up so u shouldnt have to worry bout it.

 

[moonp13]

really? I was reading that you should use egg crate so that you can keep the area underneath it from being oxygen deprived causing nasty to build up under there.

 

[allsps40]

Why do you say that? If you properly maintain your tank, IMO they are a good asset to have.

Because I have seen more DSB kill a tank than help in the long term. They are great for a few years but eventually the BSD gets overloaded with waste and it leaches back into the water. JME

 

[moonp13]

yea, im going shallow bed. I really thought about BB, but i just dont like the way it looks. Even with some LPS and coralline growth, it still doesnt look right. I will be going with a shallow 1.5-2 inch bed as suggested.

 

[moonp13]

Also, do you guys think that the bubble Magus 3 channel dose will be sufficient for my tank, or should I upgrade to the 7 channel. Aside from calcium, sodium bicarb, and magnesium, what else do u dose and is it necessary?

 

[danil]

Usually two (Alk and Cal) is enough. With WC you might not need to dose Mag at all. If you really want to go further You might consider new Apex jr or even full Apex if you can afford it. With BRS dosing pump you will be set for life and no need to buy timers, monitors etc. All programming done from your laptop... nice.

ps. I think you've mistyped with MP40. For 20g its overkill. no substrate will sustain that flow unless you glue it . Sure you can turn it down to minimum but whats the point? And if you are in MP40 price range... I would look at Apex even closer... Good luck!

 

[moonp13]

I decided to do a 65 gallon instead.

 

[danil]

good move!