20 long build

[petere1989]

So the new project begins. Today I went to petsmart and picked up a 20 gallon Long tank. The deminsions are 30 x 12 x 12.

The plan is to move my current 10 gallon that is in my room into the office and put the 20 gallon it it's place. here is what my 10 gallon looks like right now.

This is where it is sitting.

The tank fits within a half inch on both sides of the cabinet. My plan as of right now is to remove the towel thats underneath the 10 gallon and put the tank directly on the wood. The towel was a bad idea. Anyway, then I am going to remove the shelf directly above the tank, and in its place have a hanging light fixture from the shelf above that. then I am going to get some wood and make a cabinet door kinda to cover the top section where my food and supplements sit right now. I'll be moving my 10 gallon tomorrow when I have more time. check back for updates!!

 

[Forrest3320]

Will be checking back soon, I have a ten gallon salt tank so always excited to see them even if they are moving to a bigger tank

 

[petere1989]

Will be checking back soon, I have a ten gallon salt tank so always excited to see them even if they are moving to a bigger tank

cool man, yea I always like to see what other people have gotten into their small tank too. I enjoy the challenge of the smaller ones. Im only moving to a 20 because that toadstool mushroom, i bought it online and it was bigger then the add said it was. it's a good excuse. AND, because i wanted more coral. of course. lol.

Other plans will be a major upgrade on lighting. I ordered a 24" Sunlight Tek T5 with 2 ATI blue +, 1 KZ Fiji purple, and 1 ATI aquablue special.

with that i plan on keeping the softies i have currently but mainly focus on sps.
(any flow suggestions would be nice, and some that you dont have to drill holes in the side of the tank) I've got two 240gph pumps right now but probably need more for sps's.

 

[Veganbrian]

Awesome, I just started my 20long tank and an also focusing on sps. Following!

 

[Veganbrian]

As for drilling holes in the tank. If you dont want to drill but want to add a sump then you can use a overflow box. I'm using the eshopps nano overflow on my 20 with a mag drive 3 on a vavle. Youre always better off drilling if you can.

 

[petere1989]

As for drilling holes in the tank. If you dont want to drill but want to add a sump then you can use a overflow box. I'm using the eshopps nano overflow on my 20 with a mag drive 3 on a vavle. Youre always better off drilling if you can.

I don't think i'm putting a sump on this one. I have a hang on back skimmer thats rated for up to 30 gallons, and its got a built in sump in it. As for flow i'm just going to have two power heads, one facing the front glass and one facing the rear and see if i can get some circulation going on there.

As for my lighting UPS said it will be here next tuesday. Can't wait for that. I"ll be moving my 10 gallon into the office in a little bit. Just gotta get psyched up for it. Will Return with pictures!

 

[petere1989]

I moved my 10 gallon tank into the office now. Heres some pics:
Just before draining water out.

Heres my clownfish and all my live rock.

Looked empty with nothing in it. lol

New Location: Grandpa's office. Im sure he'll enjoy that. (I live at my grandpa's house)

my cat was watching the entire time. Had to make sure he didnt have clown fish for lunch.

Heres the tank back full with water and really really cloudy with dirt and junk.

AND here's the final product of moving the 10 gallon.

So here is the new 20 gallon it the 10's old location. I think it looks pretty good there. With the lights hanging above it, it will for sure look pretty awsome!

I'll be back with more updates on the 20 as they come. The next step is get the background on and sealed so no water can leak through between glass and the actual background, and get some water in there!

I plan on leaving the 10 gallon up as well. I'm going to take all the live rock, eventually, out and put everything in the 20 gallon, then get some damsels for my mom. She does a lot of work for my grandpa and she wanted some damsels but doesn't have the time. It's an early christmas present, plus I want them. haha.

 

[Veganbrian]

Awesome fit with the 20 gallon! One thing id suggest is to paint the background of the tank with spraypaint. It will look much cleaner and wont have to worry about water messing it up.

 

[petere1989]

Awesome fit with the 20 gallon! One thing id suggest is to paint the background of the tank with spraypaint. It will look much cleaner and wont have to worry about water messing it up.

I was considering that. Do you just go out to Walmart or something and get the paint? like, does it have to be special paint?

I was either going to do that or put the background on there, and duct tape it all the away around so it made a waterproof seal. I was going to get the background later today and get it on. We'll see.

 

[Veganbrian]

You can just use any spray paint but make sure to use painters tape and newspaper on the rest of the tank you don't want sprayed so that you do not get any micro spray anywhere. You want to make the tank look nice and clean and a painted background will help you achieve that! good luck!

 

[petere1989]

so tonight I went and got a few things from the store and began fooling around with the tank. I put in half the water, only had two 3 gallon jugs with me, so its got only 6 gallons in it at the moment. I went ahead and put salt in and the live sand. I wasn't going to do that this soon, but the bag split in my garage and began leaking out on my jeans and floor. So i had to go ahead and put the sand in the tank. Im waiting for it to settle, which could be a while.

Heres the digital thermometer I got. I have one on my 10 gallon and love it!

Instead of attaching the display to the tank itself, i decided to put it on the wall since there isn't much clearance to see it on the side and i don't want it out front.

Heres a bigger overview.

Tank half filled.

Here is after i put in the sand.

I hate waiting for this to clear up. In my 10 gallon it took 2 days.

I got a heater and a bio-wheel just to have water movement in the tank. After it's been up for a while i'm taking the bio-wheel out and replacing it with a carbon filter.

I also put a background on the back. I decided not to paint it because i couldn't make up my mind if i wanted black or blue, so i'm going to feel out the black for a while, then switch it and see if I like the blue.

Tomorrow i'll be getting more water and hopefully the sand has settled a bit more so i can see what i'm working with.

 

[Veganbrian]

Awesome! One thing i'd suggest is putting the heater probe into the HOB filter when you start running it help hide an extra wire.

 

[petere1989]

Awesome! One thing i'd suggest is putting the heater probe into the HOB filter when you start running it help hide an extra wire.

thats a great idea!!

I ended up moving the thermometer to the front part of tank. the black strip is big enough to cover it up somewhat so it dosn't stick out in your face.

I also ordered a Vortech MP10 ES. I couldn't resist.

 

[petere1989]

update: Today I got some sea water from petco and put that in the tank to top it off. I also got the heater and the bio-wheel up and running. I have the heater set for 78 degrees. My only complaint is that every time I go to rinse off the filter pad because of all the dust from the sand, it backwashes into my tank making it cloudy again. eerrrrr. kinda frustrated with that. My tank is still really cloudy. It was better yesterday but I stirred it up today by putting the water in. anyway, heres a few pics.

The Bio-wheel is just for water movement until I get more filtration set up.

I was sure to label all my plugs so I'm not doing the "follow the wire" trick anymore. I'm trying to be neat with this.

my tank still looks like this.

Except it's full now. I hope it clears soon. anybody else have trouble with water clearing? anyway thats an update. I'll have more in a few days when my lights come in on tuesday.

 

[petere1989]

the tank is finally beginning to clear up. I put two pieces of live rock from the 10 gallon in there to begin the cycling stage. Without light, i'm not sure how effective that will be but its gotta be better then nothing. My temp. is holding at 77.9, which is great so things are looking good.

My plan is when things really start cycling is to get a few damsels to help it along.

 

[Veganbrian]

check the accuracy of that thermometer. Mines off 2.3 degreesF. Also, i would not worry about the dust cloud from the sand right now. Wait until you're all cycled through. Then when you do your first big water change, take a turkey baster to the rocks and sand to stir it up then siphon it all out and after doing that 2-3 times, it should be gone.

 

[petere1989]

ok. It's looking better for sure. its probably double clear then that pic above. but yea. It'll be interesting how long it takes to cycle this time. My 10 gallon took a long time. But I started with tap water then and got so much brown algae I almost quit. Then someone I know said to switch to RO water and it's been up hill from there on. Once I get the lights and hook them up, that may help the cycling a lot. and plus once things level out after a while i'm going to get a few damsels to help. How long is a good cycle? a month? (the 10g was cycling for like, 3, with tap water though)

 

[petere1989]

Heres a pic. You can sorta see the difference.

 

[Veganbrian]

That dust is just settling though. its good to get that out of there when doing waterchanges though when the cycles done. Just test your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phos every 2 days to monitor your cycle. You have to let that ammonia build up high then I wait till my ammonia and nitrites are at 0 or close to it. Then i do a big water change and wait a week or 2 more just to be safe. just make sure to test it. should be about a month. Also make sure to get the rest of your rock in there so it can cycle along so you dont have another mini cycle after.

 

[petere1989]

yup. i'll be getting more live rock monday. i'll be sure to post pics!

I also JUST decided I'm keeping my skimmer in my 10 gallon. I ordered the same one for the 20 gallon. Since everything in the 10 is working and looks great, I'm not wanting to mess with it to much. So i've got another aquaticlife mini 115 coming as well for this.

My biggest thing is deciding whether or not I need a cooling fan. I've seen a few that I liked but I guess i'll have to see how hot the lights get before I make that decision. There is enough room on the back of the tank for one.