dgphelps
New member
I'm planning on doubling my tank size. Before I let that sound too amazing let me give context. I'd like to upgrade my current 5 gallon Marineland pico to a 10 gallon standard tank. Before we go there - I DO NOT PLAN TO SUMP AT THIS POINT. 
IMy goal is to stay true to the maintenance and care routine I've had going since January. I'm doing 95% water changes every 1-2 weeks. With anything less than 10 gallons of water in the system this is practical for me, beyond that it starts to become a pain.
I feed very generously with an alternating phyto (1 drop per gallon) and reef energy A&B (1 - 2 ml dosing each) during the week. On Saturday I feed a DIY mix of frozen food blended and mixed with target feeding and then an overall flurry feed to the tank. I have no fish and in the reef my clean up crew consists of pods, worms, stomatella, and two cerith snails. Essentially, I have a refugium setup with corals.
I know there is heavy debate on full water changes but I have LPS (Favia, Goniopora, Chalice, Sympodium, and Scolymia), SPS (Pink Lemonade and Green Slimer Acros), and softies (GSP, Yellow Sand polyps, Palys/Zoas) and they are all growing, feeding, and overall looking good with several months of this routine. I also have strong benthic life with bivalves, fan worms, pods, tunicates, sponges, etc all reproducing and growing.
I want to move to a 10 gallon and am split between wanting to mimic my current systems and have a hidden wall of black acrylic to put the heater and 1-2 powerheads behind and some foam system to capture debris or going with an overflow box to hide a heater in with an Aquaclear 70 HOB providing some or most of the flow.
The main reason is that the 5 gallon tank is tall and I want to be able to get more rock surface area for the corals to grow on and more sand bed that is free of rock so I can add the yellow sand polyps, Favia, and Chalice to the sand.
I'm considering a Nanobox Duo (it's a bit overkill on the 10gallon but would upgrade well to a 20L which I will likely eventually move to and sump it with a 10 gallon in the next year or so). I have a par38 LED that works ok now, but I like the idea of a storm controller setup and moonlights. And since the tank in general is cheap so far - I can at least invest some money in a cool light!
My corals are all growing, but the LPS and SPS are more slowly going. Some of the zoanthids/palys are adding polyps regularly and the GSP is a weed. I think this is mostly due to lighting though, the LED is on the weaker side given the height and amount of rocks casting shadows.
My current gear is:
Hydor Centrifical Pump 260GPH - Original Pico Evolution 1000 (x2)
Hydor 50W Submersible heater
Par38 21w LED E27 base
Should I go for the Aquaclear or replicate my Marineland with a hidden wall? I would probably still build a small hidden overflow like box for the heater, input for the Aquaclear, and one of the Hydor pumps. I have chaeto in the display and like that given my system is really just a large refugium. I would use the Aquaclear for flow and maybe running some floss or other media from time to time. I don't plan to light it and run macros in it.
My current 5 gallon tank - you can see how stacked that rock is. I want to be able to spread it and the corals out better in a 10 gallon layout.
IMy goal is to stay true to the maintenance and care routine I've had going since January. I'm doing 95% water changes every 1-2 weeks. With anything less than 10 gallons of water in the system this is practical for me, beyond that it starts to become a pain.
I feed very generously with an alternating phyto (1 drop per gallon) and reef energy A&B (1 - 2 ml dosing each) during the week. On Saturday I feed a DIY mix of frozen food blended and mixed with target feeding and then an overall flurry feed to the tank. I have no fish and in the reef my clean up crew consists of pods, worms, stomatella, and two cerith snails. Essentially, I have a refugium setup with corals.
I know there is heavy debate on full water changes but I have LPS (Favia, Goniopora, Chalice, Sympodium, and Scolymia), SPS (Pink Lemonade and Green Slimer Acros), and softies (GSP, Yellow Sand polyps, Palys/Zoas) and they are all growing, feeding, and overall looking good with several months of this routine. I also have strong benthic life with bivalves, fan worms, pods, tunicates, sponges, etc all reproducing and growing.
I want to move to a 10 gallon and am split between wanting to mimic my current systems and have a hidden wall of black acrylic to put the heater and 1-2 powerheads behind and some foam system to capture debris or going with an overflow box to hide a heater in with an Aquaclear 70 HOB providing some or most of the flow.
The main reason is that the 5 gallon tank is tall and I want to be able to get more rock surface area for the corals to grow on and more sand bed that is free of rock so I can add the yellow sand polyps, Favia, and Chalice to the sand.
I'm considering a Nanobox Duo (it's a bit overkill on the 10gallon but would upgrade well to a 20L which I will likely eventually move to and sump it with a 10 gallon in the next year or so). I have a par38 LED that works ok now, but I like the idea of a storm controller setup and moonlights. And since the tank in general is cheap so far - I can at least invest some money in a cool light!
My corals are all growing, but the LPS and SPS are more slowly going. Some of the zoanthids/palys are adding polyps regularly and the GSP is a weed. I think this is mostly due to lighting though, the LED is on the weaker side given the height and amount of rocks casting shadows.
My current gear is:
Hydor Centrifical Pump 260GPH - Original Pico Evolution 1000 (x2)
Hydor 50W Submersible heater
Par38 21w LED E27 base
Should I go for the Aquaclear or replicate my Marineland with a hidden wall? I would probably still build a small hidden overflow like box for the heater, input for the Aquaclear, and one of the Hydor pumps. I have chaeto in the display and like that given my system is really just a large refugium. I would use the Aquaclear for flow and maybe running some floss or other media from time to time. I don't plan to light it and run macros in it.
My current 5 gallon tank - you can see how stacked that rock is. I want to be able to spread it and the corals out better in a 10 gallon layout.
