Setting up a 20g

[BCreefmaker]

well since my custom tank cracked i decied just to go the cheaper route for now and set up a really nice 20 gallon high. so far i have ordered a new light and filter:
Giesemann basic HQI metal halide pendent- 150 watt 13k

Hagen Aquaclear 110 hang-on filter

Plus i already had a pump and heater:
Eheim Universal 1048 pump

Visitherm Heater - 150 watt

tommorow im picking up the tank and adding the water, sand, and some LR, and there should be some real pictures. hopefully my new light will arrive in few days to really brighten up my tank .

 

[mr9iron]

It looks like your well on your way to starting a nice nano. So, what are you going to stock it with? Are you going to use sand or go bare bottom?

 

[BCreefmaker]

stock plans so far:
1-2 clowns
1 skunk cleaner
1 anenome crab
3 sexy shrimp
maybe a little clam later on
or i might ditch the clowns and go for a invert only tank seeing as corals are my real favorite in saltwater tanks.
as far as the bottom definatly either fine sand, or its possible i might try one of them zoa carpet bottoms with the tiles... but im having a hard time finding the tiles locally. all they have to be is made of limestone right or is there something else?

 

[Lagger]

Looks like it's going to be a great set-up! :thumbsup: Nice choice on the light.

As far as the bottom goes, are you talking about starboard, or something else?

I would also turn the aquaclear into a fuge if you're BB, otherwise you'll probably be battling nitrates. GL, keep us posted

 

[BCreefmaker]

Looks like it's going to be a great set-up! Nice choice on the light.

As far as the bottom goes, are you talking about starboard, or something else?

I would also turn the aquaclear into a fuge if you're BB, otherwise you'll probably be battling nitrates. GL, keep us posted

thx alot dude,
well as far as the bottom goes i saw some people that have these stone tiles, which i cannot recall what they are made of, that zoas easily grow and eventualy get the same or similar bacteria like a sand bed just without sand. and yeah i was planning to make that aqua clear into a mini fuge, no other thought really came to my mind when i bought it.


UPDATES:
today i got a 20 high and my LR and euipment back from its mistreatment. the water didnt smell bad, the aspasita, lol or however you spell it , are doing fine and acctualy to my amazement what i thought were baby sps corals seem to be growing even in the absence of light or water changes. they are red with little white polyps, im pretty shure they were sps because i inspected the LR when it arived and they were smaller. i felt them and they felt hard, like a stone i guess. now one of them has grow to the size of almost half a penny. along with all my equipment came my bag of salt that is half crystalized... can i break the chunks up and still use it to mix up salt water or at still use least the stuff that is still powder?

 

[alien9168]

glad to see your starting up again. sorry about the custom tank

i dont think ive ever seen someone use a geismen fixture on a nano. tell us how you like it....

was it pricey?

 

[BCreefmaker]

glad to see your starting up again. sorry about the custom tank

i dont think ive ever seen someone use a geismen fixture on a nano. tell us how you like it....

was it pricey?

suprizingly they were on sale so it was only a 60$ diffrence between that geisemen HQI 150watt 13k 12" pendant and the coral life HQI 150 watt 10k clip on/pendant light. so i dedcided to go with the one year warrenty, the sleeker look, and the better bulb.
remeber prices are canadain:
corallife 150W HQI- 299.99 +tax
geiseman 150w HQI- 359.99+tax
i just really hated to look of the coral life pendants, and i doubt thier quatily even comes close to that of the geisemen. hopefully it will be here today or tommorow so i can snap some picture of it above my tank.

 

[alien9168]

ok. thanks....

its sitll out of my price range though

 

[BCreefmaker]

UPDATES UPDATES UPDATES: well to get everything to the point of setting up it took a while, the light arrived on thursday and i got the plexiglass to make my AC110 into a HOB fuge (which turns out to be kind of a waste since i now have a real 20g fuge, but it will help with the flow in the main tank). because i decided to also go with a real fuge i got a bulk head and 2 peices of plexi to make an overflow box with. now the tank is drilled and my light is mounted, the last step is just to get some more water and mix up the salt and fill everything up. unfortuanatly i think im going to have enough water to fill up my main tank and half the fuge

 

[999sterling]

Sounds like a nice setup you have planned.

Did you ever find anything about these tiles you mentioned at the begining?

(or its possible i might try one of them zoa carpet bottoms with the tiles... but im having a hard time finding the tiles locally. all they have to be is made of limestone right or is there something else?)

It sounds interesting. I have never heard of such a thing before myself. I'd be interested in any info you found.

 

[BCreefmaker]

from what i have herd on fourms and from my local tile people the tiles are probbably untumbled, unpolished, and unglazed marble or limestone tiles. however i havent had much luck finding them locally or online

 

[999sterling]

You could probrably use polished tiles, If you had the $. Just install them smoth side down. They don't polish the bottoms of them. Glazed tiles would be something to stay away from though. You never know what's in the glaze. But polished tile are just ground down until the surface is smooth, wash it well and there should be no dangerous residues. All the uses I've heard of for marble tiles.....I've never heard of putting them in a reef. Probrably because of $$.

 

[cgarza]

How good does the aqua clear work for saltwater tanks?

 

[BCreefmaker]

the aqua clear right out of the box is kind of useless for reef tanks... but i modded it into a fuge, so now it works really great to hold cheato, a heater, filter media, and LR rubble. if you run them how the come from the box the become a big ol' nitrate factory. which is fine if your running fish only i guess...

 

[cgarza]

Thanks..I have a 125 I want to set up just for some rocks and fish and I was kind of hoping I could use them. I have two 500 just sitting around.

Thanks Again

 

[BCreefmaker]

UPDATES: here are some pictures of the set up tank. (please note there is an brightness adjuster on my digital camera, so my MH looks really dim, when really its just the image.)

 

[BCreefmaker]

UPDATES: just a few more pics of the tank cleared up and the HOB fuge.

 

[Blinkgyrl2987]

I'm diggin the 110 Aquaclear as a filter/fuge. I think I want to do something like that on my 20 long. How'd you get that screen thing there where it overflows over the lip?

What exactely are you using it for? The rock rubble and heater sounds like a good plan, any sort of media or no? Is this going to act as the "filter" or is the filter essentially the overflow to the sump? Just curious to your plans, I'm looking for some ideas.

I'm also curious about your lights. I need nicer lights like the ones you have, but all the lighting stuff confuses me. What kinds of corals do you plan to go with? And what kind of lighting is that?

I like your set up alot keep posting pctures!

 

[sjm1978]

nice start i made 2 ac110 fuges sofar and sold them. i sold one to my friend who was having a bad purple cyano problem because his skimmer broke. his tank took 1 week to clear of cyano after we put the fuge on. one thing you should do tho is get that filter to sit level. if you dont have the thing that goes on the bottom of it then put some foam or something. im just trying to save you from water spilling onto your floor.

 

[BCreefmaker]

thanks for the comments everyone when i was having some power problems (damn cheap power bar) this morning i found out i really need to upgrade my sump pump. that little eheim is having such a hard time with 2.5 feet of head loss, its basically just a trickle into the tank. but its not that bad since my sump is basically empty right now. so next on the wish list is ~12lbs of LR, a skimmer, and a new sump pump.

Blinkgyrl2987- the screen on the overflow is a peice used in the bottom of the filter to help hold a sponge in place. since i wasent running it with the sponge i just cut it to size and siliconed it in. as for additions to the fuge other then the LR and heater i might add some cheato later on. but my media bags will go in the sump, no reason to cram even more stuff in the HOB fuge. the purpose of this is to just add a fuge onto my tank for pods and a nice place to hide cheato and heaters plus it really give nice surface aggitation. it dosent run to my sump, i have drilled a hole in the back for that purpose. the light is a Giesemann 150 watt basic pendant. as for the corals i plan to keep, pretty much everything sps, lps, and softies. maybe even a anenome or 2 later on. my LFS guy said this over a 20 gallon would be find for pretty much any sps or clam. plus i really lover the shimmer on the bottom of the tank the light provides.

sjm1978- thanks for the tip bro, but if you look closely at the picture there is a peice of foam there already, its just not quite big enough, the weight of the HOB filter compresses it quite a bit. and i know what you mean about taking care of cyano, the fuge is the only thing really providing flow right now since my sump pump is pretty gutless and there anrnt really any dead spots.