• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

new to forum and nano-reefing in general

H

haze7573

hi everyone iv been lurking around here trying to gain as much knowledge as possible before i jump into this new ambition of mine and im finally at the point where i want to discuss my setup ideas and get it critiqued as to if im heading in the right direction...well heres my future setup in progress:
EQUIPMENT
20H tank
Nova extreme T5 24" 48w (gonna buy a lunar light for it to complete 24hr cycle)
I have 2 whisper 30 power filters laying around and from what i hear i can adapt them with poly filters and phosphate pads to filter along with 20-30lbs live rock and 15-25lbs live sand i might just go with a aquafuge HOB refugium
gonna get 1 hydor koralia pump for my circulation because i doubt the power filters will be enough
heater
im not 100% sure about a protien skimmer yet either because theres such contradicting info on what you need/dont need

LIVESTOCK (AFTER CYCLE OF COURSE)
from picking through magazines,books,and online iv made a list of corals and such that i should be able to sustain with that setup if im wrong please advise me where and why because im trying to learn as much as possible so i dont end up with a dead tank due to inexperiance and lack of knowledge
im not planning on all of these they are just some that i like so far. i know i probably cant hold too much in just a 20 high

-zoanthids
-xenia
-asst shrooms
-frogspawn
-cladiella
-green star polyps
-christmas trees
-ricordea
-montipora
-hammers
-galaxia

not sure about my CUC yet so suggestions are greatly appreciated and not sure bout fishes either maybe 2-3 that can coincide with my choices

well any responses are greatly appreciated and i look forward to being an active member of the nano-reef and marine tank population

----kevin
 
H

haze7573

yea that seems to be my life lately iv been glued to either this site and every other source of info i can get my eyes on..thanks for the welcome..i cant make any immediate purchases right now until my tax return comes in and i start working again...
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Welcome to NJRC, and the obsession.

As for thoughts on your plan... If you already have the tank, great, but if you don't I'd consider something wider rather than taller (regular 20g over a 20h, 29g). The height will minimize the gas exchange and decrease your lighting effectiveness overall. You'll have better coral placement options if you can spread wide v. going tall in the tank.
 
H

haze7573

yea i already have the 20h thats why i chose that arrangement but if its goin to be detrimental to my livestock then ill change my plans to accomidate them better its just that the tanks already in my possession so it seemed like the logical way to go
 
mynd

mynd

Hello there and welcome!

I am not going to get all technical on you as it might deter you from this wonderful hobby. Most of us spend about 100 dollars a gallon on our tanks to get them where we want them. So figure that out. What you need is to get all the little items in your arsenal first

Test Kits ( not one of those complete kits, but individual kits ) Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Silicate, Phosphate, Calcium, Magnesium, DKH and a REFRACTOMETER ( on ebay with ATC - Automatic Temperature Compensation ) http://cgi.ebay.com/Salinity-Salt-R...223269146QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item120223269146

Then Get yourself the other little things you'll need. Low wattage pumps, like MaxiJets ( 8.5 watts ) for the 900, do not get the 1200 as it is 20watts+ and you can get 2 900's and have more flow then 1 1200 plus less wattage.

A couple buckets from Home Depot. I use an orange one to mix my water and a white one to drain my water since it has the gallon markers on the side. I do a 3 gallon water change each week on my 12. Get 2 white ones if you plan on using RO/DI so you know what you add and take out

A decent RODI unit and all its filters.

a net ( small ) just to have on hand, a turkey baster from walmart ( the large one - 1.00 )to blow off your rock and substrate or siphon out some crap.

Aragonite 100% sand ( if you plan to go this route ) in a small tank a bare bottom IMO is easier to clean each week. Blowing detritus to one side of the tank from under the rock with the baster is easy.

10 feet of 1/2" green hose from your local LFS and a yellow ended dowel from Walmart to make a good easy siphon for taking water and debris out of your tank on Water Change day. Use 5 feet of it and attach it to the dowel. You can use this to remove and add your water. Having a little extra is always nice

Get stealth heaters, submersible with auto turn off in case water gets low. Keep one in the tank and one on the side to make extra water each week.

Moonlights from R2 Moonlights, google it.. Best Moonlights I have ever seen. Unfortunately I don't know if they will come in an easy size for you to use.

Get a PH Meter ( I like this one ) and #7 calibration fluid - The pen fits perfectly in the top of the large bottle of calibration fluid so it is easy to calibrate once a month. http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idproduct~CP2131.html unless you want something to stay in the tank all the time. You can see by my review on that page that I think it is great. http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...g_Equipment_Calibration_Solution~vendor~.html

Pick up some seachem marine buffer to help you stabalize after the first couple months your PH and DKH ( I swear by it ) Now that I am using seachem reef salt ( 23.99 from the PS ) I won't be using the buffer as often.

Get some Kent Strontium and Molybdenum ( just to have on hand, always nice to add a couple ml's a week once you get stable )

Get some Kent Turbo Calcium just to have on hand, and if you need to dose calcium later use only 1/4 tsp to a cup of water once a week. https://www.marinedepot.com/ps_View...Additives_Calcium_Dry_Supplement~vendor~.html

a small flashlight and some towels to use as rags and one just for your tests.

This is my suggestion.. I use these things and I have success.. Everything is different for people, so only dose if you TEST FIRST! If I think of anything else I will add it..

OH YEAH.. GET lots of money :D and Patience!!! Consider everything before you do it. This hobby is a commitment and should not be started unless you are in it for the long haul. Just My Opinion.
 
A

albie611

who said you cant get a lot in a 20 gal? ;)

here is mine ........
765_02_10_07_8_17_30.JPG

good luck with the new adventure and welcome to the club
ps: good things only happen in this hobby with time and Patience, don't rush it !
happy reefing .........al
 
H

haze7573

thanks for all the replies so far im learning more and more as time goes by it seems theres a neverending amount of things to know in this hobby..luckly im not completely new to aquariums in general iv been messing around with freshwater since i was real young so i have some of the basic equipment needed (buckets,hoses,nets,heaters,filters,aerators,basic tests,etc) but still need some things for my arsenal

as for the wide array of tests, umm theres soo many brands and types is there one brand which is far superior to the rest or is it jus basically you get what you pay for?

i was thinking about just buying LPS RO water because for a tank my size it just doesnt seem nessesary to go buy a 500$ RO/DI unit if i can jus go to aqua oceans/walmart and jus get it for 50cents a gallon.

It seems that there are soo many conflicting ways of doing this and you just sorta have to find your niche and do whats successful for your set up
 
mynd

mynd

Hello there,

My PH, Nitrites and ammonia are API - I use a Portable pH Pen/Meter, but have it just in case something feels off.
My DKH is TetraTest
My Calcium, Magnesium, Silicate, and Nitrates are Red Sea
My Phosphate is Nutrafin

Maybe not as accurate as Salifert, but we are not running a laboratory. They work well

I use Distilled water from Walmart at 67 cents a gallon and test with a portable TDS-3 meter before usage. I suggest if you are going to use Walmart RO that you also test for TDS prior to use since you don't know how old their membranes are.

$24.00 - HM-3 DIGITAL TDS TESTER W/CASE
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
In addition to the PH pen/meter, I'd highly recommend a refractometer to measure your salt content accurately. They'll run you 40$ or so, but given the costs of the rest of the system, it is money well spent.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

First join NJRC!!!
You will save all the money in next months buy.
Second Mynd has a lot of great advice. He solved a lot of my problems.
I didn't buy the RO unit. I buy all my water from Tropiquarium...50cents for RODI and 1 buck for salt....it just saves sooooo much time and pain in the bumm, and for a 20G tank it is just easier...if I had to top off 5G a day I might suggest something different. Other stuff he said I second MJ900 is best bang for the buck/watts/space. I have a Koralia 2 that is nice low energy high flow but depends on if you like the wide flow. Turkey baster is best dollar you will spend.
I like sand .... and since (with Mynd's help) I have gotten my problems under control it is nice and white.
Sand and type is person pref. So are lights and types of corals and fish.
Third if you have the chance buy this book.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4538+16813&pcatid=16813
It is the best Nano one that I have read....it was like 15 bucks on our last group buy thanks again guys :).
Definately read everyone's threads...great info...learn from our (or at least my) mistakes.
 
H

haze7573

yea im plannin on joining soon just havent gotten around to it..when i send the app and dues do they send your club card in the mail or is it sumthing you print out? once i get goin i def wanna try and get to a meeting if they arent too long of a drive out of the way..im gonna do my taxes tonight so then i can get a nice chunk of change and im selling a trailer of mine and my bike so i can have a nice lump sum to be able to set up everything correctly and not half ass and end up spendin more and dealin with the stress of a bad setup..i was thinkin bout gettin a HOB refugium (aquafuge) but kinda thinking of makin like a 10gallon sump not sure yet tho..theres this pet shop by my house liquidating their whole stock of tanks and such for really cheap so i could get a 10g for like 5 bucks..nothing is set in stone im jus reveiwing all my options and go from there
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Well for group buys you don't need the card...cool stores like AO just look you up online.
From what I understand the cards are sort of on the back burner. The only place it matters is Tropiquarium for me...but depends on your local LFS. If you set up a sump you can have the fuge in it with a skimmer ect. Since you are not going with the enclosed system like the AP you can run at least one or two pipes out the back. It is pretty common to have the sump/fuge under the tank of course...and with that setup versus hang on back type fuge you don't have to worry about light spilling into your main tank from your fuge; you may want to run it reverse light cycle to help water chemistry issues....PH....hope some of that is new information.

A real important thought....if you used the tank for freshwater fish and treated with copper do yourself a favor and get a new tank. So many of the inverts are extremely sensitive to copper. I had a bugger of a time with my first FOWL and I think it was because of that.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
The cards are going out again. Except for the last 2 weeks or so, everyone should have theirs. Members who don't should post in the Member's Only thread. Thanks!
 
H

haze7573

if i end up goin with the hang on back im gonna black out the sides facing each other so no light escapes..yea iv read about the reverse light schedual so im just gonna save all the hassle of trying to time it out perfect and get a power bar with timer on it.how strong does your lighting need to be for the refugium?im not 100% sure what im gonna have goin in it yet prolly jus some sand rubble and maybe like chaeto..i never used any copper in my tank that i know of. i usta put FW salt in there jus to make the water little less stressful and used cycle when the tank was jus starting to get a jump on the bacteria. I actually have a lot left in the bottle, can you use Cycle on nano's to help the bacteria along or is that stuff only for freshwater systems?i always used bottled water tho cuz i didnt feel like treating every gallon cuz my Tap is kinda nasty and didnt wanna risk usin it..

i seen this really cool way of drilling the bottom of the tank and running pipes straight down into a sump under the tank on reefcentral im gonna try and find the link and post it on here if i can find it
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Light does not have to be as strong for the fuge that is for sure....6500-6800 wavelength seems to be the agreed best for macro. Yes, most of the timers have a day/night cycle so it is very easy. Copper is one of the elements in most ick treatments for fish. Salt shouldn't have excess copper...though I suppose tap water may depending on your pipes. I initially added some bacteria to my tank to jump start the process but now I am not really sure if it is important at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top