Hey all after hours and hours of research I have still not found the answer to some potential questions. I am a firm believer in the search button, However not able to find the few answers I have left before kicking this thing off.

I read the 31 pages of Mr. Fosi's 20H drilled tank, this was the closest thing to my setup that I have seen.

I am starting off the following

20H gallon
10 gallon Sump/refugium
return pump Quiet1 2200 @ 3.5" of head it should push about 250-300 gph. Enough Flow?
two heaters to choose from 300w or a 150w Thoughts?
4-65w pc lighting 2 actinic 1-50/50, 1- 10k Overkill? taking things slow no softies for me just yet. LR LS a few fish, inverts and maybe some mushrooms zoas ect.

My questions were actually generated by a lfs employee that told me the quietone would be two much flow! Is there any truth to this? I was planning running 2-3/4" returns . My original thought was to run to Korallia-1's but he stated that it would be a whirlwind in the tank and that the 2200 would be almost overkill...

Next is kind of a noob question is what type of salt does everyone use?

Im sure I will have a ton more questions so a big THANK YOU in advance for helping a soon to be New Reefer.

Sounds close to what I am thinking of doing except with a 20L. I am also thinking of using two returns. I would like the quiet one pump as well since they do not use as much power as others. Looking forward to more responses since I am new as well.

to nano-reef.com

The quiet one alone is okay but generally low flow. It's hard to have too much flow. Adding a koralia 1 is a good idea (not sure if "to run to koralia-1s" means "to run two koralia-1s". I have up to 2000 gph with a vortech mp20 in my 20H, and the sand barely moves. However, sugar fine or oolitic sand may not be able to handle such flow rates (not the quiet 1).

4x65W PCs will be hard to fit over the 20H. Do you have a link to the fixture you're going to use? Mushrooms and zoanthids are usually considered "softies", or soft corals.

Do a search on salts; most of the common brands are fine.

Sounds like a good setup besides a few things. I would re-think the lighting, PC bulbs are on their way out technology-wise. A T5 fixture would be a much better choice. A link to the fixture you were thinking about would be helpful. I would go with a 150 watt heater, I've used one for two years on a 40br with no problems. When I added an extra 20 gallons of water with a sump I found I needed a 300 watt. If the 300 watt went on the fritz it would nuke your tank quickly, whereas with a 150 watt you might have more time to notice and intervene.

That answers my question good sir! As for the 4-65w I have a custom canopy that i have built that I am doing a retro fit on.

Thank you for pointing out that zoa's and mushrooms are softies... Well back to more research!
Thanks again


Good to know! so in your opinion would you do a t-5 kit instead? and what wattage would you run? Since I am sure there will be corals i find later down the road I would rather set it up for the max and not have to worry about upgrading later. What are your thoughts on a led set up?

I will stick with the 150w heater

Yeah I would do T5s instead. There are much more bulb color options and they will run much much cooler than PC bulbs, those things get really hot, especially in a hood over 20 gallons of water. You should have a bunch of options with a 24" wide tank. As far as wattage, you might be stuck with what comes in a 24" unit. Current makes this unit: http://www.marinedepot.com/lighting_fluore...o_lunar-ap.html
At 96 watts you'll be at 4.8 watts per gallon, which will grow mushrooms and zoanthids, as well as most LPS just fine. Probbaly SPS would be alright as well, it depends. You will probably want to upgrade in a year or more anyway so having the perfect tank right away isn't as important as you might think. I'm about to move into my third tank in two years this week.

I know what you mean. last year I started with a 2.5 gal fw tank for my son and that turned to 20gal then a 55 and then a 75... the whole time Im thinking I need a reef hahah so now I have sold off all of the other stuff and kept the 20H.. On another note I was thinking of runing a glass top with a canopy w/ fans is this not a good idea? reason being is that I travel and could be gone a max of 4 days? My wife would be home to watch over things but the less she is involved the better if you get what Im saying!

Thanks,

I would run a glass top with just the light fixture. If you were going to use a wood canopy as well as a glass top you would probably have to install a retrofit T5 kit in the canopy. I depends on what kind of light fixture/canopy you go with I guess. Would this be to cut down on evaporation, or to keep little hands out of it? Fans over a glass top would only cool the inside of the canopy, which would help cut down on heat a bit and keep evaporation to a minimum, but the tank would probably still get hot in the summer.

Visit the lighting forum and read the T5HO information thread. I agree with most of what jtumbleweed said (though watts-per-gallon "rules" should be avoided).

An automatic top off (to compensate for evaporation) is a good idea if you will be gone for many days.

Yeah I wouldn't go by 'watts per gallon' as a rule, but you can get a basic idea if a lighting setup will work for what you want to keep at least. Of course the quality of the fixture, reflectors (single/bent), etc. will impact the final decision of what to purchase.

I should have mentioned an ATO too, it's one of the best things I have ever installed on my tank.

Ok, the glass tops are to reduce evaporation and keep the little hands out haha. Im sure most of you know what that can be like.... I will do some research while im traveling this week on the T5HO. The hardest part of this pill to swallow is I already have the 260 PC retro with bulbs

another question that I was confused by is the LFS guy stated that "salinity can have a wide range and that it is overrated... ATO are not as important as you would think" Now just using common sense I would think that this statement is false, however he is a quote unquote professional.

Your thoughts?

I'm not an expert by any means, and having been lurking the forums to learn more for about the last month or 2.

From what I have seen/read, seems like the salinity can have a large effect on the corals. I guess it would depend on how much evaporation you have.

I know people on here have their tanks running in ranges from 1.023-1.025. If it was that small of a swing, it may not have that detrimental of an affect on the tank. If it was more though, I can't see it being very good.

Again, not an expert, or even experienced reefer(yet ) so I would definitely make sure that is confirmed by someone else.

Good luck though man! I hope to have my 10gal set up here soon....

I think he may not be thinking in terms of a nano set up, by the time you evaporate a gallon out of 20, I would think the salinity would be higher. I have never had anything less than 40 gallons for a long time so I don't know how it affects nanos, but I can't imagine it's good for them. The ATO will just be useful for when you're hot around for peace of mind at least. I think SPS are more affected by salinity swings than other easier to care for corals. ATOs are really pretty easy to set up and cheap so it seems worth it.

As far as the filtration you would go with the QO 2200 and 2 korallia 1's?


I am getting ready to drill the tank returns and overflows also what does it mean when people say that it is a closed loop? meaning no open sump??

Can't say for sure, but the filtration sounds fine. Just check for dead spots after its all set up.

A closed loop is where you have holes drilled in the tank and a pump just pushing water around the tank, and not draining anywhere. They are usually used on larger tanks to eliminate power heads.

fellas a few more questions for you.

1) is there anyone running a canopy with a t-5 fixture?

2) is there benifit to putting chaeto in while tank is cycling? (meaning in the sump) Would this not help cycle the tank?

3) the puropse for setting up the 10 gal refugium is to increase water volume and create a place for copepods to reproduce. I am looking to have as much of a self seficient reef as possible (all things considered). What do the pods feed on? and is that food present during the cycle period?

4) with t5 lighting you have said do not go by the watt/gal rule it is not accurate. What would a 2 light t5ho allow me to house? (btw i have no idea what type of corals im looking to house)

this is for the next 3-4 months going to be a tank with a few fish inverts and LR until i feel comfortable enough to add slowly.

Thank you again for the help....

1) yes, though usually with retrofit kits (see the lighting forum and the T5HO information thread)

2) If there will be a large ammonia spike, adding chaeto may not be good; though chaeto is relatively hardy

3) Most pods, that survive without your help, are herbivores. This is why you see a lot of them on your glass, eating algae.

4) A 2 bulb fixture for a 20 high tank is sufficient for low and some medium light corals, which include soft corals. The depth of the 20H is a con when trying to have a two bulb fixture. A 4 bulb fixture is a better choice. However, you should try to research what corals interest you.

has anyone heard anything on the fishneedit.com 2 and 4 light t5ho systems?

I have to add my .02 worth in here, take or leave it. This is all MY opinion.

Why 2 tank returns? Can one not handle what you will put through it. If not, make it a bigger bulkhead. Two bulkheads are a pain.

Lighting- you WILL want to upgrade and house all kinds of corals. With that in mind, get a Metal Halide. The depth of your 20H will be very limiting to any kind of flourescent bulb.

You pretty much can't have too much flow. Is there too much flow in the ocean?

Salinity can vary geatly from location to location in the ocean. Most corals will do fine in what ever you acclimate them to. Changing it midstream all the time will affect them and they will not like it. So in one way it is overrated in that you do not have to have it at a specific level. To change it on a daily or weekly basis is a BIG deal.

I will also predict you WILL add a lot more than that in less than 3-4 months. This is addicting and exciting. You tend to get caught up in it.

do a search (or read the lighting forum) for fishneedit fixtures

Thanks for the info. I did a search for Fishneedit.com fixtures and all that came up was the MH lights. However what did help is that i was unaware that you could search in specific areas, that helped a ton. Now that I have read up I am really leaning toward holding off on the light. It seams to me that I have 2-3 months of understanding WC and curing my DIY LR with LFS LR and that is a low light need that I can use the 20h hood to supply. So I will more than likely not skimp to much on the light. Thank you all for the direction.

I will have a few more questions.

With the glass-holes.com overflow setups is there a benefit to having the overflow in the middle of the tank? or will an offset overflow work fine? ( flow reasons )

I plan on having a 1" supply line on the upper back right corner and the Return 1" Glass-holes super nano kit on the upper back left. With 300 gph from the pump I think that is a lot of water turn over but also want to make sure with the 2 K1's in the tank I want to make sure that there is not a purpose for the center overflow.

If anyone has any experience on this please share your thoughts, and if im over thinking it tell me so. Im not affraid of constructive direct critisism.

bump?

Ok well here we are 2 weeks down the road and I have the tank filled pumps and plumbing set and running, Fuge is working great! flowing well and minimal on the noise, I ended up removing the Q1 2200 due to it had way to much flow through the fuge. It was turning the tank over 20+ time per hour!!!! I now have a mj1200 on it and its much much nicer. I have put in about 10 pounds of LR and am awaiting my DIY lr to cure all the way. My next question is that I am seeing some life but not much. I did a search on diatom but it came up with a large number of posts and still do not know what Im looking for? What is a diatom bloom and what does it look like? I imagine that its an algea of some sort but is it brown or green? The water levels are as follows after 1 week

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 4
Nitrate 10
ph 8.2
1.028 sg

I have seeded the tank with 1lbs of LR mud from my LFS and 1 lbs of live sand.

Thanks all

Diatoms will look like gold-ish brown dust on the rocks and sand.

Did you end up going with new lights or are you using the PC retrofit?


Also... you KNOW we like pictures!

quote name='Tinytank' date='Dec 6 2009, 08:23 PM' post='2559370']
Diatoms will look like gold-ish brown dust on the rocks and sand.

Did you end up going with new lights or are you using the PC retrofit?


Also... you KNOW we like pictures!
[/quote]
Thanks! I did a google image search and found a diatom bloom so now I know what to look for... Also as for the lights I'm still in the process of that. Waying back and forth 4 bulb t5ho or a DIY LED setup! Im a leaning toward the LED setup and have been doing a ton of reading on the lighting forum.Here are a few pics of the process thus far.

Click to view attachment

also a shot of the fuge which is in the cabinet!!!! its super slick looks fantastic if I may say so!

So after being gone for 5 days I had come home to a lot of changes in the tank.... I have several hitchhikers 2 or 3 corals of some sort i will have to do some research and find out what they are way to small to be captured by my camera. I have also got 2 snails that are maybe 1mm in diameter. on top of all of that i had a diatom bloom and I have pods all over. I mean all over... Water quality is as follows


Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2
PH 8.6
Salitity is 1.028

Does it seam like I am on track?

Next on the list is the CUC any one have any thoughts? I am going to stay away from crabs other than maybe an emerald also with the tank being cycled could I also add a cleaner or peppermint to this crew??

Thanks all!

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