20 gallon long build. Will this work? Help please.

[ncguy1]

Starting a new 20 gallon long reef tank and hoping I can start off with the equipment I have. In the future I'm hoping to have a mixed reef with soft corals and lps. If I'm lucky maybe a few easy to keep sps. A few mushrooms, a shrimp or two and a clown fish. Maybe a hermit crab and a snail. The equipment I have is a Marineland penguin bio wheel 200, have the heater, a 127 gph power head, Koralia 425, and a current usa orbit marine 24 - 36 led fixture. Planning on getting a second light as I know the fixture I have will not be enough light. I do have a coralife 50/50 fluorescent (cheap) light I can put on the tank in addition to the led until I get another light. Wouldn't even think about sps until I have another decent light fixture. Already have substrate in place and will be buying live rock soon. Will this set up get me started? Or be enough for the long haul? Also going to get a wave maker so I can change the flow patterns. Thanks for any advice.

[Melmac]

I think you will be fine with HOB (remove the bio wheel). I had HOB rated for 50 gal with a jebao wp10 and Koralia 425 no skimmer but did 50% weekly water changes and dosed w/ brightwell Reef builder. Only used a cheap eBay Chinese dimmable LED (120w) 24" above tank to avoid bleaching. My tank has been thriving since 03-11 and has been moved over to 56 gallon column (grew out). Just take your time, do some research and have fun! Check out my vid on YouTube "WP10 Jebao's " under melmac67 20L before moving to 56g

[ncguy1]

Thank you for you time and input. Going to give it a shot and see what happens. My light is only 23 watts so guess I'll leave it on the top of the tank. Maybe run it at 85%. Seen several people run their's about that level so I'll try it I guess. Thinking about changing to a protein skimmer in the future but will be a while. My hob is only 200 gph which is about 7.5 times turnover. Not enough. Heard I need ten. But if I do a lot of live rock and corals and maybe just a shrimp and a clown fish for now maybe the turn over rate will be enough until I can get a skimmer. That and water changes for now. Do you think my turnover rate will be enough just for now? Without all the critters?

 

I will take out the bio wheel also. Second person to mention that. I think I found the right video. Two areas of live rock with a space in between? Looked pretty sweet. Thanks again for the help.

[Melmac]

Thanks! To this day that 20 long was my favorite setup, maintenance was only a half an hour a week.

I think you'll be fine if you keep your bio load down and don't over feed. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions. I think I'm going to set that 20 up again. Hmm

[ncguy1]

Thanks. Trying now to figure out which protein skimmer I want to get. Don't want an in tank skimmer because it takes up room that I could put something cool lol. Thinking a hob skimmer. What do you think about the eshopps 75 hob skimmer? They have it at a reef store close by for 150. Read good reviews but some that made me scratch my head. But thinking he didn't know how to tune it maybe. Not sure about skimming since I have never tried this.

[Melmac]

I think you would be fine without skimming if you did 40-50% water changes. That's what I did the last 3 years. That eshopps skimmer is awesome, I got the psk100 when I moved the 20 to my 56 and that skimmer Rocks! Easy to tune and quiet. Make sure the one you order has the Italian pump. The bad reviews I think were the skimmers with old pump.

You should look into that Current USA led light that ramps up and down. My buddy is using that light with great success on a 30 gallon( has the same footprint as the 20L). Might be able to do some low light acros with the height of that 20l and light setup.

[Jackstone]

moved over to 56 gallon column (grew out).

 

Any pics of that column tank? Sounds interesting.

[Melmac]

I have a couple I think on this site, you can checkout a vid too if you like on YouTube. It's coming along nice. It's under " jebao WP25 wavemaker". I'm shocked how well those Chinese LEDs are doing. I have several birds nests, digitatas, purple bonsai, acans, lobo's.

[ncguy1]

Thanks for the review on the skimmer. Sounds like a good product. Would have replied sooner but haven't been on in a bit with so much going on. My boxer had surgery and been talking care of him and working some long hours. My current has the dual ramp timer pro. Excited to set it up. I put a 20 pound bag of live sand in and Put the saltwater in but looks like I need another 10 pounds due to the longer footprint. Another couple of days of cloudy water I guess. Can't wait to get LR and my little clean up crew so I can get going!