15g aquarium questions

[Goonter]

I figure i should give you guys some background on this tank first. I plan to do a blastomussa species specific tank with a few filter feeders (coco worms, maybe sponges/tunicates we'll see) and some decorative algae to give it some 'flavor'.So after much planning and what not, I finally got my light fixture, tank, light mounting brackets, HOB aquaclear 70 filter, heater, and stand. I was debating for the longest time on doing a sump, but i decided it wasn't worth it and i don't want to bother with one. I have four main questions.

 

1) Sand - i prefer dead sand as it is cheaper and i can seed it. My only problem is deciding which sand i want? I am thinking about doing the black sand, but i hear it isn't good because it won't release Ca, Alk, and Mg from breaking down. Also, one benefit in this system with it being blastomussas, i would assume the black sand would be helpful because it would absorb and not reflect the light, lowering the light intensity? Any ideas one what kind of sand and where i can purchase it from? (my LFS doesn't carry my favorite sand anymore )

 

2) I have a 24" tek 5 96W 4 bulb fixture, with the mounting brackets. I am told that if i run the light by itself it cuts the bulb's life in half. So i am planning to purchase an azoo 2 fan system, but once i purchase it where do i aim it to maximize it's usefulness and prolong bulb life?

 

3) How much flow do I need in this tank? I will have the aquaclear, should i buy 2 maxijet 900's with the hydor spinner mod or should i just buy a couple of hydor koralia nanos? It has to be low enough the blasto's love it, but strong enough it doesn't cause problems or cyano. Any suggestions here are welcome.

 

4) Protein skimmer. At first i was thinking i probably shouldn't get one of these, but the more i thought about it, with me having some filter feeders, that requires me to feed phyto plankton, so i would want the skimmer to pull crap out of the water so i can feed a bit 'more excessively than normal'. Any recommendations for a system this small? I am considering an aquaC remora, but they are noisy.

 

Thanks for your input!

[seabass]

1) Sand - i prefer dead sand as it is cheaper and i can seed it. My only problem is deciding which sand i want? I am thinking about doing the black sand, but i hear it isn't good because it won't release Ca, Alk, and Mg from breaking down. Also, one benefit in this system with it being blastomussas, i would assume the black sand would be helpful because it would absorb and not reflect the light, lowering the light intensity? Any ideas one what kind of sand and where i can purchase it from? (my LFS doesn't carry my favorite sand anymore )

Aragonite does help buffer the water. Dry is fine. Petco and PetSmart should have sand in stock, but you could order it online too.

 

3) How much flow do I need in this tank? I will have the aquaclear, should i buy 2 maxijet 900's with the hydor spinner mod or should i just buy a couple of hydor koralia nanos? It has to be low enough the blasto's love it, but strong enough it doesn't cause problems or cyano. Any suggestions here are welcome.

I think you'd be ok with the AC and one Koralia Nano.

 

4) Protein skimmer. At first i was thinking i probably shouldn't get one of these, but the more i thought about it, with me having some filter feeders, that requires me to feed phyto plankton, so i would want the skimmer to pull crap out of the water so i can feed a bit 'more excessively than normal'. Any recommendations for a system this small? I am considering an aquaC remora, but they are noisy.

Yeah, they are a little noisy (most skimmers make some noise). I've read that there is an easy mod that helps a little, but I haven't tried it on mine.

[lakshwadeep]

You don't really need sand to "release Ca, alk, and Mg" because even the calcium carbonate-based sands (calcite/aragonite) won't significantly buffer (dissolve) the tank until your pH was fairly acidic, which would be very stressful for your livestock. Calcite/aragonite are common choices. The "black sand" you're mentioning sounds very specific; there are many different types of sand that are black/grey. Also, I don't think light reflected from sand is nearly as important than direct light; so reflection isn't a big problem.

 

I'm not sure who made up the "rule" of bulb lifespan cut in half with no fans. Also, you would need the fans to reach in the fixture for useful cooling. If you were talking about overdriving the bulbs (at a higher wattage), I would understand. What exactly was the normal lifespan they were thinking of?

 

Flow is hard to decide. However, a good minimum is a turnover of 10-20X the tank volume. IMO, propellor driven powerheads are better choices than maxijets with the hydor flo (although you could have both).

[Goonter]

You don't really need sand to "release Ca, alk, and Mg" because even the calcium carbonate-based sands (calcite/aragonite) won't significantly buffer (dissolve) the tank until your pH was fairly acidic, which would be very stressful for your livestock. Calcite/aragonite are common choices. The "black sand" you're mentioning sounds very specific; there are many different types of sand that are black/grey. Also, I don't think light reflected from sand is nearly as important than direct light; so reflection isn't a big problem.

 

I just saw this black sand at my LFS that was dead that i could buy. I haven't looked too far into it, thought i'd ask about it first. So it shouldn't make a difference if i use aragonite or black sand? One other problem i have read is that black rock seems to be magnetic, so trying to scrap algae off the glass is a problem with a magnetic algae scraper. Is this true? How do i know what a good high quality black sand is? also, what is the material that it should be made out of?

 

I'm not sure who made up the "rule" of bulb lifespan cut in half with no fans. Also, you would need the fans to reach in the fixture for useful cooling. If you were talking about overdriving the bulbs (at a higher wattage), I would understand. What exactly was the normal lifespan they were thinking of?

 

Well that is one thing i didn't understand. Why would they make the tek light fixture to have no fans, if that would reduce the bulb life span. I am not overdriving the bulbs. They claimed the normal lifespan of a t5 bulb is about 9 months.

 

Flow is hard to decide. However, a good minimum is a turnover of 10-20X the tank volume. IMO, propellor driven powerheads are better choices than maxijets with the hydor flo (although you could have both).

 

Okay, so maybe i should downgrade the aquaclear 70 filter? because that is 100-300 gph. And since blastomussas are low flow as it is, i would just have the aquaclear and a skimmer and that'd be about the max flow turnover. And i don't think the blastos would like getting that much flow directly from the filter.

 

So is the aquaC remora a good option for this small of a tank or is it too "big" of a skimmer?

 

thanks guys for the advice.