Back in business!! New member 20 gallon nano reef

[revelations]

I am happy to be a new member of the nano-reef community! To be honest, I am back in the hobby from a 5 year break; had numerous communityreef tanks, FOWLR larger setups and a couple reef only tanks. Needless to say, I have a lot of re-learning to do and it seems like a couple things have evolved since I have been out of the hobby. So currently I have my 20 gallon tank cycling here is the current setup:
.Generic 20 gallon glass tank with stand. I always ran my tanks open top, but might throw some egg-crate or mesh on top

.Penguin 100 bio wheel power filter

.Arag-alive 10 lbs (bottom layer)

.CaribSea Aragonite 10 lbs (top layer

. R/O water mixed with instant ocean salt

. 50 watt heater

. Bio-spira 3.38 oz.

.Prime conditioner

That's really all I got running right now until I get the rest of the stuff on order. Just wanted to start cycling the new tank ASAP. Here's what's on order:

.Penguin 200 Bio wheel- This is my top preference filter next to a sump. I have always successfully ran my tanks on these filters, but if there are better options nowadays please let me know; other than a sump because I really don't want to get into that for this tank currently

.100 watt heater- backup in case one or the other dies

.generic in-tank protein skimmer

.800 gph wave maker- Never used these before, but it seems like everybody runs them now in their reef tanks... I used to just go overkill on the power-filters which gave enough water flow for shallow aquariums. Opinions welcome for this setup

.78 LED 24" light- I already know I will have to upgrade later, but just wanted to get something to start out with and go from there

. Miscellaneous supplies: Refractometer, spot feeder, siphon, buckets, mag glass, cleaner etc.

One thing I fully understand about this hobby is PATIENCE! That's the main reason I started a pretty generic setup to just get a cycle started. 

Here's the game plan: Once the tank clears up after the initial mixing I will add in the bio-spira. I will wait for my other supplies to arrive as the tank cycles which should be within the next couple weeks. I plan on getting most of the equipment on the tank and then waiting another couple of weeks for the tank to fully establish (4-6 weeks all together).

Now, here is my first question: Live rock or dry macro rock?

I'll be 100% honest. Back in the day I had a trusted reef-keeper I purchased EVERYTHING from. I did not do any curing or anything. His LR went directly in my tanks and I did not have any problems aside from the occasional aiptasia in one of my 10+ tanks; also I was able to eliminate it pretty quickly using calcium hydroxide. Other than that all of his stuff was very well-kept and flourishing. BUT I have lost contact with him and do not trust the LFS. From my research currently, it sounds like I might go with 10-15 pounds of macro rock and seed it with some LR from the best LFS we have in our state (we do have a couple good reef enthusiasts around my area). Anyways. I plan on mixing the macro rock with some quality LR to seed the tank and give it a while to balance out. Long term I don't want anything too complex. Just a pair of clowns, firefish goby, anemone or two, polyps, and some mushrooms. Please feel free to give me some feedback on how I should proceed and what are my best options for this kind of setup. Also, I do not have an ATO and have never used them on my old nano reefs, but I did run some on sumps in the past which would probably be a lil more safe due to the extra water volume. I will be monitoring this tank often, but if it is recommended please let me know as well. Anyways lemme know what you guys think! Glad to be here and will be sure to post some pics as the tank progresses!

-Rev

 

[Humblefish]

Welcome back to the hobby!

[Clown79]

Welcome back to the addiction😁

 

For hob filters, the seachem Tidal 55 is a popular one. By far the best hob I have ever used.

 

What wavemaker did you get? 800 gph might be too much, depends on the livestock. Just keep an eye in it.

 

I myself usually use liverock but have done a split between dry and live. Each person has their preference, neither is right or wrong. 

 

 

A decent budget light that is popular is the hiperagero.

 

https://www.amazon.com/HIPARGERO-LED-Aquarium-Light-Saltwater/dp/B0727V8C5Q

 

Another option without breaking g the bank is

https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=viparspectra+165w+reef+led&qid=1558503397&s=gateway&sprefix=viparspectra+165&sr=8-3

 

 

The viparspectra gives you the ability to dim it and if you upgrade tanks later, it will work too.

[Natereef]

One tip for your wavemaker. Whatever brand youre getting just make sure you get a magnetically attaching one and NOT I repeat NOT the suction cup ones or youre gonna wake up one day to a sand blasted tank.

[revelations]

Thanks for the advice so far guys!

 

Clown- That hipargero light is perfect for what I was looking to spend. Like I said the current light I have on order from ebay is a 72 LED, but the listing does not mention lumen output and I'm sure it has low quality LEDs considering what I paid for it.

 

Nate- Sadly, the wave maker I have on order is the suction cup mount; thanks for the heads up. I will probably just used it to premix saltwater now that I know that. I think the two filters on the tank should be adequate water flow for what I want inside the tank, but I will pick up a different one if there are dead spots.

 

Today I'm gathering supplies for a DIY screen top and might order up 10 lbs or so of some dry rock. Keep the advice coming!

 

-Rev

[j.falk]

I set up a 20 gallon high 3 months ago using Marco rock and I have been fighting brown/green hair algae ever since.  I swear the rocks are leaching phosphates which is the root of the problem.  If I had to do it all over again, I would go buy some good quality live rock from the local fish store and skip the dry rock altogether.  I was trying to do this tank cost effectively and now I'm paying the price for it.  My last tank I built using Reefcleaners dry rock and they were fantastic...never had any issues with them.

[revelations]

On 5/22/2019 at 3:38 PM, jfalkartist said:

I set up a 20 gallon high 3 months ago using Marco rock and I have been fighting brown/green hair algae ever since.  I swear the rocks are leaching phosphates which is the root of the problem.  If I had to do it all over again, I would go buy some good quality live rock from the local fish store and skip the dry rock altogether.  I was trying to do this tank cost effectively and now I'm paying the price for it.  My last tank I built using Reefcleaners dry rock and they were fantastic...never had any issues with them.

dang that's not good to hear. How long were you running your lights? Anyways quick updates, a bunch of orders arrived today; light, penguin 200, 100w heater, misc cleaning equipment, and 10 lb dry rock. Got another question: I was just planning on letting this tank sit for a month or two; I added bio spira and the dry rock. Now as I researched Ive read things such as I should put a peice of shrimp in there to cycle the tank. Shouldn't the tank just cycle on it's on without doing that? As I said I added bio-spira and 10 lbs of sand is arag-alive. 

-Rev

[revelations]

So here is the humble beginnings! Kinda bummed 20 gallon has some scratches in it but hey it was $20 with stand on CL. Anyways, this is just the beginning; I can't wait till this setup really comes along. Right now the tank is cluttered with equipment which is completely fine because I m not adding too much too fast. Just got the refractometer levels test out at 1.025. Next steps is to get the mesh in the mail and make the screen top,get the skimmer, and let the tank cycle for a good month.

-Rev

[Natereef]

Yeah you need an ammonia source for the bacteria to eat. Im not really well versed on how long those bacterias can stay alive without a source of ammonia. But in general you have to have a source of ammonia in there either by putting fish food and letting it rot or a piece of shrimp.  I dont think u really need a skimmer though. 

[j.falk]

23 hours ago, revelations said:

dang that's not good to hear. How long were you running your lights?

8 hours a day.