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Brewer's 20 Gallon Fusion Build


Brewer

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Started this a bit ago, as was gifted a nice Fusion 20 all in one, and figured I put up a build thread. It's a surprise for my young son; i'm secretly building it up in the basement and then will move to living room on his birthday, octobe 30.

 

We're moving and buying a house in the next year or so and install a much larger custom reef build, but given the tank was a gift, i couldn't wait to get a head start and the little man will love it. He goes to the local zoo and aquarium at least once a week.

 

Fusion 20

Aqua C Remora S skimmer

CPC refugium 

Current Marine Loop system for lighting and wave making.

Glass top to limit evaporation, although i havev a tunze top off.

Dual heaters with cut off controller for safety.

Redundant pumps for return.

 

Just putting fish in. Some are so small, i spent one night getting a couple out of the return and had to put up screens on the return slots.

 

Butterfly fish ("Mick Jr.:) is eating fresh clams and live blackworms that i am keeping the fridge. Trying to get him to switch to mysis. Urchin munches nori everyday. 

 

Questions:

 

1. Any suggestions for getting butterfly fish to take frozen food?

 

2. Given the landscape and lighting system, how low can i place some SPS, and anemone, and LPS? Suggestions on placement?

 

3. Water change routines? I was in this hobby for a decade ago for about a decade. I read now that nitrates are being handled differently? I did put chaeto in the refugium.

 

4. Stand recommendations? 

 

5. Wave making setting recommendations?

 

6. Suggestions on getting some fish to take pellets?

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

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  • Like 1
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mitten_reef

a. too many fish in a tank that small

b. tang in nano = no

c. butterfly = i dont know anything about them, but leaning toward not a good fit on that one too.

 

over all, nice equipment and cool scape.  wish I could say the same about fish choices.   

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Fish selection and bioload is not really what I asked.... Not really worried, they're fine and happy, including the one inch tang (anything but an ocean is really too small for anything but a baby tang...), and water parameters are stable. Maybe you missed it, but I said it's a temporary set up before a proper reef build is completed. Anyway, helpful answers to actual questions or comments are appreciated. 

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2 hours ago, Brewer said:

Fish selection and bioload is not really what I asked.... Not really worried, they're fine and happy, including the one inch tang (anything but an ocean is really too small for anything but a baby tang...), and water parameters are stable. Maybe you missed it, but I said it's a temporary set up before a proper reef build is completed. Anyway, helpful answers to actual questions or comments are appreciated. 

Let’s see, I am also sort of a newb but have done quite a bit of reaserch so here is my best answers:

 

sometimes using pre existing furniture can work, but with a refugeum if you can find something made for your tank you may look into custom building a stand

 

generqlly the rule of thumb is 20x turnover rate, and with three powerheads you could turn each of them down quite a bit and have a very distributed nice flow.

 

witb that amount of fish you could probably do a 30 percent once a week, but once you get the larger tank you could definitely do them much less often. I use a shipping that hooks up directly to my sink and the sink just pulls the water from the tank into the sink, and so the tank can be lower than the sink and it will still work! Although this does have some minor drawbacks, it will come in much more handy once you have a much larger tank because the larger water changes the more useful those things can be 🙂

 

I won’t mention stocking much just because I did read you will be getting a larger tank soon!

 

bedt of luck! 
 

Sorry for the bad spelling, my cat is walking all over me right now

 

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1 hour ago, FreshwaterFishMan said:

 

witb that amount of fish you could probably do a 30 percent once a week

Okay, i was thinking about 5 gallons a week, so i am not too far off 🙂

 

I was a little concerned that doing that much was too disruptive to stability with such a small tank...??

 

water tests really well, and the skimmer is so oversized that the tank has stayed very clean. Live rock is 15 years old, never been dry all that time, came out of 600 gallon tank. Haven't done a water change in a month.

 

Maybe start with 5 gallons a week (20% about) and sew how it reacts?  Or do 30%?

 

my cat does the same damn thing!

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1 hour ago, Brewer said:

Okay, i was thinking about 5 gallons a week, so i am not too far off 🙂

 

I was a little concerned that doing that much was too disruptive to stability with such a small tank...??

 

water tests really well, and the skimmer is so oversized that the tank has stayed very clean. Live rock is 15 years old, never been dry all that time, came out of 600 gallon tank. Haven't done a water change in a month.

 

Maybe start with 5 gallons a week (20% about) and sew how it reacts?  Or do 30%?

 

my cat does the same damn thing!

Definitely if you have a good slimmer than 20 percent should be good! I don’t have a slimmer in my 20 gallon so I was sort of just not thinking about it 🙂 

 

we need to start a thread of things cats do to fish tank people, like knocking there punk ball into the tank every morning, and halfway faking into the lidless ones😅

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5 minutes ago, pokerdobe said:

A lot can happen in a year. Stock for the tank you have, not the tank that doesn't exist yet.

Definitely agreed, but seeing as they already have the fish, and because they have a young kid, Nemo and dory type of thing also possibly going on. In a year if things have changed than I am sure they will be responsible enough to rehome the fish.

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Oh my lord, if this forum is just about hypocritical subjective virtue signalling then this is a waste of time for me!

 

I am going say one inarguable fact: ALL HOBBIEST REEF TANKS ARE WAY TOO SMALL AND DETRIMENTAL TO REEFS AND TROPICAL FISH. GET OVER YOURSELF. Your 600 gallon aquarium is a drop in the ocean compared to what all of these fish "need" or deserve. They "need" and deserve to be not be in any glass box. The hobby destroys reefs. Thousands upon thousands of fish and corals needlessly die in this hobby. Period. Fact. My 20 gallon nano and one inch tang is low on the list to bitch about....

 

We have these pets because we want to. Thats the sole selfish reason. It's cool looking, and yes it makes my kid happy. I could care less about what your subjective opinion about what  fish "should" be kept in what aquarium. None of them should be in any aquarium. But here were are. Your tank is no better than mine on all these fronts--NO MATTER HOW YOU TRY TO RATIONALIZE YOUR REEF PLUNDERING.

 

Back on topic:

 

I came on this forum to ask some questions and get helpful answers, not get lectured by hypocrits.

 

Thanks and answers to the questions above would be helpful. The rest of the commentary is nonesense.

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Yikes. You are going to get opinions you don't like...It doesn't really matter where you go... Forum.. Facebook...reddit..  

 

I don't get the 600g isn't the ocean so I can put them in a 20g analogy. One is still more appropriate than another. Shrug. 

 

I wouldn't try and switch the butterfly to mysis...at least not permanently. Fresh clams and live black worms are actually perfect for this fish! Mysis is a lot of shell and little meat. Not ideal for a fish that needs to eat frequently and maintain weight. I would try and wean it on chopped LRS if you are looking for something prepared but I would still offer worms and fresh clams frequently. 

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On 8/7/2020 at 11:52 PM, Tamberav said:

I wouldn't try and switch the butterfly to mysis...at least not permanently

Ok, fair point. I have enough live black worms for a very long while. Theyre not terrible to maintain; bubble stone, fridge, pinch of cat food every few days, same with 1/2 gallon water changes.

 

What do you think of what i am trying:

 

I press feed and let the calm water get the fish worked up for feeding.

 

-  I'm crushing a quality pellet as well as adding the pellet whole first. A few fish are taking to it. Clowns, gobies, hawkfish. Tang is testing it out too.

 

-  After 5 - 10 minutes, i add mysis. Every fish is going nuts over that now, Butterfly included--just not as nuts as the others.

 

-  Last, after another five minutes i add the black worms. Butterfly is sucking those up like spagetti, feeding very well. I am no longer concerned about him eating.

 

Given your point on nutrition, what do suggest for an alternative frozen food?  What is LRS?

 

I also order a bunch of copods for the refugium. Figure those will keep 'em busy between feedings.

 

P.s. Aquariums, i.e., cages, regardless of size are not even close to the ocean. All of these fish taken have a very low surivival rate before even getting to your cage.

 

People should just enjoy the hobby and not lie to themselves that they're somehow more responsible than others because their cage is bigger; participating in the hobby at all--is bad for all tropical fish and reefs. I'm okay with that. They're just fish, and ill take care of them like any pet and enjoy the hobby while its legal, hopefully for a while longer.

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Yes the pet trade can be a dark place. I try to support business that has sustainable practices. Getting fish when able direct from divers like KPA is always a great way to support the little guy while knowing the fish are net caught and handled with care 🙂 Ofc that's not always possible but worth thinking about. More and more fish are being captive bred which also seems to increase survival and better care overall. Hopefully that is the future and not the end of the reef hobby.

 

Still something like a Copperband is better in a smaller tank being hand fed and babied then in a large tank with lots of Tangs and competition left to its own devices. There is definitely lots of things to consider for the proper care of fish besides tank size although I think a 40g would be a nice training/grow out size.

 

I mention nutrition because I see skinny copperbands and they eat mysis like crazy. It is a lot of shell.

 

LRS is a brand of high quality frozen. If you buy the regular instead if the nano it contains some large prices so I basically just chop it up while frozen. The nano is just chopped fine already but not all my LFS carry the nano version.

 

http://www.larrysreefservices.com/reef-frenzy-nano.html

 

 

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9 hours ago, Tamberav said:

 

Still something like a Copperband is better in a smaller tank being hand fed and babied then in a large tank with lots of Tangs and competition left to its own devices

Yes, was my thoughts exactly.  I had one years ago for about a decade. I rem3mbered some of this and the eating issue.

 

Also, recently, my buddy who gave me 20 gallon tank, lost a copperband because it wouldnt eat. His tank is a 150 gallon custom. Beyond very nice tank..

 

But the fish did not have a chance in hindsight. Tangs and other fish the copperband was too preoccupied by.

 

These fish are are very content. High flow keeps them active. Don't get my comments above wrong.... i've spent $20k on pets before at the vet. I take my pets lives very seriously and practice good husbandry. But im a realist and dont lie to myself about the hobby not helping these animals in the bigger picture...

 

I took this tank because it was gift from a budfy that just lost his puppy (my dogs best friend) first ever, and it gives us something to chat about and not abour that tragedy.

 

The tank is going to be a perfect frag tank in about a year. If these fish need a bigger tank because of fighting or something like that ill upgrade sooner, money is not an issue, but for now the plan is buy a new house in about a year (hopefully prices crash with all these nonsense covid shutdowns) and put in a a very large custom then. 🙂

 

ill get some of that LRS! thank you!

 

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On 8/7/2020 at 7:29 PM, Brewer said:

Started this a bit ago, as was gifted a nice Fusion 20 all in one, and figured I put up a build thread. It's a surprise for my young son; i'm secretly building it up in the basement and then will move to living room on his birthday, octobe 30.

 

We're moving and buying a house in the next year or so and install a much larger custom reef build, but given the tank was a gift, i couldn't wait to get a head start and the little man will love it. He goes to the local zoo and aquarium at least once a week.

 

Fusion 20

Aqua C Remora S skimmer

CPC refugium 

Current Marine Loop system for lighting and wave making.

Glass top to limit evaporation, although i havev a tunze top off.

Dual heaters with cut off controller for safety.

Redundant pumps for return.

 

Just putting fish in. Some are so small, i spent one night getting a couple out of the return and had to put up screens on the return slots.

 

Butterfly fish ("Mick Jr.:) is eating fresh clams and live blackworms that i am keeping the fridge. Trying to get him to switch to mysis. Urchin munches nori everyday. 

 

Questions:

 

1. Any suggestions for getting butterfly fish to take frozen food?

 

2. Given the landscape and lighting system, how low can i place some SPS, and anemone, and LPS? Suggestions on placement?

 

3. Water change routines? I was in this hobby for a decade ago for about a decade. I read now that nitrates are being handled differently? I did put chaeto in the refugium.

 

4. Stand recommendations? 

 

5. Wave making setting recommendations?

 

6. Suggestions on getting some fish to take pellets?

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

20200806_235038.jpg

20200806_235553.jpg

Love the scape! 

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2 hours ago, Brewer said:

 Copperband chows LRS 😃 Buddy gave me some.

Good deal...my picky fish love it too including a longnose butterfly fingerscrossed

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1 hour ago, Brewer said:

Rearranged the upper rock, closer to back wall and more open water up front with better places for frags too, and added some corals.

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Wonderful looking corals!!

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2 hours ago, Brewer said:

Rearranged the upper rock, closer to back wall and more open water up front with better places for frags too, and added some corals.

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Looking good!

Question; I see a lot of frags on the coral racks left and right in your tank. Are they there just to acclimate to the new tank and lighting?

How long to you keep'em there? Do you run any acclimation setting on your lights?

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The cora

On 8/13/2020 at 11:40 PM, TheonlyDaan said:

Looking good!

Question; I see a lot of frags on the coral racks left and right in your tank. Are they there just to acclimate to the new tank and lighting?

How long to you keep'em there? Do you run any acclimation setting on your lights?

Theyre new corals and my thought is to let them accillimate and grow a bit before placing on the rock.

 

Kinda deciding whether i'm going to remove rock and drill holes for the plugs or just glue them where i want them. A couple corals had a hard time with shipping, one of them the urchin is looking out for i guess, lol.

 

I was also thinking about placing the zoos in the sand on the right side next to branched rock. Let them grow up the rock.

 

The lights are raised and at about 10% to 50% intensity, mostly blues, and the glass top i think helps diffuse light intensity.

 

Ill probably keep them there until my boy's birthday, october 30th. I have to move the whole tank up stairs then (the tank is hidden and a surprise down the basement, in a closet of sorts, where no one really goes). On his birthday, im hoping to move the tank and place the corals then. Wrap the whole thing in bithday wrapping paper and let him go to town ripping it open. He's goes to the aquarium once a week as it is, loves the fish, and this seems another way to keep him off tv and digital devices.

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Rearranged my lighting setup for a cleaner look and more par.

 

Removed light brackets all together.  Siliconed the lights directly to the glass top. Also cut the bracket off the Innovative Marine LED that came with the tank. Siliconed it in the middle dead center on the glass. If a post is right, quoting a rep from the company may add a couple hundred par at the top of the tank.

 

Also the warmth of the lights right on the glass eliminates condensation on the glass... bonus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I think he'll be super excited! I'll post pics of the move and surprise 😃.

 

The lights on the glass is waaaaay easier. I can access the refugium and skimmer much more easily. I also put a four 1 inch pieces of silicone tubing (sliced in the down the length of the them), so that glass top just easily slides back a few inches over the return. That way feeding is super easy!  And the back of the glass when sliding back rests against the skimmer and refugium intake, acting like a hinge, so you lift the glass up from the front securely.

 

I was concerned about the little one trying to feed, but much less so now.

 

 

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