Wild Child Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 Hello, I am new to this forum, and I have a couple questions... Currently I have an 80 gallon reef with softies. I have a ten gallon I would like to set up with SPS. My questions are: 1. I have no room for a sump on this tank, so I am wondering what you guys would recommend for skimmers. I have noticed a number of people have only LR and LS, no skimmer, anybody recommend this? It is right next to my 80 gallon, so is running it off my larger tank's sump feasible? Or am I off base with that idea? 2. I plan on purchasing this setup or this setup or something similar for lighting, since I would not have room for any other lighting for this tank(actinics, etc.) would you recommend the 20 k bulb or just the 10k? 3. I would definitely want some type of auto top-off system, are there any that work from below the tank? If so, can you give me a link to it? Thanks in advance, and I am sure to have many more questions in the future, and look forward to all your advice. Any other recommendations you have please feel free. Dave Link to comment
Wild Child Posted February 10, 2003 Author Share Posted February 10, 2003 Wow, 29 views and no replies... I must have ticked someone off and this is my first post>>>>>>>>> Link to comment
SeaMountain Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 Hey there Wild Child... Have you checked out some of the strip lights from www.PetSupplyLiquidator.com or www.AHSupply.com yet? I'm currently building a 10 Gal nano myself and the strip lighting seems to work best in my application. As for the Top-Off solution, hit the DIY forum and type in a few search terms. You might even post your Top-Off question there too, 'cuz I'm not a good resource for you on that! Link to comment
Wild Child Posted February 10, 2003 Author Share Posted February 10, 2003 Thanks for the reply SeaMountain, glad to know I didn't tick everybody off...:-) I will check those sites out. As far as the top-off goes, I have 2 left hands(vs. 2 left feet) and totally lost when it comes to mechanical tinkering, so hopefully I can find one that works for my set up... Link to comment
Crakeur Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 I'm not a skimmer user so I can't answer that. The lighting looks fine to me and for a top-off, you can check out californiareefs.com (Cameron frequents these boards) for his set up or you can diy. If you need a top off switch, there is a very trustworthy fella selling a barely used top-off swich by ultralife. I think he wants $50, which include shipping. Hey, wait, I'm selling the switch. This is the strangest life I've ever known. Peace. Link to comment
darkgumby Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 Some people use a HOB power filter for a refugium. I'm thinking of doing so when I setup my 11g nano. I plan to use an Aqua Clear 500 (or maybe a 300) and put the heater and (maybe) a skimmer in it. The Sanders Piccolo or the Coral Life Super Skimmer 1 look like they are small enough to fit. Link to comment
Spudds Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 Just a note on using the aquaclears for a refugium. If you want to put livesand in it, you'll have to make a baffle to prevent the water from stirring up the sand. Spudds. Link to comment
darkgumby Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 Spudds: ya, I should have mentioned that. Wouldn't that be true for any HOB filter? If there's one that's easier to use than an Aqua Clear then I'd like to know. I'm choosing the AC because it's more wide than deep, and that means more room for useful mods. Link to comment
jbrat Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 Spudds, Could you explain what you mean we'd have to make a baffle for the AC filter to keep the sand from getting stirred up? I've been thinking about taking the sponge outta my AC 300 and turning it into a mini-fuge too. Just trying to figure out what I need to do to tweak it. I have the sponge and bio stars in the AC now and can see stuff living on it last time I rinsed it, I'd rather not have to do that and if I put sand, lr and some plant in it, I wouldn't want to ever clean it? right? Thank you! Thank you! Link to comment
Wild Child Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 Jbrat basically putting a baffle means you are putting a piece of glass or acrylic to reduce or eliminate flow. Not sure how it would go in an aquaclear because I don't have that filter. As Spudds stated, you don't want to stir up the sand. As far as cleaning the fuge, no you would want to leave it as undisturbed as possible, the macros and LR will do the work of "cleaning". If you clean it yourself, you will kill everything you are trying to keep alive by having a refugium. Link to comment
Wild Child Posted February 24, 2003 Author Share Posted February 24, 2003 Well, I figure since I will not be putting any photosynthetic corals in for quite a while, figuring a year for acros, I plan on using a cheap lighting setup I have in the garage for now. I decided on the Aqua-C Remora from Marine depot. An issue I have is circulation. I am thinking a maxijet 600 at 160 gph. Should I go up one to the 900 at 230 gph or is that too much? If the 600 is enough, does anybody know how much smaller the mini-jets are? The largest I've seen is 153 gph. Do they make bigger? I will have 20+lbs of fiji LR and about 3 inches of sandbed. I am debating between 3 types of sand. Aragamax sugar sized at .2-1.2mm diameter grain size, Aragamax Oolitic Select at .5-1.o2mm, or Aragamax Grand Bahama at .2-1.2mm, which has additional bits of reefsand and small shells. I was also considering mixing one of these with the Tahitian moon sand for aesthtic purposes only. I do not want to go with only tahitian because I read that it gets very dirty looking. My inhabitants will be one small fish, not sure what yet, possibly a blackcap basslet or a strawberry psuedochromis(?), 1 or 2 fire shrimp, 2 or 3 cerith snails and about a dozen nassarius snails, nothing else. Corals will be strictly zoos, ricordea and SPS. Does this sound good? My main concern right now, because I plan on picking up the skimmer, sand and PH Friday is your recommendations on these 3 things. Thanks, Dave Link to comment
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