running a basic set-up

[wingsfan]

everyone seems to have sumps, refugiums,and topoff setups...... with money constraints I was wondering if i'm gonna be able to run a 20g with just the basics....( lights,sand,rock,skimmer,and water changes) is it posible to have success with just the basics until funds permit differantly? Just wondering.Thanks

[twflys]

Hell ya, go for it!

[ngericke]

I second that

[MrConclusion]

Dig this... I spent some time recently writing a post that may help you out. I am going to see if I can cut and paste it here...

 

Before I do, I would say spend on the lights and save on the skimmer. Plenty of success is possible without a skimmer, in fat, it's easy yet harmful to over-skim a small tank. But you need good lights so put your resources there.

 

Mark, feel free to zap this post and just put a link to the original thread, I'm too lazy to do it now.

 

PASTED FROM HERE:

The biggest threat to success, especially on a small budget, is that people have a tremendous tendency to overreach, or "get a little too cute" for their own good. Please understand I am not trying to say anything bad about your plans, I just think you might not need to worry about so much equipment.

 

If you have never had a reef before, you should seriously consider whether or not you need a refugium-equipped system. It's nice to have, but my nicest looking tank right now is a 10 gallon with absolutely no external fittings at all.

 

Refugiums offer you many chances to spend more money, and to leak nice, destructive salt water all over the floor. The best advantage of a refugium is the fact that you can light it 24 hours a day, creating a "macro algae" filter to remove nutrients from the system. That's really cool, but not necessary at all. No matter what you read on this board!

 

Seriously, a lot of people post messages in which they lecture based on the tanks they wish they had, and never post pictures of the tanks they actually own. Despite what they may want you to believe, not everyone has a $300 protein skimmer, multi 400-watt radium halide lights, calcium reactors, pH controllers, etc., etc. You get my point.

 

If you really want a nice tank on a budget, I would recommend a 10 gallon tank, fitted with at least 50 watts of PC lighting. About a year ago I set up just such a tank with a converted eclipse-1TL hood/light/filter system. It's the simplest system I ever built, but I have been completely happy with it.

 

If you're interested, i can email or post photos & parts list for converting the eclipse-1-TL from 2x15 watt regular fluorescent to 2x32 watt PC fluorescent. This has worked well for me and is pretty cheap and easy to do.

 

You can leave the eclipse-1-TL lighting as-is if you don't want to keep any LPS or (shudder) SPS corals in the tank. Mushrooms, Green star polyps, zoos, etc, will do well under dual normal fluorescent bulbs, especially if replace the included bulbs with 1 10K white and 1 actinic blue bulb from a decent manufacturer like TRITON (Aquarium Products), MARINE-GLO, or CORALIFE.

 

And "cheap" is a relative term, for reefing. Be ready to spend some dough even on a simple system. Here's what my 10 gallon system would cost to replicate, and I would not want to be without any of these things. You need to also budget for extra gadgets like siphon tubes, algae scrapers, etc.:

 

10 gal glass aquarium: $10-$15

Eclipse 1 hood/light/filter: $70-$80

Ballast for conversion: $20

Connectors for conversion: $18

Bulbs for conversion: 2x$20-$25 ($40-$50)

Circulating Pump: $15-$20 (micro jet)

Heater: $15-$25 (Ebo Jager)

 

Live Sand (20 lb. fine treated sand): $30

Live Rock: 15lb x $5-$6 ($75-$90)

 

pH Test Kit: $5 (tetra saltwater pH)

KH Test Kit: $10 (tetra KH)

Calcium test kit: $10 (Hagen CA)

 

Small jar of phosphate absorber: $15 (Phosguard 250 grams)

Small nylon bag for phosguard:$3 (Hagen Aquaclear mini bags)

50 lb. bag of salt mix: $15-$20

Calcium Suppliment: $10 (many to choose from)

Magnesium Suppliment: $15 (many to choose from)

Buffer Suppliment: $10 (many to choose from)

Iodine Suppliment: $10 (many to choose from)

 

Fish: $10-$50

Corals 3 to 6 needed, costing $20-$50 each

 

Bucket for mixing salt water for water changes: $5 (keep clean!)

Small powerhead for mixing bucket: $12 (mini jet)

Small heater for bucket: $15 (visi-therm 100w)

 

You see how even a small simple tank can add up. Sorry for the tremendously long post, but maybe it can help you out in some way! GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!

[wingsfan]

I knew it was gonna cost a little bit to do,you just see that everyone has all the bells and whistles,,,,,,was just kind of curious as to if anybody does it with basics or if they all have to have the mega dollar systems. Thanks for the info mrconclusion all is takin into account,,,,,,,no punn intended

[tonkadawg]

FWIW, I have been running a 20 gallon for 6 months now with just the basics - sand, LR, lights, PH's and a heater - note no skimmer. I do weekly water changes and have not had one problem.

[Crakeur]

I ran my 7 gallon with nothing more than lr, ls, powerheads and a 32w pc over the top for months without a problem. I added a fuge for two reasons. One, I wanted the macro growth and two, I wanted the additional water volume. It hasn't helped reduce my algae problems. I also added new lights that are allowing me to keep a maxima (sps were doing fine under 32w powercompact). My only other bell or whistle is a microchiller that I put on the tank in warmer months (getting ready to dust that baby off real soon).

[BustytheSnowMaam]

I can think of a couple of ways to save (this is my experience and opinion, not that Mr. C or anyone else is wrong):

 

1) I didn't buy any live sand, I just let my live rock "seed" my aragonite. (save $30)

 

2) I think supplements are unnecessary- regular water changes will replenish trace elements and minerals just fine. Same with the phosguard. (save @$60)

 

3) Rather than converting an Eclipse hood, build your own canopy. (save ???)

 

4) I don't think a skimmer is necessary on a 20.

 

5) Don't think you have to buy everything at once. I set up my tank with live rock and a few hermits. I got the other things little by little over the next few months. Ask for fish/corals/accessories as gifts. My next purchase was a pair of tank-raised clowns (Valentine gift from my husband). Then I bought my lights. Then I added my corals one by one (2 of them were birthday presents).

 

6) Don't fuss over the tank a lot, always testing this and that, always worrying about this and that. Do your water changes, use common sense about stocking the tank, then practice benign neglect. I find the people who have the most tests/chemicals/gadgets are also the ones who have an eyesore tank full of cyano and hair algae. I have never had a bigger problem than a few aiptasia anemones. All my livestock, save one blood shrimp, have been with me over a year.

 

My .02-

Tasha

[zizmans]

OK, a few good points. I would advise you to buy your lights, and THEN get your clown fish. Hardware and living biengs are two different things, you should buy them accordingly. Do NOT use the word "neglect" even with the word "benign" in front of it. Rather Informed-Observance. Evaporation on a nano is pretty extreme if you have an open top, as well as what a let's say....dead anenome can do to it in a matter of hours. I'm not saying camp out in front of your tank and quit your job. I'm just saying that being paranoid in the beginning is maybe a good vibe. You find out the levels of importance for each thing. I deffinitley agree with the live sand advice, it's a moneypatience ratio, which do you have more of? The time difference is negligible so go for the live-challenged sand (to be PC) Also some LFS will give you sand out of thier curring tanks for nothing, or better yet get Un-LS and ask them for some of the nasty looking scraps of rock at the bottom of thier curring tank. Last, there are people here who have had nano's since before the word "nano's"...listen to them. Water changes (wc) ....(F**king everything is abbreviated) for some reason water change gets a, or is it an? ""

Supplements ARE necessary for certain things. Find out who has what, then ask what they use. Calcium for instance, could be considered important in many applications. Also I did a couple of posts on a thread called "Beginner ?'s!!!help" check it out. Also, it's not like I'm pro-nano-reefer guy, this is my opinion, and you are going to get alot of them!