New Hobbyist: 20 Gallon?

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Flower, if you remember, I looked at your HOB and your tank rim is too wide which causes your HOB to sit higher. I did suggest adding to the return edge to lower it closer to the water and that would eliminate most of your salt creep and make it quieter.
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
BTW: A skimmer and an upflow algae scrubber is all I have as far as mechanical filtration in my sump. Aside from the live rock and sand in my fuge.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
BTW: A skimmer and an upflow algae scrubber is all I have as far as mechanical filtration in my sump. Aside from the live rock and sand in my fuge.
Lots of folks run their tanks on just natural filtration, and it works quite well. I personally think all types (except under gravel) will do nicely if you maintain the tank and do your water changes. I can't help but feel many reefers are a bit of a snob about running a sump. I often get the vibe of if you don't run a sump system you are not a "real" hobbyist. Crap on that mentality.
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
My first tank had no sump or fuge. Just an HOB filter and HOB skimmer. You did a little bragging about your sump too when it was up and running. :cool:
Even those who used to live in glass house's. Or acrylic in this case, shouldnt throw stones. :rolleyes:
 
Would it he okay if I were to run anHOB filter for a 30 gallon tank? And what other equipment would I need? Powerheads, lights, anything else?
 

smfoister

Member
Lots of folks run their tanks on just natural filtration, and it works quite well. I personally think all types (except under gravel) will do nicely if you maintain the tank and do your water changes. I can't help but feel many reefers are a bit of a snob about running a sump. I often get the vibe of if you don't run a sump system you are not a "real" hobbyist. Crap on that mentality.
Depends on the community. Some forums are snobby about things, other forums are snobby about another. I'm still trying to decide what you guys are snobby about. :)
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Would it he okay if I were to run anHOB filter for a 30 gallon tank? And what other equipment would I need? Powerheads, lights, anything else?
All I run is hob filters. As far as power heads there also helpful. You just dont want your fish getting blown around
 

flower

Well-Known Member
My first tank had no sump or fuge. Just an HOB filter and HOB skimmer. You did a little bragging about your sump too when it was up and running. :cool:
Even those who used to live in glass house's. Or acrylic in this case, shouldnt throw stones. :rolleyes:
LOL...If you read the thread on how my sump came to be, you would know why I was so proud. Rather why the folks on this site should be proud, they all got together, worked together, and out of the goodness of their hearts made that sump...twice, because the UPS gorillas killed the first one. It's a great read, it has heros, a damsel in distress, and even has the UPS guy as a villain. I am not a snob about sumps, I am a snob about the great people on this site, this place is better then all others.

The snob factor are those who don't think you are a serious hobbyist because you use a canister filter. I took a little offense, when Snake said he has never seen a good looking reef that used a canister filter system, that's just ridicules....so I posted a picture of a beautiful healthy reef that ran on a canister filter system.
 

seecrabrun

Active Member
Would it he okay if I were to run anHOB filter for a 30 gallon tank? And what other equipment would I need? Powerheads, lights, anything else?
I've been running my 29g successfully as a newbie for the past 7 months with just a pre-filter on one of my power heads. It picks up some of the larger and smaller debris that isn't relevant to the tank. I take it off and wash it and replace it as it grabs things.

The only thing I feel like I need to add is a skimmer, but I will be adding a sump very soon just because there is a large amount of equipment already in the tank and I do want to add the skimmer and that would just be overkill. I'd like to remove some of the eyesores. Right now there are 2 heaters(better to do 2 lower power than 1 higher power in case of malfunction), 3 power heads to get the right circulation(I feel like a few lower power ones give a much better flow than one or two higher power ones), and a grounding probe(definitely should get one of these no matter what tank it is). With all that equipment I feel the walls and back of my small tank is crowded and there isn't a place left for a skimmer.

I think a HOB filter would be fine, but not necessary if you have a skimmer I would think.
 

seecrabrun

Active Member
I should definitely mention I don't have any corals yet, but am working my way there. I believe in giving your system time to mature, not forcing it to do so. I waited until after my tank had fully cycled to add a fish, and I decided waiting at minimum 6 months of good consistent results would be what I should do before taking on corals.
It has now been that time and I am researching sumps and beginning to prepare my tank for coral additions with new aquascaping and research on proper care for the corals I want and making sure my tank can maintain those corals.
 

bang guy

Moderator
Lots of folks run their tanks on just natural filtration, and it works quite well. I personally think all types (except under gravel) will do nicely if you maintain the tank and do your water changes. I can't help but feel many reefers are a bit of a snob about running a sump. I often get the vibe of if you don't run a sump system you are not a "real" hobbyist. Crap on that mentality.
I don't view a sump as filtration at all. It's a tool that opens up a lot of options, nothing but a tool.
 
What kinds of corals could I keep? Would I be restricted to soft corals, or would LPS and SPS be feasible in the future when I'm more experienced?
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
LOL...If you read the thread on how my sump came to be, you would know why I was so proud. Rather why the folks on this site should be proud, they all got together, worked together, and out of the goodness of their hearts made that sump...twice, because the UPS gorillas killed the first one. It's a great read, it has heros, a damsel in distress, and even has the UPS guy as a villain. I am not a snob about sumps, I am a snob about the great people on this site, this place is better then all others.

The snob factor are those who don't think you are a serious hobbyist because you use a canister filter. I took a little offense, when Snake said he has never seen a good looking reef that used a canister filter system, that's just ridicules....so I posted a picture of a beautiful healthy reef that ran on a canister filter system.
I didn't read the thread. I sat in your living room and listened to you tell the story. I could hear the pride in your voice when you talked about it. :D
 

flower

Well-Known Member
show off. I want to sit in both of your living rooms!
My reef is long gone, I lost $1500.00 worth of well established coral when my heater broke and electrocuted the tank, a few survived, but the reef never looked like it did before the incident. If I had not had a GFCI outlet set up, I would have lost all my fish as well.

Now I run a 90g cold water potbelly seahorse tank, which my son is planning to take over. Then I "plan" to set back up my 56g column tank that's sitting in the garage for now. I can't take care of my fish tanks like I could back in the day, I may not even reset the 56g, it all depends on my health and energy.

As for my pride in that sump... My goodness, the people on this site are so awesome...so if anyone wants a good read...check out by search "Flower's sump/fuge build". This site is not like any other. The sump isn't what was special, it was what the folks on saltwaterfish.com did, that made it something to be very proud of. If anyone here wants to know what real friends are...read it. I never met any of them face to face, but I love them dearly.
 
I don't mean to sound rude, or impatient, and I appologize if I do, but I do believe your convo has gotten sidetracked and I'm not sure if anyone read my last question.
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
If you have the correct lighting you can keep any coral u want. The issue u may have is the small tank will limit how many. Some corals will wage chemical warfare on eachother if placed too close
 
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