20 gallon nano

[jmg]

i posted this in reef, and was told to come here...
myself and girlfriend just got a 20 gallon...
has 3 lbs live rock, 1 lb live sand, about 20 lbs argonite sand.
penguin 330 filter, visitherm heater...
its almost done cycling (gettin nitrites, amonia, etc checked saturday)
but we were wanting to setup a small reef for some clowns to play in, and were wondering what to get.
what lighting systems? i dont know what type of coral we want, but the LFS said for a bright lighting $99, for super bright $199...
what type of skimmer, etc should we get.
just i pretty much need a list of what we need... i plan on picking up another 22 lbs of live rock and probably another lb of live sand next week hopefully...
thanks for your help!

 

[ivanfj]

I have a Red Sea prizm over my 20g and it's working great although sometimes I find it a little annoying.
As for the lighting I only have a 65w PC and a 15 w NO right now. Looking to add another 65w PC and take out the 15w. That will give me a total of 130w and can almost keep all LPS corals. There's a double bulb PC 130w 24" from coralife, but it's a little pricey to my standard. What brand specifically is your LFS offering you you know???

 

[whiti9]

ivanfj what do you mean that the prizm gets "annoying"

 

[ivanfj]

It kinda makes some stupid noise once in a while. And I don't know about other skimmers, but mine if I don't have the right SG, it doesn't suck up any water. When SG is on a bit of the low side like 1.021, it usually starts to stop sucking and very quickly it's basically doing nothing. Sometimes it really gets on my nerve a bit coz I gotta pay attention whether it stops sucking any water. Know what I mean????~~~ A little bad grammar~~~:hilarious

 

[cprdnick]

I agree with Ivan that the prizms are annoying. As I posted in the reef for JmG, mine is noisy. It's noisy pretty much all of the time, I have stuffed socks, cotton balls, and other insulators in the dry chamber. I have wrapped the entire unit in some insulating material that we use for vehicle firewalls, doors, and floors. It worked like a charm, but didn't put up with the salt creep very well. If you don't have it turned up enough, you have to restart the sucking process every 2-3 days. Also, lately I've been having a problem with it blowing extremely small bubbles all over the place, which in my opinion, ruins the look of the reef.
JmG I have heard good things about the AquaC Remora, and the Bak-Pak HOB skimmers, look into them.

 

[jmg]

so what all other than skimmers do i need? and what are some small skimmers that wouldnt clog up the counter

 

[ivanfj]

Also, lately I've been having a problem with it blowing extremely small bubbles all over the place, which in my opinion, ruins the look of the reef.
I bet that's where my little bubbles in the tank came from. I didn't know it was the skimmer. Thanks for pointing that out. Do you have a way to make it less bubble cprdnick??? Sorry for hijacking the post.
My friend just bought a seaclone for his 46g BF. He hasn't started skimming yet but I heard others saying it may leak one day. So JmG you may wanna stay away from that as well, although both the Prizm and the Seaclone are the two more economical ones than others.

 

[cprdnick]

Originally posted by ivanfj
I bet that's where my little bubbles in the tank came from. I didn't know it was the skimmer. Thanks for pointing that out. Do you have a way to make it less bubble cprdnick??? Sorry for hijacking the post.

I use a sponge or some type of filter pad. it holds the small bubbles from making it into the tank, but makes them congregate into one big bubble. I would rather have one big bubble than millions of tiny ones.

 

[overanalyzer]

Look for a post entitled Overanalyzers 20 Gallon Nano .... it lists my equipment for my 20 gallon which was designed for a pair of clowns and corrals!