20g Nano looking for suggestions

nudibranch

nudibranch

Member
I'm in the process of drawing up the design for a 20g nano tank and I just wanted to bounce my ideas of you guys and get some suggestions.
20gL 30"X12"X13"
Lighting:
2X65W (6.5W/g) Current USA PC lighting Orbit style (2 moon LED lights ) 3 individual power cords...wish they had these LAST time I wanted to set up a tank.
Now the suggestion part:
Power heads:
3X Micro-Jet 320 OR 450 (I want to do 3 for the sheer diversity of flow) Turn over rates were calc by using all 3 at min/max gph
320 turn over rate min: 4.8/h max: 11/h
450 turn over rate min: 7/h max: 17.5/h
Live Rock:
I have a LFS that sells very nice cured LR for a decent price but I want suggestions on how much LR to add to this set up. I know I can always add more but I would like to get about 75% of it in before doing too much.
Sand Bed:
I'm planning to do a 3" DSB for this tank. I'm curious if any one knows roughly how much sand this will take. Also any suggestions for a different size DSB will be entertained.
Refugium:
What size and directions towards setting one up? I would prefer to have it free flow into the tank (and yes I would have a separate PH for this part). They were just getting popular when I stepped out of the hobby temp. If someone can refresh me on the benefits of one on a nano I'd appreciate it.
Protein Skimming:
Is it worth it at this level? Would it be best to add to the refugium? What type/size skimmer should I use?
That's about it. Any other ideas are welcome.
 
007

007

Active Member
Check out the thread about my tank. Its down the page a little, or on the next one.
 
nudibranch

nudibranch

Member
007 thanks for responding.
Looking at your thread I'm fairly certain that I will go for the Micro-Jet 450 which depending on the settings will turn over my tank roughly 12X/hour. Plus I'll have the ability of changing the turn over rate from a range of 7/hr to ~18/hr.
I'm really interested in your skimmer. I've been looking into it on various websites and the more research I do the more attractive the idea is. So I'm settled on getting the skimmer before putting the tank together. Not having a skimmer was my biggest downfall/complaint in my 5g cube that crashed while I was out of the country for a week (not to mention the rate of evap in that lil' thing in Arizona).
What are your thoughts on a refugium for the tank? Is it worth it? I can pick up a 12" one for a decent price that hangs on the back. This isn't an imperitive part so I can always do this later.
Lastly, do you have a pic I can see that will show me really clearly what your LR and DSB look like in your tank? If possible I'd like to take a look at some so I can see how it fills the tank. If you could get my your tank dimensions too i'd be very grateful.
Thanks again!
 
007

007

Active Member
Sure,
I can do it later on today or tomorrow.
I can tell you though that one bag or aragamax oolitic sand by caribsea is enough to give you a 3" sand bed or so. I used this sand and then I added about 5 pounds of live stuff from the LFS to fill it out. I am really happy with the DSB.
I have about 35lbs of LR which was purchased locally. Some of it was dried when I got it to save on costs as the dry stuff was only about $2 a pound. The live stuff was much more expensive.
I have never run a fuge on my tank . . . . at this point I see no need to. I don't think that it would hurt anything though.
I really like my Bak Pak skimmer . . . but it does have its problems though. Its noisy, it has the ability to put LOTS of bubbles in the tank, and it seems (as I am just finding out) that it needs basically a retro-fitting after two years or so of use. I had to replace the seals last month, this month the riser pipes basically fell apart at the threads, and I decided to get a new pump as well. However, these are all easily replaceble parts through the MFG, and they are not expensive to replace. Up to this point, after the break in period, this skimmer has basically been hassle free, and I expect the same once I get it back together. I definitely recommend one.
 
nudibranch

nudibranch

Member
007 - Thanks, no rush.
Norway - thnx for the site, a sump would be teriffic but I lack the ability to build something like that. I guess I could always search for one. But what is the best way to set up a sump for non-drilled 20L? and just how reliable are overflow boxes?
 
jasontk

jasontk

Member
Haha... that guy gets the award for coolest sumps ever. I love the huge one with a fuge, propagation section, and seahorses.
On topic...
My overflow box has done nothing but piss me off and my sump is too small for anything but the return pump... ugh. There is no way of getting water to the sump without some kind of overflow box unless your tank is drilled, that I am aware of.
 
nudibranch

nudibranch

Member
overflow box....drilling a 20g....I can't decide which os more ridiculous. I guess drilling. Either way I'll probably be looking at having a 20g tank and a 20g sump because I don't think a 10 will offer me enough room.
 
007

007

Active Member
sorry for the wait, but my tank dims are 24W x 18H x 12D.
The best tank shot that I have is in my tank thread a page or two back. That will give you an idea of how much space the LR takes up and the sand bed as well.
Here are some pictures of what my LR looks like though if thats what you wanted to see . . .
 
nudibranch

nudibranch

Member
WOW can i just have your tank? How about it, I'll buy the set up for a new one and you give me yours? LOL That's some beautiful rock.
 
007

007

Active Member
The rock in the last picture above was dried and baked before I put it in the tank. It was completely white and sitting on a store shelf for at least six months before I got it. That was about 18 months ago and it turned to that. GREAT way to save money (and even make money if you have the resources). I paid $2 a pound for the dry stuff. Its called "tuffa rock" (I think).
I will try and get a new tank shot later as there have been some changes since the last pics in my tank thread.
 
norway

norway

Member
nudibranch... sorry it took so long to respond, no excuse. i would suggest making an above tank refuge out of a rubbermaid container from walmart. buy plumbing from an online vendor or lfs and mount a very sturdy shelf above your tank to sit it on. ph pumps water to the container and then an easily drilled return sends it back to tank by gravity. look on that site for very detailed info on how to accomplish all of this. jared
 
norway

norway

Member
of course this is not very asthetically pleasing but if you put some money into it, you could make it so. or a hang on the back refuge could work but are usually pretty expensive.
 
nudibranch

nudibranch

Member
Norway - sounds like a good idea. I'm hoping that if I add a refugium to it, it'll make the tank nice enough to draw attention away from the not so pleasing refugium, though I could always try to rig something to make it look better. I'll keep that in mind. I'd rather not spend $$$$ on something I could make pretty simply my self for only $.
 
norway

norway

Member
its really as simple as what they show on melevs site but with a rubbermaid container. just get bulkhead fittings and drill your hole(s) accordingly. its best to send water from a powerhead in the sump but since your wanting an above tank refugium you will have to either pull water up to the container and then let it gravity feed back down to your tank or push it with a power head in your tank(i like to keep power heads out of my tank if possible.)
 
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