Snake's 20g Nano Build thread

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eric b 125

Guest
if you read the article, the author gently voices his opinion on keeping a tang in that sized tank.
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
I've seen that 6.6 gal tank before. It's very nice... but it would be a pain to maintain. Not to mention that it's highly stocked, and that the water parameters would fluctuate extremely fast.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Lol
Thanks for sharing Henry.
Justin- you don't know what kind of filtration he runs or how big the sump is. You can't judge. I think I hear a little jealousy in your post. Lol
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
Yep, that's true that you can't judge.... but I still wonder about it. I wish that the article included more information, and pictures of the filtration/sump. Good point...
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
a baby hippo's metabolism suggests a decent bioload on that tank, so i'm guessing the filtration is top notch, or water changes are done on a near daily basis if not daily
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
So, I don't think my tank is doing very well at the moment.
The lights on the scrubber screen weren't very effective, because I only had 13w lights on there for about 3 weeks. It took that long to grow enough algae for a cleaning. So, just yesterday I replaced them with 43w cfl bulbs. The tank has some algae building up in the display tank. The sand is starting to show some hair algae growing. Coralline algae stopped growing. There is some tissue recession on some of the SPS corals. The Rio 1100 pump that I had on my algae scrubber died. It no longer works. So, I replaced it with some off brand Chinese pump that I had leftover from previously. So, I threw that on there for a little while.
I am going to update to a new stand this coming weekend. I got a new 20g long sump and I'm going to baffle off a section for the scrubber and a section for a (quite large) skimmer for a future tank. With moving everything over to the new stand, I'm going to probably be doing a large water change on the tank and removing the sand in the display tank and going with a bare bottom tank. I'm also going to be adding one additional oceanic pump from a big box store that I have had my eye on. Yes, it's not a Koralia, but it's got the same style as one. I think my filtration methods don't have a whole lot to do with my current situation, it's just a lack of maintenance and equipment on my part.
Hopefully, I will get this all sorted out and get my tank back on track in the next couple of weeks.
For now, I'm going to hope that the new lights and adjusting the flow on my scrubber will help. I'm also going to purchase some salt tomorrow and do a water change on Wednesday to help some. I guess I'll just take it one day at a time.
So, thoughts on going barebottom for this particular SPS tank?
Skimmer thoughts?
New scrubber design ideas?
Advice/opinions?
 
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eric b 125

Guest
i think going bare bottom is a good idea: an sps dominated tank in a 20 gallon set up requires enough flow to warrant a BB, me thinks. keep in mind, if you're going to go BB then it would be best if you paint the bottom glass panel black, so not to confuse the fish.
as far as the diablo skimmer goes: my thoughts are that it's way too much for a 20-40 gallon system. it will either skim too much, or more likely not skim at all. i know your intentions are for an upgrade, so if you are set on the diablo- get it and just run a scrubber for now with weekly water changes and set the skimmer aside for the upgrade.
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
Are you going to do a refugium or just a scrubber? Won't there be more maintenance on your part to make the tank look clean? You can do a faux sand bed.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I'm really leaning towards barebottom tanks. I like the way they look.
I'm looking into octopus skimmers rated for 125 to 150g. I really fell in love with the diablo - but it's way to big for any system that can fit on my stand. So, I'm going to get a smaller Octopus in the upgrade.
Flow rates/options? Not counting my return pump, I have a Koralia nano 240 that is blowing directly over my sps right now, and it's doing an ok job - but I really need something bigger with a lot more flow. I don't want to bash my fish around, but I still want to provide enough flow for the entire barebottom tank and enough for SPS corals. So... think I should aim for a 500gph powerhead + the one I have now? That would put the flow rate at 37x the tank volume...
For the new setup/stand, I'm going to use the algae scrubber I have now until I can buy a decent protein skimmer for a much larger tank. Then I'll look into building an out-of-sump scrubber that I can also fit in my stand. I already have a little money saved here and there for the new stuff. I just gotta figure out where the priorities are.
I have seen SPS dominated tanks with algae scrubbers on them - and they seem to work well, but for the most part, people use the Berlin Method for SPS dominated tanks...
ANYWAYS, I'm rambling again.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Maybe not. I've thought about it before. lol!!! It would be pretty good on a 75g tank - which is what I THINK I am planning on getting next. A 90g is only 4" taller though.... :D lol
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
lol. Thanks Gemmy. I appreciate it very much. I'll keep an eye out.

-----
So, the stand that I built is coming home with me this evening!!! I am so excited! Next step is buying some cut glass for my new 20g long sump.
Some list ya'll don't have to worry about:
1. glass for 20g long sump
2. Make the switch from the old stand to the new stand.
3. Dump the sand, wash out the tank and dry it as best I can
4. Use a rubbermaid to temporarily house fish, coral and some live rock
5. Set the tank back up with the new sump, make sure I have a longer vinyl hose and some PVC parts for the taller stand.
6. Use half of the old water, and make sure I mix up some new water the night before.
7. Have another powerhead available... Oceanic 500 or 750? hmmm
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
UPDATES
The new stand is home! WooHOO! I'm excited!
I'm changing my setup a little bit.
The new setup is going to be a minimalist setup. The display tank is going to have two powerheads totaling 940gph of flow. I'm going barebottom. The display tank is going to only have two small rock piles somewhat in the middle of the tank, and on that, I'm going to attach quite a few different SPS corals. I think I'm getting more into "coral keeping" than "reef keeping" lo lif that makes any sense.
Also, the new setup will incorporate BOTH a large protein skimmer and an algae scrubber. I'm going to save up for the ATO and a calcium reactor. I'm also going to save up for a GFO reactor and re-use a carbon reactor that I have left over. Most of the live rock that I have right now is going to be put in my sump.
I need to figure out which skimmer I'm going to get. I'm tossing up between an octopus for a 150g tank or an ASM for a 150g tank. They both cost about the same, I just want to make the right choice. I think either one would be a good choice for a 75g SPS tank in the near future.
 
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