20 Long Reef w/ Sump

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GAhockey1992

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Feb 1, 2017
Messages
35
So here is my 4 year old sumpless 20L reef As of now:

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Fish are a golden dwarf moray, juvie pintail fairy wrasse, and a yellow stripe clingfish. It’s had many ups and downs over the years but now that I’ve finished up school I want to do a big reboot and upgrade to the system.
-lifereef HOB overflow w/ DIY 3 section 10g sump
-in sump skimmer (suggestions needed)
-jebao dosing pump (b-ionic 2 part)
-DIY macro algae reactor (maybe.. got a free bashsea reactor I’ve never used)
-300w full spectrum marsaqua LED (using old white/blue taotronics)
-eventually add icecap 1k gyre

Also I’m going to use all new rock and sand and am going to build a simplistic overhang rock structure using dry macro rock and Tonga shelf & branch rock.

So far I’ve got my rock, sand, return pump (jebao DCP-3000), assembled the sump, and the overflow should be here next week.

Mainly, I need some help with a skimmer choice. System volume will be ~24 gallons. The models I have narrowed it down to:
-Icecap k2-50 (rated: 40-80g)
-Bubble Magus NAC3.5 (rated: 25-80g)
-SCA-301 (rated 65 g)
-Eshopps S-120 (rated: 40-120g)
-Eshopps X-120 (rated: 75-120g)


I have read reviews for each but want to get some current opinions/ other suggestions here. Some of these are rated for systems larger than mine even with a heavy bioload so do you think they would still work ok? If not, which ones would be too large in my case?

Anyway here’s the sump (waiting to add the last baffle once I choose a skimmer) and more pics to come in the next few days as equipment comes
 
Get the biggest most powerful skimmer that will fit in your sump.
IMO no such thing as "too big"...
My skimmer runs on same powered pump as my sump return . Jeboas 12,000 .
I flow as much[ almost ? ]through skimmer as flows through sump...(y)
 
Is that a purple stylo in the top middle? Or an acro of some sort?
 
Purple stylo. I do have this purple one guy in my mantis shrimp 12g cube. For some reason corals, mainly acros, thrive on that tank
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Get the biggest most powerful skimmer that will fit in your sump.
IMO no such thing as "too big"...
My skimmer runs on same powered pump as my sump return . Jeboas 12,000 .
I flow as much[ almost ? ]through skimmer as flows through sump...(y)



That’s is what I thought but reading around I’ve seen some people claim too large of a skimmer may struggle to produce dark thick skimmate as there just isn’t enough organic waste being produced in a system much smaller than what the skimmer is rated for. So basically the foam produced cant quite build up enough to climb the neck of the skimmer. Atleast that’s how interpreted it. If this simply isn’t true I probably will opt for one of the Eshopps skimmers with space not being an issue since I can opt for the algae reactor outside of the sump rather than having to save space for a refugium
 
Odd growth on that stylo! Usually it grows super clumped together. Very cool
 
Odd growth on that stylo! Usually it grows super clumped together. Very cool



Ya, I’m thinking maybe my old taotronic has lost some juice over the years causing it to grow less clumped? Not too sure
 
Here’s the completed sump except for the final baffle separating the skimmer/refugium area:
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And the. Here are the scape designs I was debating on:
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For now Ive decided to go with the first scape as it’s a bit more ‘minimalist’ than the others. I can always add a rock or 2 down the road but for now I’m mainly focusing on a long overhang that will stretch about 2/3 of the tank.
Let the fun begin haha:
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So I’m getting ready to order a new light but am pretty torn.. ATI fixtures are a bit out of my price range but on BRS there is the SunBlaze T5HO 24” 4 bulb fixture I’ve been contemplating. Has anyone used this fixture before? I would be using ATI bulbs with it but am curious if it would be enough/adequate light for the sps/acro dominant tank I am aiming for. I love how Acros look under T5s but if that fixture won’t cut it I’ll just stick with the 300w marsaqua LED. Any thoughts?
 
So quick update.. tank has been running with sump and all new rock for about 2 weeks now with no issues. Finally decided on a SCA-301 skimmer which should be here early next week. For the light upgrade I went a different direction. Decided to go with a 4 bulb T5 fixture since T5s in my opinion tend to show acro colors a little better than LEDs. (atleast compared to the knock off full spectrum LEDS) Also did a bunch of fragging and thinning out of all the LPS I had and turned into credit for some acro and zoa pick ups. Will get some more pics once the skimmer/lights are set up and I’ve moved the last few acros from my cube tank but here’s a few current ones for now..
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Finally got the new light and skimmer up and running! Decided to start with 2 blue+ and 2 coral+ bulbs.
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I lowered the light to 6-7” off the water which really brought more color out in the acro frags I have atm. The purple Mille though started dying off in a couple places the following day so I moved it to the sand for now. Hopefully it’ll recover with time.

As for the SCA skimmer I’m pretty pleased with it. The skimmer just loosely sits over the top of the pump which I found strange and the silencer connection to skimmer top is a bit wonky. For $95 though the thing is very quiet. The only noise you can hear is the bubbles coming from the bottom of the air adjustment tube which I hardly even notice. Production is pretty good too after 1 week and not having a chance to adjust its height in the water..
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Ordering my fuge light from amazon as well. I’ll post a link later today and would appreciate any comments or concerns you guys might have for it
 
Things look solid so far. You might want to adjust the skim some to get a thicker and darker skim if the cup is filling up quickly.



It’s been filling about once a week. I got some plastic egg crate recently though so I’m still gonna fiddle with raising it some to get some darker/thicker skimmate. Its at 9” right now which from what I’ve read is a little deep for this skimmer.
 
So here’s a picture and the link to the light I bought on amazon for my refugium:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B076...grow+light&dpPl=1&dpID=41WNEARHQKL&ref=plSrch

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After some reading and watching a video on BRS, lights primarily of the red spectrum grow macros better than just a regular white grow light so I decided to try one out. Having 3 seperate bendable heads I’m thinking I’ll either use one or 2 above and then maybe try one or 2 on the sides of the fuge as well. Just an idea I had for when the chaeto clump gets a little too large to ‘tumble’ and I can’t quite get around to harvesting it, this might ensure all parts of it are receiving light.

Anyway whats everyone’s thoughts on the refugium light? Any concerns?
 
As long as whatever unit that is pushed enough power to the led units I wouldn’t be too concerned. I ran similar ones on my diy setup on my 55 Reef. It did a good job as a refugium and worked even better as an algae turf scrubber.
Just make sure they stay dry. Mine absorbed small amounts of splashing and the salt corroded them to death.
 
As long as whatever unit that is pushed enough power to the led units I wouldn’t be too concerned. I ran similar ones on my diy setup on my 55 Reef. It did a good job as a refugium and worked even better as an algae turf scrubber.
Just make sure they stay dry. Mine absorbed small amounts of splashing and the salt corroded them to death.



Ya the staying dry part is something I will have to address with the skimmer being so close. Might try a thin sheet of acrylic under them. Planning on doing this with my T5 fixture as well since it doesn’t have anything in terms of a splash guard.

The fuge light was cheap so I figured why not try it out. If it doesn’t perform well/craps out at some point I have a spare finnex planted+ clip light that I can use. Might experiment & try combining the 2 as well
 
Got around to raising the skimmer about an inch. Gonna fiddle with air intake for a week and see how it performs.

In other news I snagged a couple new acros today. Strawberry shortcake frag and some unknown blue acro. I’ll post pics in a little
 
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