New 20 gallon setup

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Mr. FishMan

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I recently moved and had to take down my 125. Until I can get 'er back up and running, I've decided to setup a small 20 gallon. I will be running an Aquaclear 75, a heater, powerhead and of course will have live rock. I kept all the live rock from the 125 in 55 gallon barrels with a heater and powerhead so I'm hoping I won't have to cycle. I'll test the water in an hour or so, but for now I need some advice on scaping.

So far I've come up with 3 different layouts, each one using a little more rock than the one before. The first, uses about 30lbs, the second I believe has 40 and the last one has more than 60lbs of live rock.

I will be adding live sand, but not for a week or so, so for now what do you guys think?
 

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Tests are as follows:

PH: 8.2
Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
SG: 1.025
 
I don't plan on heavily stocking this tank. Was thinking a few softies and a nem - not sure about fish yet. I don't have any experience with corals, so advice is appreciated.

Lighting is a dual T5 fixture with 14W daylight 10KK bulbs


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Adding live sand and/or removing a bit of rock, or changing pieces of rock can help you for your aquascape... It look like you've put 40 pounds in your 20g :p

For my build I've took 2-3 bigger pieces and the rest is small piece... It look like this
809683DSC04574.jpg


A sand bed (optionnal in your case because you have a lot of LR) will help increase the eye appealing of your tank IMO.

A blue background can give a good effect, in my case I decided to not put a background.


For the lighting, the color spectrum is Ok, but the output power is not so strong. I have 60w led power on my 20g. For this lighting, I'll recommand you never add high light corals, they will suffer from poor lighting. Focus on low light species, maybe it will work.

Your nitrates are a bit high, are you using RODI water ? Or maybe your tap contains nitrates ? Do a 50% WC before you add livestock, will drop your nitrates 50% if your tap is clean or if u use RODI wata. Anyway, you have a low light setup, so nitrates will probably not be a problem for algae invasion. In my case, If nitrate raise to just a little trace of them, I have algae problems because of highlight.
 
Nitrates aren't to bad at 10, softies won't mind. However like mr Vincent said you will need much stronger light than that for a nem. I'd get at least a 4 bulb fixture for a nem.
 
I like the first rock scape as well but maybe try and make a few more caves. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the replies. I actually decided last night that I will be going with the third scape for two different reasons. First, after moving the rocks around a bit more I've come to really like the look of the scape. Secondly, the added live rock will give more filtration and I believe will leave more room for corals.

Mr. Vincent, I believe there is over 40lbs of live rock in the third scape. I used six 8-10lb pieces of live rock for the scape so there's definitely more than 40lbs! ;-) Unfortunately, I do not have any smaller pieces so I had to make what I had work.

I will be adding a sand bed, but won't be able to do so until after the holidays - same goes for a background if I decide on one.

As for lighting, I know this is not the ideal setup for most corals, but I'd really like to give it a try. I was mainly thinking about Mushrooms, Zoanthids, Buttons and Star Polyps. Would anything else work?

No, I do not use RODI water and my tap does not contain any Nitrates. I used water from the barrel I took the rock out of so that's probably why nitrates are showing up. I'll do a 25-50% water change this afternoon and let you know where they are at then.

Bribo, so there is no possibility of keeping a nem successfully under these lighting conditions? I was really hoping I could make it work. If not, looks like I may need to upgrade. Do you know any good quality, but cheap fixtures?

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Here's some updated pics of the scape:

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I don't think it would do well under a two bulb. Odyssea makes a 4 bulb fixture that's like $60 or $70 that works well. As far as corals under that light you could do most softies like zoas, mushrooms, Kenya tree, Xenia. If you went 4 bulb you could do lps as well.
 
That's too bad. I'll have to look into that fixture. Thanks for the suggestion!

For corals, would any Button or Star Polyps work under the current lighting?

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Great. Thanks for confirming that.

Now going back to lighting. Since I WILL need to upgrade in order to successfully keep a nem, I was thinking of switching to LEDS. I know they're a bit more costly, but I've heard great things about them. Would it be worth it to go the LED route instead of purchasing the 4 bulb T5 fixture?

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For having maximum PAR values, you can try a medium light coral on the top of your rock, that way it will have more light...

My light fixture is R420R nano version 60w. Is cost around $300+tx, but progressive timer with 6 time points divided into two channel are included on the fixture. You'll never have to change the leds, so I calculated I'll save money after years because of the high price of the fluorescent that should be changed after 8-12 months.

For sure nems will die under this light... You can try Zoas, put them on the middle of your rock (talking about height). If you center it, it will absorb more light. Maybe it will work.

If you really want to upgrade the lighting, and put a nem, make sure it don't swim on the powerhead/filters intake, that'll make a HUGGEEEE mess, and you'll have to start over.


Good luck !
 
Yes leds are very worth it! I run a kessil a150 on my 20. The eBay 120 watts would work dimmed down pretty good as well
 
Yes leds are very worth it! I run a kessil a150 on my 20. The eBay 120 watts would work dimmed down pretty good as well

Yo tang, he have a 20g setup. I can't run my 60w on maximum on my 20g, imagine a 120w.

60w is better than 120w, you'll only can use 20% of the total power of this powerfull lighting. On my 20g I run it W70% B75%, higher than that you'll get algae problems.

Anyway, I think he want to go to the cheap fluos solution. It will work, but will cost more money over time, and have less features.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Mr. Vincent is right, I'm not looking at spending a whole lot on lights alone. I don't plan on keeping this tank up forever, just until I get the 125 set back up or am able to upgrade to a 50 gallon corner tank.

With that being said while I was checking out the Odyssey 4 bulb T5 fixture I came across some LED fixtures made by BeamsWork. I can get a BeamsWork Quad Reef Bright LED Fixture for $100 which has 32 1W LEDS ( 24x 10KK, 8x Actinic 460nm) at 2200 lumens. Would this work? Or do I still need more?

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Hmmm then afford a 160w r420r light. Will cost 1000$ but you'll can use it on your 125g ^.^

Just kidding, this model is twice larger than your 20g aquarium
 
Look into their fixtures that are 3 watt leds that's what you want. If you want to be cost effective get the eBay 120 water. You will have a light you can then use on a bigger tank and it will do fine on the 20. I know people who run 150w and 250w halides on a 20 gallon.
 
Although it does seem kinda silly to run a light at 10% lol. Definitely look at aquatraders leds that use 3watt leds.
 
Haha Vincent I definitely don't want to spend $1000 on a fixture for a tank that's only cost me $5 so far.

Bribo, are you talking about the dimmable fixture? If so, I may just spend the extra $30 or $50 to get that one. It would be nice to be able to use it for the 125 as well, but then again, I'd need at least 2 more to cover the 125.

What do you think of this fixture? http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquarium-Lighting-EVO-Quad-Clip-Timer-p/56260.htm

It uses 20, 3 watt LEDS (12x 10KK, 8x Actinic 460nm) at 2700 lumens.

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