Thinking of upgrading my 10 gallon to a 30g reef.

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Cjsanders757

Cjsanders757

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 22, 2012
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Thinking if upgrading my 10g to a 30g reef tank. What all would be needed besides sand, lr, skimmer and lights do I need? Probably gonna be sump less as it will be in my room.
 
I would recommend a HOB refugium Power skimmer for the back. Made a huge difference for me and I was able to get rid of the filter. About $120 on eBay, basically the AquaFugePS.
 
Ingy said:
I would recommend a HOB refugium Power skimmer for the back. Made a huge difference for me and I was able to get rid of the filter. About $120 on eBay, basically the AquaFugePS.
Click to expand...

The lowest I've seen was 244. If you can find a lower deal please send me a link
 
You're right, the factory seconds for the Refugium PS seem to be all gone. I'll check my old posts and see if that link is still active.
 
I'd drill it an overflow in the tank and get a sump. Real estate is crucial in small tanks. Clutter like heaters, skimmers, and cords take away from the effect of having a small piece of reef in your room. The more I was able to take out of my main display tank over time by adding a sump, the more I appreciated the clean look.
 
Mr. Crabs said:
I'd drill it an overflow in the tank and get a sump. Real estate is crucial in small tanks. Clutter like heaters, skimmers, and cords take away from the effect of having a small piece of reef in your room. The more I was able to take out of my main display tank over time by adding a sump, the more I appreciated the clean look.
Click to expand...

Can't do a sump no room
 
Next best thing is a hob skimmer. There are still CPR rejects avail for around $50-60 on eBay I saw while looking for fuge. That and a simple breeder tank that hangs inside for cheato might work. First thing tho is the skimmer. Very important I think.
 
Although a sump is always best for a saltwater setup, there are other things you can do for those locations where it is not possible. First is the skimmer. That will skim out the poop and lots of the nitrogenous waste keeping your nitrate levels low. But, if they do start to rise, thee are a couple things you can do to lower nitrates (keep these ideas in your back pocket);
1. Vodka dosing. If your drunk enough you won't care about nitrate levels. No, seriously, a very small amount of methanol (vodka) in the tank daily will help the skimmer remove nitrogenous waste with longer protein strings. I ended up dosing less than 1ml per day to reduce nitrates in my 30g.
2. Nitrate Destroyer. This bottled bacteria eat nitrate. Unfortunately they cannot establish themselves in an oxygen rich tank environment and have to be added daily. I was also using this at about 3ml per day. Also requires a skimmer for this to work.
3. HOB filter. Running a filter with resins or other nitrate filter packs. Or you can take all the filters out of it and put chaeto in there with a light shining in. I tried this and it worked some, but not great. Depends on the filter as well.

So running a large nano without a sump can be done, but you may have to tweak it a bit to find what works best for what you have available. There are some things that will prefer the dirty water that comes with higher nitrates in a sumpless system (higher being anything over about 5ppm). My large feather duster lived happily even when my trates were up to 80ppm. he died when I moved him to a tank with 0 trates.
 
Ingy said:
Although a sump is always best for a saltwater setup, there are other things you can do for those locations where it is not possible. First is the skimmer. That will skim out the poop and lots of the nitrogenous waste keeping your nitrate levels low. But, if they do start to rise, thee are a couple things you can do to lower nitrates (keep these ideas in your back pocket);
1. Vodka dosing. If your drunk enough you won't care about nitrate levels. No, seriously, a very small amount of methanol (vodka) in the tank daily will help the skimmer remove nitrogenous waste with longer protein strings. I ended up dosing less than 1ml per day to reduce nitrates in my 30g.
2. Nitrate Destroyer. This bottled bacteria eat nitrate. Unfortunately they cannot establish themselves in an oxygen rich tank environment and have to be added daily. I was also using this at about 3ml per day. Also requires a skimmer for this to work.
3. HOB filter. Running a filter with resins or other nitrate filter packs. Or you can take all the filters out of it and put chaeto in there with a light shining in. I tried this and it worked some, but not great. Depends on the filter as well.

So running a large nano without a sump can be done, but you may have to tweak it a bit to find what works best for what you have available. There are some things that will prefer the dirty water that comes with higher nitrates in a sumpless system (higher being anything over about 5ppm). My large feather duster lived happily even when my trates were up to 80ppm. he died when I moved him to a tank with 0 trates.
Click to expand...

Holy crap tons of helpful info ill def be using.
 
What's a good reef safe stock list for a 30g, invert and corals included. Already have a yellow clown goby.
 
thats like asking "what colour should I paint my room?" There are so many opinions and personal preferences out there. I woould recommend going to Liveaquaria and checking out their selection for ideas. then ask about specific stocking ideas. Blennies, Clowns, chromis, cardinals, and that's just the start of the alphabet.
 
Ingy said:
thats like asking "what colour should I paint my room?" There are so many opinions and personal preferences out there. I woould recommend going to Liveaquaria and checking out their selection for ideas. then ask about specific stocking ideas. Blennies, Clowns, chromis, cardinals, and that's just the start of the alphabet.
Click to expand...

I know just want a some opinion from here.
Personally I want two black saddle back clowns, some sexy shrimp and an army of different zoas.
 
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