First saltwater tank and nano reef

[benwallage9]

i have a 20 gallon hex tank I'm looking to make into a nano reef tank. I have a couple of questions though. I want to have the following fish 2 clownfish 1 royal gramma 1 yellow watchman. Will this work in a 20 gallon hex? I also have a 29 but would rather do the hex. Also I plan on having 20 pounds of live rock and a 5 inch sand layer for the yellow watchman. How much live sand would that be? And should I use dry rock as the base so I'm not burying live rock in sand? Last question how big of a power head should I get I had a 425 that I put in my planted tank and seemed really weak..

 

[Sniperhank]

The 29 would be much better. It'd give those fish more room and lessen aggression.
It will also help out with flow. Hexagon tanks are rough to get flow going right in them.

 

[benwallage9]

The 29 would be much better. It'd give those fish more room and lessen aggression.
It will also help out with flow. Hexagon tanks are rough to get flow going right in them.

Thanks for the response. That works for me, will just have to talk the girlfriend into, but she is better dead set on these fish so shouldn't be hard. Would a AqauClear power 20 for the filter with okay on that with a good powerhead? Also how many gph should the pwerhead be? The one I currently have is 425 and didn't seem enough, also plan on keeping it in my other tank so need a new one.

 

[Sniperhank]

Using two or more powerheads in a tank to help make things a more chaotic flow and to avoid dead spots is best. Two of those small ones would be great, but you should aim for a dead minimum of 20x the turnover for the size of the tank. If you think you need more, than go for more. I tend to go way over with the flow in my systems so I'm normally a poor judge of flow rates.
HOB filters provide very poor flow into systems and if not used with a sponge or something on the return can cause salt creep in our closed systems.

 

[benwallage9]

Using two or more powerheads in a tank to help make things a more chaotic flow and to avoid dead spots is best. Two of those small ones would be great, but you should aim for a dead minimum of 20x the turnover for the size of the tank. If you think you need more, than go for more. I tend to go way over with the flow in my systems so I'm normally a poor judge of flow rates.
HOB filters provide very poor flow into systems and if not used with a sponge or something on the return can cause salt creep in our closed systems.

WIll do on the powerheads, just so I understand I want 20 X 29 so at least 580 gph spread over two powerheads?

Should I just get a protein skimmer instead of the HOB? Or is there something else I should use ideally? I was reading that the rocks do most of the filtration but being new at this figured I should add something mechanical. Sorry for all the questions and thank you for the help.

 

[Sniperhank]

Skimmer would be a much better solution.


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[benwallage9]

So would a lee's work okay? Or would I be better of building my own?

 

[Sniperhank]

a lee's?

 

[Reefer James]

Unfortunately circulation pump's aren't as easy. You'd probably want your pumps to be pushing over 1,000 GPH of water by the end of things. I personally add more.

 

[benwallage9]

That link is to the Lee's Protein Skimmer.... It's a cheap one, don't have the funds to drop $150-$200 on a really nice one.

Amazon.com : Lee's Protein Skimmer Counter Current, Medium : Aquarium Filters : Pet Supplies

For circulation I was going to do two powerheads. If you think a 1000 gph or more would be better I will get a two pack of 528 or more.

 

[Sniperhank]

More is always better when it comes to flow.
And when it comes to a skimmer, skip on that guy and wait til you can afford an eshopps or something similar.

 

[54seaweed]

That link is to the Lee's Protein Skimmer.... It's a cheap one, don't have the funds to drop $150-$200 on a really nice one.

Amazon.com : Lee's Protein Skimmer Counter Current, Medium : Aquarium Filters : Pet Supplies

For circulation I was going to do two powerheads. If you think a 1000 gph or more would be better I will get a two pack of 528 or more.

you get what you pay for the cheap ones are a waist of money IMO,
buy a good one it will save you money in the long run , I had a cheap one I paid like $45. , 3 months later I had to replace it as it didn't do the job

As for powerheads it depends on size of your tank , they should push at-least 10 x the water volume and cover entire tank so theres no dead spots

 

[benwallage9]

you get what you pay for the cheap ones are a waist of money IMO,
buy a good one it will save you money in the long run , I had a cheap one I paid like $45. , 3 months later I had to replace it as it didn't do the job

As for powerheads it depends on size of your tank , they should push at-least 10 x the water volume and cover entire tank so theres no dead spots

I'm doing this in a 29 gallon tank. I have been reading and some people suggest not even using any mechanical filtration if you have good live rock. If I got like 35 pounds of live rock with roughly 1100 gph in powerheads, do I need a protein skimmer? Also I have been considering doing a sump where I could possibly raise some brine shrimp for my freshwater and saltwater fish. Should I just let my live rock cycle for like a solid 30 days to 45 days and then do a diy sump later on (might be a year or so before I get to it though)?

 

[54seaweed]

I'm doing this in a 29 gallon tank. I have been reading and some people suggest not even using any mechanical filtration if you have good live rock. If I got like 35 pounds of live rock with roughly 1100 gph in powerheads, do I need a protein skimmer? Also I have been considering doing a sump where I could possibly raise some brine shrimp for my freshwater and saltwater fish. Should I just let my live rock cycle for like a solid 30 days to 45 days and then do a diy sump later on (might be a year or so before I get to it though)?

You can get by with no skimmer in a 29g as long as you do weekly water changes , you don't need mechanical filtration , but I would suggest a small hob filter to remove any small particles floating in the tank , and it's a plus if you need to run phosban or chemi pure

 

[benwallage9]

You can get by with no skimmer in a 29g as long as you do weekly water changes , you don't need mechanical filtration , but I would suggest a small hob filter to remove any small particles floating in the tank , and it's a plus if you need to run phosban or chemi pure

So do use the HOB? And run either phosban or chemipure in it with some of the floss stuff?

 

[54seaweed]

I do on my 37g I also use one on my 90g even with a sump I run cheato in both and change it out monthly if I need to run phosban or chemi pure I just pull the cheato
cheato works like filter floss and helps with nitrates , depending on just the rocks for filtration you will always have small particles floating around the tank , that effects clarity of seeing things clearly

 

[Reefer James]

Chemipure resins do not work in sea water unfortunately..

Best use of money up front is not skipping on water flow and rock. A skimmer would be nice, but really the HOB ones just don't cut it. I mean even the good ones are really even skimming that much compared to what you could be. I'd save my bucks and get some nice battery back up pumps instead. Power outages suck...

 

[benwallage9]

Ok I'm getting confused..... If I plan on doing a 29 gallon with 35 pounds of rock, 5 inches of sand, no more than 4 fish, super hardy and easy corals, and maybe an anemone. Using an led for lighting and over 1000gph in two power heads. I know live rock will do most filtration but ppl say mechanical is a plus. I do have a small aqua clear filter rated to 20 gallons. So what should I do for filtration? Or nothing until I can do a 10 gallon sump setup? Sorry for all the questions just completely new to me used to freshwater stuff.

 

[Reefer James]

Ok I'm getting confused..... If I plan on doing a 29 gallon with 35 pounds of rock, 5 inches of sand, no more than 4 fish, super hardy and easy corals, and maybe an anemone. Using an led for lighting and over 1000gph in two power heads. I know live rock will do most filtration but ppl say mechanical is a plus. I do have a small aqua clear filter rated to 20 gallons. So what should I do for filtration? Or nothing until I can do a 10 gallon sump setup? Sorry for all the questions just completely new to me used to freshwater stuff.

oh my that 5 inches of sand just sounds disgusting to me. sanbed between 2mm-1/2inch is more than enough. If you want to do a hill then maybe you can entertain 5inches but across the whole tank that is too mucho.

You can keep more than 4 fish if you do it right. The 29g opens up a lot of options.

Mechanical filtration is just to remove particulates from the water. Since you already have a HOB it makes sense have filter floss you can toss in every week and clean frequently. You can also use chemical filters like carbon or purigen. Don't fall prey to chime-pure marketing. It's false in sea water.

Filtration is your circulation pump moving water through the pores of live rock.

 

[benwallage9]

oh my that 5 inches of sand just sounds disgusting to me. sanbed between 2mm-1/2inch is more than enough. If you want to do a hill then maybe you can entertain 5inches but across the whole tank that is too mucho.

You can keep more than 4 fish if you do it right. The 29g opens up a lot of options.

Mechanical filtration is just to remove particulates from the water. Since you already have a HOB it makes sense have filter floss you can toss in every week and clean frequently. You can also use chemical filters like carbon or purigen. Don't fall prey to chime-pure marketing. It's false in sea water.

Filtration is your circulation pump moving water through the pores of live rock.

Thank you that was extremely helpful! The reason I was going to do 5 inches of sand was I wanted to get a yellowhead jawfish and I read that they need that much sand bed...