new mini reef

[Ctlongreef33]

Hello all, just setup a nice 33 long mini reef and am looking for any suggestions anyone may have, i havnt had a reef tank up and running strong for a few years but def. remember the "basics". I chose the tank for the reason that being such a short tank i get great light coverage with a twin tube HO flour setup. the tank has a medium size phead and two custom filters. the LR is barely touching the gravel at all and all the nice critters are starting to pop out of the rock, tank is fully cycled and have noticed nice growth out of every piece of rock over the past couple weeks. Anyone have any experience with this size tank or even better any mcguyver tricks that may help?

 

[biotoxin]

dont know any mcguyver tricks to tell ya. If youre already cycled and growing things youre already on the right track. Just make sure you have enough light and good water flow. Do you have a skimmer? Tell us more about your setup and we can go from there.

 

[Ctlongreef33]

33 long

well the tank has two 48" bulbs, one 20000k and an actinic. as far as i can tell the lighting is perfect. water flow is excellent as well, for now i have two giant hang on filters full of bio balls i know thats not nec. the greatest way to do it, but for now its working quite well. I also have a lg phead in one corner that shoots water all the way across the tank at a pretty decent rate. LR is doing great stuff popping out every day. tank is cycled, and I'd like to add a new piece of coral this weekend but not sure as to which kind would be a good test sublect ill repost that question seperatly. so yeah thats the tank. the only thing i might change is the filtration, id like to get the filters in the cabinet. any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
thanks

 

[biotoxin]

Well there are 2 schools of thought really. If you want a totally natural tank then you let the inverts and dsb do the job for you. But if you want mechanical filtration i would say aquaclear is good for hang-ons and i would say ditch the bioballs anyway, its just too much of a nitrate producer in a reef setup. I would get a protein skimmer regardless if people tell you reefs dont need them. Test the water daily or every other day after the cycle for nitrates/calcium/ph/alk. Less than 10ppm on the nitrates, around 400 on calcium, i keep my tank around 8.2 ph and alk is about 3.0. B-ionic is a great buffer for calcium and alk. Make sure before you buy any corals to check your calcium especially. Inverts first, corals then fish is my routine. Cabinet filters? I hope you dont mean canisters, they really arent good, or so ive heard. Stay away from fluvals also. I dont really deal with the whole "where to put my powerhead" i made a spraybar across the top of my water that shoots out and downward and that pushes water well, dont waste time on the whole positioning thing.