salt inwall setup 20gal

[billberet]

well i already have 2 freshwater tanks under my belt so now i want to add a salt tank to the mix.

as you can see the salt tank is super bright

i have live sand on the bottom and live rock in the back

i have an AC110 mod i am running, still waiting for cheato, i have chemi-pure, then sponge, then final compartment for live rock frags and chaeto to generate pods

as you can see here, my lighting JUST FIT !!!!!!!!!!
sometimes my measurements actually work !!!!!

as i was filling up tank, everything settled into place, as you can see there is just enough room on top for lights, a HOB skimmer is out of the question, i am going to have to mount it on the outside and run hoses. should be a mod i can handle.

i do not have a skimmer on yet, i have a coralife and am modding to fit my scenario, since i cannot fit it HOB, because of my height restrictions (the tank above). I have 2 circulators on order, should be in soon, i will add one on the left side and one on the right side, pointing at the liverock.

i know it's small, but great things come in small packages, lol

 

[billberet]

question:
I purchased 2 of the below, how many do i need in a 20 gal setup?
i was going to put them in the front pointing at the live rock.
didn't know if i should do both, or just put one in the tank.



2x Hydor Koralia Nano 425 Aquarium Circulation Pump, 425 gph

 

[Beengirl]

If its FOWLR, then you should be able to get by with 1. But put 1 in and see how much flow there is and if theres any dead areas.

 

[billberet]

i was going to do FOWLR but i just love corals.
goal is 2 clowns with anemonies and some soft corals.

I put both circulators in, you can never have too much flow!
They are micro in size, so they don't take up alot of room.
I just added purple up, so tank is cloudy.
After it clears I'll take a pic. I don't quite know how to place them so I did one on each side pointing at the rock.

 

[billberet]

since my tank is a small 20gal, i am going to try a skimmerless setup.
i have the HOB with macro and rubble in it. with carbon and chemi-pure.
i am only going to have maybe 4 small fish tops. mostly corals.

does anyone else do skimmerless?
there are thousands of ppl that say yes, and thousands that say no.
so it's best to take it with a grain of salt and do what your tank requires.
i figure since i will have a small bio load, a skimmer might not be necessary.
i have tons of live rock and live sand, and i am going to pack my HOB with Macro and do reverse lighting on it.

 

[billberet]

here is my tank currently, i have circulators on left and right.
right side is pointing up disturbing the surface water. left side is pointing down toward the live rock.

here is a full behind the scene.
small but complex!

here is my refug. i am ready for chaeto and pods, it is barely a trickle so it running good with my mods.

 

[Beengirl]

You did a great job with the LR setup!! Lots of caves and hiding places for fish. they'll love their new home.

 

[Beengirl]

Your rocks look great!!! Lots of caves and hiding places for your fish. they're gonna love their new home!!

 

[Grizz]

I dont use a skimmer on my 20 just change out 5 gallons of water every week and you'll be fine besides it wont be long before you convert the other two into salt lol then you can run one big sump to service them all
Nice set up

 

[billberet]

I dont use a skimmer on my 20 just change out 5 gallons of water every week and you'll be fine besides it wont be long before you convert the other two into salt lol then you can run one big sump to service them all
Nice set up

i figure since i had so much live sand and live rock i could get away with 2 week intervals between water changes. but it's only a 5gal bucket so it should be ok


question: can i use my freshwater test kit for ammonia and high ph, nitrite, nitrate.
or do i have to buy saltwater test kit?
I THINK, it's the same chems but different color charts.

 

[Grizz]

Yes same chem but different chart You can try writing the company and asking for a salt water chart

 

[Jk83lfcn]

Wow them tanks look really cool, nice job!

 

[billberet]

Thanks for the comments .
I'm a little out of my element with salt but I'm learning.
Now I just have to find out my tank's 'personality'
Then I can get corals and fish to match.

 

[Sniperhank]

Dude, there is no out of your element. An aquarium is an aquarium, the principles are basically the same. It just becomes slightly more complex since you are wanting corals. Allow me be the first to say "duncan". Very nice btw.

 

[billberet]

you have to admit compared to fresh, salt has many more parameters.
i just have to get familiar with them.

OK, just purchased a RO/DI unit i will mount on my wall and prepare my salt mixture 24 hrs in advance. right now i don't have it so i use PRIME in my water changes.

ANOTHER QUESTION.
i have a brown algae outbreak when i added the 'purple up'
i got tons of purple on the rocks but now i have brown on the rocks and sand.
i took a clean toothbrush to brush the rocks, and i am leaving my light off at the moment, i don't have fish so i should be able to get rid of it.
i want to hold off on doing any more water changes till i get my RODI unit.

or is brown algae a good sign when breaking in a new tank?

 

[Sniperhank]

Possibly diatoms. They would be normal and will go away once the silicates in the tank ate consumed. You are taking all the right steps though if out is something else feeding of of your tap water.

 

[billberet]

thats what i was thinking.
it looks like cinnamon was sprinkled on my rocks and gravel.
i assume it will go away when it starves itself to death.
i also moved all my circulators to point at the sand and rocks to make sure there are no dead spots.

i'm dying to add more pics but it's a waiting game now.
i just added another battery backup for the salt tank.
i keep a backup on each tank so when the power goes out i have a few hours of filtration, before the generator kicks in.

i like to have backups of backups of backups, lol
my fish live better than i do!

 

[Sniperhank]

I'd do the same if I could. I have brownouts all the time that turn my PHs in reverse. Very annoying. And when I lost power for 12 hours from a tornado I had 1 acro die and another that I thought was dead but later found some meat left on the bone. Backups and a generator will be something to add once I buy a house.

 

[billberet]

here is one more battery backup
there is no load registering on this so it should last over 2 hours.
all i will run is my AC110 and 2 circulators

MACRO Algae is here!!! time to give it a new home in my AC110
hopefully this will out compete for food and starve all the algae in my tank.

slowly the pieces are comming together!

 

[billberet]

since my piece of chaeto is so big, light only hits the top half the bundle while it's in the refug, the bottom half is dark. is this ok? or will the dark half die off.
if so i'll have to double my light source.