my tank...20gallon high

[reefsmart]

im planning on starting my 20gH over.

the plan:
it will have 65 watt 50/50 compact over it with a emperor (small one).
will consist on about 3 inches of live sand and dry sand mix.
bulk rocking. cant afford all that live rock but i do have a few peices.
a visi-jet protein skimmer will do the most work.

do you think i should do a under gravel filter with power head? the visi jet can hook up to it i here.

the tank will be filled with distilled gallon water because im really tired of the damn algae!!!! :fu

creatures will be:
a pair of common clowns or bangaii cardinals
and a yellow watchman gobie

nothing else other then a clean up crew.

corals will be:
zoo's
leathers
ricordias
and mushrooms

will frog spawn be okay in this tank? im willing to do a 15 gallon long or twenty long if i can get frogspawn!!!

all the help would be great

 

[KidNano]

Don't use an undergravel filter. I've never tried it on a reef, but have heard they do nothing, but create problems.

The lighting is probably giong to be on the weak side. if you keep the light close to the surface of the water and keep the frogspawn up towards the top of the tank it should in the upper half of the tank it should be fine. That's just a guess on my part though.

Good luck.

 

[Trogdor]

I would have to agree on the frogspawn and lighting. I have mine in a 29g (18" tall) with 130W PC lighting and it's doing pretty good but would be much happier with MH or T5's. (Hopefully santa will be nice this christmas and I can get a MH setup)

 

[Trogdor]

im planning on starting my 20gH over.

the plan:
it will have 65 watt 50/50 compact over it with a emperor (small one).
will consist on about 3 inches of live sand and dry sand mix.
bulk rocking. cant afford all that live rock but i do have a few peices.
a visi-jet protein skimmer will do the most work.

While a skimmer does well on getting rid of excess nutrients in the water column, you can do just as good or better with just running a carbon filter and doing regular water changes. If you keep up with the water changes you will be adding regular supplements through the new salt that you won't have to worry much about supplementing your tank either.

do you think i should do a under gravel filter with power head? the visi jet can hook up to it i here.

I wouldn't risk it. With an effective sand bed, you want to keep the lower levels oxygen-free. This will cause your sand bed to cause some denitrifying and helping your tank to get rid of the nitrogen build-up. It is recommended to have critters that constantly stir your upper levels of your sand bed if you are trying to run a deep-sand bed setup.

the tank will be filled with distilled gallon water because im really tired of the damn algae!!!! :fu

It doesn't matter what kind of water you use, you will end up with algae...it's a given. If you don't like it, identify what kind is growing and find an animal that eats it. Chances are that you will find something that eats the oldest known multi-celled organisms on the Earth.

creatures will be:
a pair of common clowns or bangaii cardinals
and a yellow watchman gobie

nothing else other then a clean up crew.

corals will be:
zoo's
leathers
ricordias
and mushrooms

will frog spawn be okay in this tank? im willing to do a 15 gallon long or twenty long if i can get frogspawn!!!

all the help would be great

IMO, I wouldn't put anything more than the 2 clowns. Clowns can get rather large tbh 2-3 inches. What clean-up crew are you looking at getting? I recommend starting off with about 1/2 of your final count of everything. This way none of them have a chance to starve and it gives the algae a chance to build up a bit and will give your crew something to work on and not have to constantly look for food. Nothing worse than causing a cycle in the first few weeks after your cycle already finished due to a snail crawling into the rock work and dying.

I suggest a stocked nano with 1 snail per gallon of water. For a 10 gallon I would go with 3 Astraea, 3 Cerith and 4 Nassarius. The Astarea's will generally stay on the rocks and glass and keep those pretty clean. The Cerith's will work glass, some on rock and some what in the sand. They are kind of a general snail that will graze everywhere. The Nassarius snails will usually bury themselves in the sand (same with Ceriths) and will munch on just about anything in or on the sand bed. Hermit crabs are fun to have and watch, just be sure to get extra shells that are larger than their current shell so they will have something to grow into.