Hey guys!
I'm new to this forum, and relatively new to "REEF tanks". I've owned several marine tanks that contained anemones, a few small hardy corals, MANY inverts: starfish, shrimps, Sea urchins, a pair of clowns, Green spotted puffers (marine & fullgrown).
I had one 29 gallon, with an above tank refugium that was rich with amphipods that fed my mandarin goby as well as the clowns almost to point that they didn't require any other food. I REALLY loved it. But i only had a sub-par CFL light and before i ever made the upgrade to something better, the heater broke and poisoned the tank, killing all the inverts.
So NOW after spending about 4 or 5 years licking the wounds of defeat I'm back and having another go at it, this time with a much smaller main tank, and most likely will end up with another 5 gal above tank fuge and a sump filter.
I'm unsure what i want to stock it with, so I'm trying to get something pretty basic, but at the same time will be easy to accommodate just about any coral/fish that i decide on (within reason, i understand that tanks this small are NOTORIOUSLY sensitive to change due to the low volume of water contained) But anyway enough rambling.... Here is the beginnings of my build, any constructive criticism/advice is VERY WELCOME. Its the main reason for me creating this page. Thanks alot guys!
Basic overview of all the new things i bought after i had some trouble with the first setup. The off the shelf setup for this tank is not ideal for marine/reef tank conditions. So some replacements/udpgrades had to be made for sure.
A closer look at the additives. I ended up dumping about half of the Bio-Spira, and a small amount of stress zyme, not sure either of them work but they were free so i figure.... why not? I have not yet begun to add the others but the tank has only been up for about 2 weeks.
Here is are some of the changes i had to make to the rear filtration chamber. I used some coral life epoxy to seal the small hole near the the top of the chamber's dividing wall, seperating the pump section from the filter media section. I also plugged a small hole near the bottom with the same epoxy. Here's a couple pics look where the white putty is, there were once holes there.
Once i plugged the holes, i ordered this new filter rack as well as new filtration media. You can find the rack on ebay made by "In-Tank". Its a bit pricey (50$) and you could definitely make one for yourself pretty easily if you have the patience/time. But I would DEFINITELY recommend this item, it is VERY well made and even comes with a delicious swedish fish (Which i ate and didn't even die haha)
On the three rows of the media rack i used:
TOP LEVEL: Floss
2nd LEVEL: Floss on top of Chemi-Pure Elite
3rd LEVEL: Floss on top of Purigen
These are a few other nice little items I picked up, I really like the heater since its the smallest one I've ever seen and I like the idea of there being no glass to break.
Please leave ANY feedback you want but please be kind haha. Thanks guys, I hope this helps someone looking into buying one of these for marine/reef tank use.
I'm new to this forum, and relatively new to "REEF tanks". I've owned several marine tanks that contained anemones, a few small hardy corals, MANY inverts: starfish, shrimps, Sea urchins, a pair of clowns, Green spotted puffers (marine & fullgrown).
I had one 29 gallon, with an above tank refugium that was rich with amphipods that fed my mandarin goby as well as the clowns almost to point that they didn't require any other food. I REALLY loved it. But i only had a sub-par CFL light and before i ever made the upgrade to something better, the heater broke and poisoned the tank, killing all the inverts.
So NOW after spending about 4 or 5 years licking the wounds of defeat I'm back and having another go at it, this time with a much smaller main tank, and most likely will end up with another 5 gal above tank fuge and a sump filter.
I'm unsure what i want to stock it with, so I'm trying to get something pretty basic, but at the same time will be easy to accommodate just about any coral/fish that i decide on (within reason, i understand that tanks this small are NOTORIOUSLY sensitive to change due to the low volume of water contained) But anyway enough rambling.... Here is the beginnings of my build, any constructive criticism/advice is VERY WELCOME. Its the main reason for me creating this page. Thanks alot guys!
Basic overview of all the new things i bought after i had some trouble with the first setup. The off the shelf setup for this tank is not ideal for marine/reef tank conditions. So some replacements/udpgrades had to be made for sure.
A closer look at the additives. I ended up dumping about half of the Bio-Spira, and a small amount of stress zyme, not sure either of them work but they were free so i figure.... why not? I have not yet begun to add the others but the tank has only been up for about 2 weeks.
Here is are some of the changes i had to make to the rear filtration chamber. I used some coral life epoxy to seal the small hole near the the top of the chamber's dividing wall, seperating the pump section from the filter media section. I also plugged a small hole near the bottom with the same epoxy. Here's a couple pics look where the white putty is, there were once holes there.
Once i plugged the holes, i ordered this new filter rack as well as new filtration media. You can find the rack on ebay made by "In-Tank". Its a bit pricey (50$) and you could definitely make one for yourself pretty easily if you have the patience/time. But I would DEFINITELY recommend this item, it is VERY well made and even comes with a delicious swedish fish (Which i ate and didn't even die haha)
On the three rows of the media rack i used:
TOP LEVEL: Floss
2nd LEVEL: Floss on top of Chemi-Pure Elite
3rd LEVEL: Floss on top of Purigen
These are a few other nice little items I picked up, I really like the heater since its the smallest one I've ever seen and I like the idea of there being no glass to break.
Please leave ANY feedback you want but please be kind haha. Thanks guys, I hope this helps someone looking into buying one of these for marine/reef tank use.
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