Need an opinion on my setup...

[Gimpster]

Right now I have a 20g AGA Long with an HOB fuge. There is a 2" sand bed and about 30# of LR. 4 bulb T5 30" with a single reflector which I suspend about 12" above the water as this light might be a little overkill for a 12" deel tank. For water movment I have a single MJ 900 and a single MJ400 in addition to the HOB Fuge return.

I have a good size cleanup crew and lots of micro stars, feather dusters and other filterfeeding critters.

For live stock I have the following:
1 false clown
1 decorated goby (sand sifter)

1 small colony of GSP
1 tree coral (softy)
2 toadstoll leather (Mother and frag)
1 small frogspawn
3 shrooms

I know the coral are not over kill for the system. But are those two fish too much for it since I have no skimmer? And are the lights too much?

 

[burning2nd]

is this a new setup?

consiter a sump?

of marco algae???



i have 3 fish and about the same bio load.... (little more) but i have a sump and a skimmer....

check out aqua C remora skimmer's they will do you justice.... (if you dont want to get a sump)

a sump would give you a little more volume.... but remember if its not broke dont fix it.. are you haveing problems? what are you feeding? how much?

whats your lighting schedule?

your ruteen?

tell us more...

have any pic's? sounds like a nice tank.

 

[pfish]

I don't think the fish are too much, and the lights should be fine. You might want to put the lights closer, say 6 to 8 in.
You should get a skimmer.

 

[Gimpster]

I have plans to add a sump, I will be picking up a used one in a week or two. The skimmer will have to wait until I have more cash as I want to go with in insump stump style one like the ASMs or Octopus varity.

The system has been running for at least 4 years, 2 of which is was in a 10g and the last two in the 20g. I am not currently happy with the placement of my coral or the flow patterns in the tank and will be addressing that when I move the tank, either this or next weekend.

I do have a bit of an issue right now with some weird stuff I have never seen before. Looks like a deep purple plating leather that is growing everywhere and has smother some polyps, mushrooms and now is growing in my little patch of GSP. There is also a brighter purple film like algea that is either Canyo or diatoms and will clear up as soon as I stop using tap water. I know its bad but like I said I am poor right now.

I also know I am over feading a little right now and I need to take more then a few seconds to drop some food in the tank. I need to start target feeding to reduce the un-used nutrients until I can get a skimmer up and running to remove the unused porton. I will try to get some pics of the tank and its problems when I clean the tank tonight.

 

[Sherman]

Couple of things came to mind:

Why not throw one single Seio M620, Hydor K2, or Tunze Nano-Stream in there, and ditch the Maxijets? I know.. money. However, in the long run, you'll get a much nicer, wider flow, and use a whole lot less electricity, relatively.

I'd also lower those lights. No worries. I've seen a 150w HQI + 2x75w VHO over a 12g before! At that point, it was probably overkill, but I wouldn't even stress it with 4 T5s. I use to run 4x96w PC only 2" off of the water in my 38g, now I run 2x150w HQI.

What do you target feed? There's no reason, in my opinion, to feed corals. They'll get food, especially if you already over feed. In addition, they're photosynthetic, and you have good lighting. I haven't target fed my corals for over 2 years, and they're all still growing like crazy.

 

[dailydriven911]

I recommend the hydor koralia's! I have 2 #1's in my 20 gal long and the flow is much more spread out and random. Cheap too only $30/ea and they come w/ magnets!

 

[Gimpster]

That Hydor Koralia looks like a nice pump. When I have the space coin I am going to pick up a few, if they are in stock.

Well I have rearranged the tank, to put the corals in more approate locations for flow and lighting. The lights are now down to about 9" over the water and in a few weeks I will drop them down on to the build it legs.

I pulled alot of the velvet like growth off the rocks. The best I can describe is it it looks like a film that is trapping waste under it and in time it thickens to be like a plating leather coral. Deffinatly not a good thing as its traping waste and using it to grow and spread smothering anything in its path. Weird stuff.

I also moved alot of my smaller rubble rock to the fuge to reduce the areas where waste can accumulate in the rock structures. We will go from there.

 

[Bainic]

Your lights are fine, add a skimmer ASAP. As for powerheads, I have a Hydor #1, and it is rated at 400 gph, my Maxi Jet 1200 is only rated at 295 gph, but it definately puts out alot more water than the Hydor.

 

[Sherman]

Bainic, it may APPEAR that the MaxiJet puts out a lot more water, but it really doesn't. The MJ puts out 295gph through a 1/2" hole, in a tiny jet. Whatever is right on front of, and in the path of the jet, will get flow. The rest of the tank will not. The Hydor puts out 400gph across a large wash, several inches wide. There is less velocity, but this does not mean less flow.

Which scentario moves more cars?

1: A one lane road, everyone driving 80mph? Or...
2: An 8 lane road, everyone driving 30mph?