Newbie Introduction and a Plan

[Dave918]

Hi All!

Just a wanted to say hi and get some thoughts and opinions on what I’m up to here. I have been into FW tanks for a number of years, but this is my first foray into saltwater and naturally I want my efforts to be successful. I would really appreciate hearing your comments, suggestions and ideas.

Right now I’m gathering all the parts and pieces to setup a 20gal high reef tank on a pretty tight budget. Not much money, but lots of time – so I’ll be going slow and easy.

This will be a bare bottom tank (to many bad experiences with substrates of all types). The bottom glass will be covered with 1/2 inch Starboard (light seafoam green color) and the back outside glass will be painted black. Should look pretty cool eh?

Initially I plan on using an AC500 modified for duty as a refugium and do frequent water changes to start. I’ll add a sump and refugium combo later. Still trying to decide on which skimmer to use. Would like to have one I can hang on the back now and drop into the sump later.

I’ll be using Catalina ocean seawater for the initial fill and as replacement on water changes, distilled FW for top off. More expensive than mix your own I know, but I’ll sleep better. I’ll use a mix of dead and live rock. Don’t know the ratio of dead to live I should use, but I’ll have at least 40 pounds total in the tank.

Light will be provided by a 24" Coralife Lunar Aqualight compact fluorescent strip light that I picked up a few months ago. Looks like 130 watts (65 x 2) – is that enough?

My target date for introducing the first livestock is …. when everything is ready and not a moment before. I figure 3 – 4 months at least to finish gathering everything up and getting the tank cycled and matured enough. Looking at soft corals and will limit it to 2, maybe 3 small fish. Maybe a Fire Fish and one other. However, the plan is corals first and fish later. Of course I’ll include a cleanup crew as well.

So, sound like a plan? Like I said, I have plenty of time, so let me hear your thoughts and ideas. Especially suggestions on which corals I should start with.

Thanks guys!

-dave

[the_colonel]

I would say your plans seem sound. You said you want to add a sump later, is the 20H drilled, or are you going with a HOB syphon overflow? If the tank is not tempered, I would drill it now, and just cap the bulkhead for later use. You will sleep better.

Your light should be OK (not great, just OK) for most softies, and some LPS. I would start with some mushrooms.

Good luck, take it slow, and keep us updated.

[Dave918]

Hi JP,

I don't know if the glass is tempered or not. Pretty sure it's an All-Glass tank. Anyway that I can tell? Prepping it for a sump now does make sense. I need to start finding and studing some diagrams.

Thanks,
-dave

[the_colonel]

Does it have a green sticker on the bottom? Is it new? Someone here will be able to tell you if its tempered or not. The other way to tell is just try to drill it, if you end up with 1 hole, and 5 pieces of glass is was not tempered, if you end up with 1,000,000 pieces of glass, it was tempered.

Do a search for drilling, there are allot of good threads.

[Dave918]

Picked it up used. There are some remnants of what appears to have been a white sticker on bottom, but that's about it. So if all I have left is the hole - it wasn't tempered eh?

-dave

[Loverotties]

1st Welcome to TRT.Sounds good!Someone I just saw yesterday or today selling a Remora Aqua protein skimmer for $90.You should pick that up!It's a great skimmer for the money on a smaller tank.I use there bigger one (the pro) on a 50 gal and I use the same water that you are going to use and You can't get a better salt then the real thing.My corals and fish look better with using it,but make shure you use RO/DI water for your make up! Good luck with your tank.You'll be buying a bigger one in no time!

[Dave918]

Originally Posted by Loverotties

You'll be buying a bigger one in no time!

That's what I'm afraid of

Thanks Loverotties

-dave

[wharyat]

Welcome to TRT Dave!!

Your plans are great, sounds like you have some experience or been doing some studying. 2x65 is actually quite good, I keep Acroporas under the same in the same tank, but I recommend sticking to the LPS and softies for the moment.

I am absolutely sure the sides are drillable; pretty sure bottom is non-tempered also.

Time with patience is good.

[Dave918]

Thanks wharyat!

Hey what is this "20 Gallons of Coral Community" I see there in your sig line? Sounds interesting.

-dave

[wharyat]

We all like to make groups and such, you'll see some sigs with acronyms and photos. reef_noob has hairclub for men, phisnoob has SSBS (submarine service bubblehead society), and so on.

If you want to "join" just hotlink it in your signature or throw your own club together; when you get access to it (50 posts). Same with MMRc (Macho Male Reefers club).