Andrews First!

[drew00c]

I figured that with all the questions I would have, Id start up a showcase thread. With updates on my progress. Its not going to be a huge masterpiece like several I have seen so far, but im going to try and put my aquascape skill to use on a smaller scale. So far I have my aquarium set up and filled with water and salt, im running two power heads, a 100 watt heater and an Ehiem canister filter. In a few days ( or whenever my work schedule allows) im going to put in approx 20 pounds live rock. I have not yet bought a protein skimmer and any online suggestions would be awesome. I also need a recommendation on a lighting system. Could I keep smaller corals in a 20 gallon tank or woul d that be impossible? Updates to come ( with lots and lots of photos :^:)

- Andrew

 

[Piggy]

I see you got the korila powerheads which in my opinion are the best. I would go with T5's for lighting. You can check out Drs fosters and Smith they have good stuff. I order for them quit often. You get your stuff quite fast and shipping isn't too bad. Yes you'll be able to keep coral. Which ones will depend on the lighting.

 

[Ctimpson]

Yes to corals, go with either t5s or halides for lights, and definately remove the crushed coral substrate... It will cause nothing but headaches in the future... Go with something like caribsea for substrate...

 

[drew00c]

I was checking out their supplies earlier seems like a good choice. the Korila powerheads werehis recommendation, seems like it was a good one. Someone mentioned the crushed coral is not a good substrate as in produces phosphates. Wish knew that 2 days ago lol

 

[drew00c]

k got it caribsea, will the removal and addition of new substrate damage anything i have all ready done.

 

[Piggy]

I would go with sand. The crushed coral will look like crap after a month or so. It will cause problems.

 

[drew00c]

is it as basic as a a straight replacement?

 

[Piggy]

How much crushed coral did you put in there? Depending on if you want any sand shifting fish will decide on how deep of a sand bed to go with. Mine is between 2-3 inches.

 

[reeffreak]

Go with aragonite sand in whatever grain size you like best.I prefer sugar size myself.Now is a good time to change it out,while nothing is in there.It may cloud the water but no biggie.Yep,very basic,scoop out the old and place the new sand in.

 

[drew00c]

i put 20 pound bag in a believe, might have been way to much lol. Guess ill take it out tomarrow and get sand on wednesday. Also some live rock

 

[reeffreak]

Like Piggy said,aim for about a 2'' bed.

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree, replace that crushed coral with a couple inches of sand. Crushed coral can easily and often lead to water quality problems because crap and garbage gets stuck in between the grains, due to the large grain size.

You can keep plenty of different corals in a 20 gallon tank. Go with T5s, as metal halides will heat up a tank that size very easily. As for a skimmer, are you looking for an in-sump skimmer or hang-on-back?

 

[drew00c]

Yeah ive heard t5s are the way to go from several people. The guy at my LFS said something about Live Sand, i didnt pick any up thinking id ask yall first, before spending 50 dollars on another bag of useless substrate. Biff im probably going with a hang on back skimmer, no room for a sump on this tank. When i convert my 200 into marine in the next 2 years or so ill do it right and go with a sump similar to your or reeffreaks.

 

[drew00c]

btw i was thinking of these lights. T-5 Aquarium Lighting: Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures w/Lunar Lights
good call?

 

[MikMcgyver]

That looks good to me, with t5's you can have pretty much anything under them... 20lbs of sand in a 20 gallon should be good, see what you level is and add a lil bit at a time to get to 2 in or so... argonite is the way to go...

 

[drew00c]

A friend of mine who works at store mentioned that argonite it sharp and can bother gobies. this sounded odd to me

 

[LionFish]

my goby seams to like it

I have larger aragonite too,

 

[MikMcgyver]

My stuff is a mix of large and small (sugar size) argonite.. Looks and stands up well..

 

[drew00c]

Yeah that sounded strange to me lol, i guess i was right. So this week, I will switch over to argonite, throw some live rock in there, and order those lights. God bless my visa!

 

[reeffreak]

There's going to be small sharp pieces with almost all sand.Aragonite will have much,much less than crush corals.They sell an aragonite sand called oolitic which is very,very fine sand.be careful with that type,it gets blown around really easy.

The Nova is a good fixture,it will allow you to keep most corals.