iDad's 20 Gallon Long Reef Tank Build

iDad

Reefing newb
I had a 56 Gallon Tall setup for a few months. I had two clownfish, a royal gramma, and a yellow tang swimming around. As much as I enjoyed the tank, I needed to downgrade because soon we will be moving and it would be easier to move a 20 gallon then the big 56 gallon. So I sold everything to a guy that I work with and with the money, I bought me a MaxSpect Razor 160Watt LED fixture.

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So I was pretty stoked. I am going to try my hand on another 20 Gallon Long tank, the last one I had was successful but it started leaking and I had to hurry and transfer everything into the 56 Tall, obviously since it was not planned out the way I wanted to and everything was thrown together, I was not very happy with it. So another reason I wanted to sell it and start over.

Here is the new tank:

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Two Bags of this since one of the fish I would like to have is a yellow watchman goby:

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I got my order of live rock the same day I ordered it, gotta give richard a hand!

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This is what it all looked like:
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Alright, let the build begin!
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What you see here are my two bags of live sand, four boxes of saltwater, the Cobalt NEO-Therm heater and a 240 Korralia powerhead.

Love this part!
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So after I set everything up, this is how it looks
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This is what it looks like when I finally have the lighting programmed.
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I know the razor puts out a lot of light for the size tank that I have. Take a look at what I have it programmed for and tell me if you guys think I should lower the LEDs or if I can raise them up a bit. Right now the LEDs are at 50% and the Actinic lights are at 65%.
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I plan on buying another 20 Gallon Long and drilling that one for the overflow and 1 or 2 returns. Than I will transfer everything into that tank and begin building my sump.

As for my protein skimmer, I plan on buying the CAD Lights PLS-100 Pipeless skimmer:
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and the CAD Lights Full Control Conic Media Reactor
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I can't wait to get this started some more. I think next Friday when I get paid I'll be buying the skimmer and the reactor and start piecing the sump together.

As far as livestock goes I plan on keeping it simple:

2 Blood Red Fire Shrimp
2 O. Clownfish
1 Yellow Watchmen Goby

Then you have the obvious clean up crew consisting of crabs, snails, star fish, etc.

Alright guys, tell me what you think, give me some feedback please!
 
That's a pretty kick ass set up you're starting. I would probably do like 25% white and 30% actinic to start, and then raise it as needed. Really depends on the type of corals you intend on.
 
Right now I just plan on some softies. Maybe a couple LPS and SPS' but who knows. I do know I would like a clam and a gorgonian but we will see
 
Do you have a dosing pump? If not, and you are thinking about SPS and a Clam, I'd think about investing in one. Clams especially will suck up Calcium at a pretty alarming rate lol.
 
No I do not have one. I am looking at several different options though. It will still be quite a while before I put any livestock in the tank. Realistically, I should have waited to put the rock in because I still have to drill the tank. So I'm going to have to buy another tank, drill THAT one, and then transfer everything into the new tank once I get the sump and plumbing squared away. I got a little ahead of myself on that part.

But I am looking at the Reef Angels control device and it has a dosing pump that you can add to it for $80 or close to that. So I think I might be going that route. Even once I actually starting placing livestock and coral in the tank it will still be a little bit of time before I branch out into anything but softies though.
 
Quite right you are!

But now it looks as if I will be waiting ever longer as I have a bryopsis outbreak right now.

Fun times are ahead....fun times indeed
 
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