Modifying an aquaclear?

[the reef kid]

I'm going to be setting up a 20 gallon reef soon, and I was planning to use an aquaclear filter for flow, and so I could put a little fuge in, as I'm not planning on a sump, but how would I do this? I've seen it done before, but do you just stick sand, rock and macro in and hope for the best? Should I be worried about sand getting kicked up in the 500 GPH of the filter? I may use somewhat coarse sand, but still...

Anyother tips from people who have done this are also needed/wanted.

 

[Smitty]

I would skip the sand and instead use pieces of rock rubble at the bottom...then place your micro-algae(cheato) on top of the rocks. Also, get yourself a small clamp on light for it, to keep your micro algae growing.

 

[yote]

+1 Smitty

 

[the reef kid]

Alright, thanks guys :D

as for the light, if I had T5's, and left the top of the filter open, would that do the job?

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah that'd probably be fine. Algae doesn't need a lot of light to grow.