My son (11yo) is getting interested in the hobby and is wanting to set up a small frag tank. We currently have a 81g (36x24x22) mixed reef thats been running great. Im looking for something cheapish and easy to take care of for him. 20g long for tank, not sure how to filter it? Maybe some type of HOB? Also thought about adding marine pure bricks for bio filtration. Maybe an ai prime for light, and I also have a tunxe 9004 skimmer I can throw in it. Thinking to start with mainly zoa's and shrooms to start and maybe a few small utilitarian fish (6 line, algae blenny, any other ideas here?) And a small CUC. Let me know if I missing anything!
20g long frag tank
- Thread starter nlutfi
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Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
Heater and a ATO would be helpful. Should work.
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
Well, for biological filtration, a couple pieces of live rock would act as hiding spots for fish and keep the bacterial strains going that the corals and fish need, but if used as a coral quarantine tank, treating the tank for pests would be better with a HOB filter. The later it would necessary to remove the fish for treatment because of the meds.
So, there's a couple ways to approach this.
Good advice above. If you're at all handy making up a baffle to turn it into an AIO is pretty easy. Especially if you happen to have a table saw (for the weir). If it were me I would turn that 20 long into a peninsula AIO and use live rock as bio-filtration. The plan you mentioned sounds good to me. If you're not into building the baffle I'm sure you could buy some kit. Or even just forgo mechanical filtration and just run the skimmer. You can always use the powerhead+water bottle filter trick for mechanical filtration after water changes. Leave it in for an hour or so then remove it. That's what I've been doing on a 10 gallon frag system for a couple years now.
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
Then I would place some pieces of mature live rock in there for the biological filtration.
It's not much different that the old school " Berlin method" minus sand.
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agree w all above live rock,skimmer,hob for media would be fine
Fiji Cube makes a kit to turn a 20L into an AIO. It may be worth looking into.
Fiji Cube AIO Box All-in-One Kit 4th Gen - 20 Gallon Long
This is the 4th generation of the AIO DIY Kit with improvements made. The magnets and clamp are no longer provided in the 4th gen. A permanent silicone seal is required. Build your All-in-One (AIO) aquarium with Fiji Cube AIO box to maximize the fun of the aquarium hobby. Just drop this AIO box...
www.fijicube.com
And definitely following along with this. I may need to build a small frag tank soon.
Thank I was definitely looking in to that. Maybe that would be the best way to go.Fiji Cube makes a kit to turn a 20L into an AIO. It may be worth looking into.
Fiji Cube AIO Box All-in-One Kit 4th Gen - 20 Gallon Long
This is the 4th generation of the AIO DIY Kit with improvements made. The magnets and clamp are no longer provided in the 4th gen. A permanent silicone seal is required. Build your All-in-One (AIO) aquarium with Fiji Cube AIO box to maximize the fun of the aquarium hobby. Just drop this AIO box...www.fijicube.com
I think the 10 kit is what I’m going to use for my Coral QT tank soon. Going to do my best to QT all corals for 76 days and keep any diseases out of my DT
I've been using a MarineLand Penguin 350 my 20 gallon long. I've removed the filter pads/bio wheels and use it basically as an refugium. Each side contains biopellets, ceramic rings, and chaeto. I do a 50% water change at least every other week. It's working well.
Using a marineland 350 on my 20g l frag tank too but just using stock media right now.
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