LCR - Nathan | Tinker Tank

[Lou City Reefing]

Hey Everyone!

The title may be a little odd, but I have old, unused, equipment laying around and my better half (my wife) said I should do another tank! (Well, I asked her if that was okay, and she reluctantly agreed lol!)

All jokes aside, this tank will be started with gear that I already have an minimal upfront spending. Below is the list of gear I'll be using:

Tank: 20 Gallon Long
Sump: Project Source (Lowe's Brand) 27 gallon tote
Return Pump: Jebao MDP-3500 (~925 GPH)
Lights: 2 AI Prime 16HDs (I'm upgrading the like on my main tank, so I'll have 2 available)
Powerhead: AI Orbit 2

The plan is to do a bare bottom or crushed coral bottom, I haven't decided yet, high flow SPS tank. The sump will be PACKED with live rock and I don't plan to do a ton of mechanical filtration. I do have a skimmer if I need it at some point.

Let me know your thoughts or any ideas you have with this tank!

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Hey Everyone!

The title may be a little odd, but I have old, unused, equipment laying around and my better half (my wife) said I should do another tank! (Well, I asked her if that was okay, and she reluctantly agreed lol!)

All jokes aside, this tank will be started with gear that I already have an minimal upfront spending. Below is the list of gear I'll be using:

Tank: 20 Gallon Long
Sump: Project Source (Lowe's Brand) 27 gallon tote
Return Pump: Jebao MDP-3500 (~925 GPH)
Lights: 2 AI Prime 16HDs (I'm upgrading the like on my main tank, so I'll have 2 available)
Powerhead: AI Orbit 2

The plan is to do a bare bottom or crushed coral bottom, I haven't decided yet, high flow SPS tank. The sump will be PACKED with live rock and I don't plan to do a ton of mechanical filtration. I do have a skimmer if I need it at some point.

Let me know your thoughts or any ideas you have with this tank!

I think it sounds like a good ideal so far! IMO I would start with some sort of substrate and remove later if you want to go BB, seems like some reefers struggle with bacteria blooms and nutrient issues for months and up to a year going straight BB from the get go. Seems as the biodiversity is harder to establish without starting with substrate, so starting with substrate then removing later on I feel will jump start a future BB tank.

I feel with a lite bio load a skimmer isnt needed and can utilize weekly water changes to maintain the tank, a small ball of chaeto would give you all the nutrient export needed for the tank if you could rig some type of basket to the tote and hang a led light over it

What would be your ideal for dosing? For a cheap option when corals start consuming elements I use a Jebao 4 head doser which works great so far and the app is easy to set up and use. I think its $75 and could run everything you needed for that small tank!

 

[Lou City Reefing]

Hey Everyone!

The title may be a little odd, but I have old, unused, equipment laying around and my better half (my wife) said I should do another tank! (Well, I asked her if that was okay, and she reluctantly agreed lol!)

All jokes aside, this tank will be started with gear that I already have an minimal upfront spending. Below is the list of gear I'll be using:

Tank: 20 Gallon Long
Sump: Project Source (Lowe's Brand) 27 gallon tote
Return Pump: Jebao MDP-3500 (~925 GPH)
Lights: 2 AI Prime 16HDs (I'm upgrading the like on my main tank, so I'll have 2 available)
Powerhead: AI Orbit 2

The plan is to do a bare bottom or crushed coral bottom, I haven't decided yet, high flow SPS tank. The sump will be PACKED with live rock and I don't plan to do a ton of mechanical filtration. I do have a skimmer if I need it at some point.

Let me know your thoughts or any ideas you have with this tank!

I think it sounds like a good ideal so far! IMO I would start with some sort of substrate and remove later if you want to go BB, seems like some reefers struggle with bacteria blooms and nutrient issues for months and up to a year going straight BB from the get go. Seems as the biodiversity is harder to establish without starting with substrate, so starting with substrate then removing later on I feel will jump start a future BB tank.

I feel with a lite bio load a skimmer isnt needed and can utilize weekly water changes to maintain the tank, a small ball of chaeto would give you all the nutrient export needed for the tank if you could rig some type of basket to the tote and hang a led light over it

What would be your ideal for dosing? For a cheap option when corals start consuming elements I use a Jebao 4 head doser which works great so far and the app is easy to set up and use. I think its $75 and could run everything you needed for that small tank!

I was thinking BB due to the amount of live rock I’ll have in the sump. Although, I may use crushed coral for substrate in the tank! Just want something that won’t blow around with the flow! I thought about doing a basket with chaeto instead of a skimmer due to bio load as well! (Great kinda think alike? lol)

I honestly haven’t even thought about dosing yet, but if we get there I’ll look at my options!

 

[Lou City Reefing]

So, I was thinking, instead of 2 AI Primes going with a Nicrew HyperReef 100 Gen 2. I want to experiment with something new. Does anyone have any experience with Nicrews?