My 20 gallon long!

[moosk]

Here's my 20 gallon long that's been running for about a year and a half. It's a pretty simple setup with a HOB and protein skimmer, nothing fancy at all.

Yesterday my extra batch of dry rock came so I redid the aquascape and I really like how it turned out. I'm also waiting for one more wavemaker (Jebao SLW-5) which is coming later this week so I want to wait for that to come first before I glue the corals back onto the rocks.

Equipment:

• Imagitarium 20 gallon long
• AquaClear 70 (with filter floss, carbon, biomax, purigen, phosguard)
• Fluval Mini PS2 skimmer
• 1x Jebao SLW-5 (soon to be 2x)
• Aqueon 100W heater
• AI Blade 21" Coral Grow with Treasure Coral's reef experience template
• 22lbs of dry rock

Fish:

• 2x Oscellaris Clownfishies
• 1x Yellow Watchman Goby
• 2x Turbo Snails
• A lot of hermit crabs

Corals:

• 3x Zoas
• 1x Frammer
• 1x Gonipora
• 1x Bleached montipora
• 1x Chalice
• 1x GSP
• 2x Candy cane
• 1x Acan
• 1x Bernardpora
• 1x Duncan
• 1x Ricordea

It's the morning and the lights just turned on so everything is waking up right now.

 

[lapin]

Nice

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Great looking tank! Can't wait to see what it looks like once all the corals grow out!

 

[moosk]

Nice

Thanks!

 

[moosk]

Great looking tank! Can't wait to see what it looks like once all the corals grow out!

Thanks, I'm excited as well! Corals really are addicting

 

[moosk]

Here's a video and a couple pics.

I ended up gluing down the corals anyway but I'm still trying to figure out the placement for them. Anyone have tips?

Also with my aquascape, would the second wavemaker be beneficial? I thought about returning it once it gets here as my plan was to place it in the back but the rock is taking up majority of the space so I thought a second one wouldn't help but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm still learning.

 

[amberkate]

Awesome tank!

 

[moosk]

Awesome tank!

Thanks!

 

[moosk]

My second Jebao SLW-5 came earlier today but I'm not sure where to place it based on my aquascape and I'm considering returning it. What do you all think?

Here's a rough drawing of what my aquascape looks like with the HOB filter in red, first SLW-5 in green, and protein skimmer in yellow.

I think the first wave maker (in green) is in a nice spot. It's about half way below the surface (with more bias towards the bottom half) and provides a decent amount of flow above the corals but not so far down that it doesn't blow the sand.

I thought about placing the second wave maker on the top left corner but then it's mostly blowing into the rock lol

 

[moosk]

Picked up an Indo Gold Torch today from my LFS on sale! Looks amazing in person!

Also, does the flow look decent?

 

[MC Blowfish]

Looks great!

 

[moosk]

Looks great!

Thanks!

 

[moosk]

Adjusted my wave maker last night and now I think the flow is perfect! The original flow looked too harsh.
Forgot to mention that I also picked up these blue hornet zoas and firefish goby at the same time as the torch.

Pretty sure these will be my last coral purchases for a long time as I want to save up for a big tank upgrade in the future.

 

[moosk]

My parameters as of 11/29 if anyone was wondering:

phosphate - <0.5ppm
pH - 7.9
ammonia - 0ppm
nitrite - 0ppm
nitrate - <40ppm
calcium - 460ppm

phosphate and nitrates are a bit high and I'm working on reducing that with less feeding with reef roids and weekly water changes of 20%.

initially my pH was at 7.4 but I retested it like an hour later and it was at 7.9. Only thing I changed was increasing surface agitation but I also shook the API test bottle. Not sure if the surface agitation helped or if it was just user error with testing.

edit: I also have an alkalinity test coming next week

 

[moosk]

parameters as of 12/6 (water change of 25% on the day before)

phosphate - 0.25ppm
pH - 8
ammonia - 0ppm
nitrite - 0ppm
nitrate - <20ppm
calcium - 480ppm
alkalinity - 10dKH

Pretty sure I lost my firefish goby. Was last seen yesterday morning but I'm not sure if he jumped out... Can't find him on the ground or around the rocks. I should get a lid (preferab

I also started dosing All-For-Reef and adding LPS Benepellets to the food rotation (those just came today along with the alkalinity test kit)

A few days ago, I noticed 7 heads growing out on my acans. I thought it was interesting that they're a different color (yellow vs the green on the main). Maybe the color will change once they mature?

My goal right now is to reduce the phosphates. I'm currently running phosguard in my media and it seems to help. I also have chemipure elite coming so hopefully that helps even more.

Is a protein skimmer really necessary with my bioload? I'm currently using the Fluval PS2 and it works great when it works. Some issues I have with it is:
1) it produces so a decent amount of air bubbles from the gate
2) whenever I turn my skimmer off and turn it back on, sometimes it starts overflowing out of the collection cup
3) it also leaks a bit out of the neck of the skimmer and collection cup.

 

[Sam7]

Yes its a delicate balance on getting flow just right. Some need more than others. If you were going to use both Jebao SLW-5, i would put one on each end of the tank to keep the oily surface slick protien build up out of the corners and towards you hob, Though im not familar with the the wave maker pumps it maybe too much flow but maybe you can lower the flow down to where its just right for your tank. Also what are the pellets for? If your feeding your corals stop doing that they dont need food...the fish will do that by pooping plus the fish food they miss. Coral placement works best by putting the corals where it looks like they are ahppy with the flow your providing....leave them for few days once you get a new coral and watch its reaction. I do that before i just glue them willy nilly in some spot. Experience will come and you can look up what type flow each needs

 

[Sam7]

parameters as of 12/6 (water change of 25% on the day before)

phosphate - 0.25ppm
pH - 8
ammonia - 0ppm
nitrite - 0ppm
nitrate - <20ppm
calcium - 480ppm
alkalinity - 10dKH

Pretty sure I lost my firefish goby. Was last seen yesterday morning but I'm not sure if he jumped out... Can't find him on the ground or around the rocks. I should get a lid (preferab

I also started dosing All-For-Reef and adding LPS Benepellets to the food rotation (those just came today along with the alkalinity test kit)

A few days ago, I noticed 7 heads growing out on my acans. I thought it was interesting that they're a different color (yellow vs the green on the main). Maybe the color will change once they mature?

My goal right now is to reduce the phosphates. I'm currently running phosguard in my media and it seems to help. I also have chemipure elite coming so hopefully that helps even more.

Is a protein skimmer really necessary with my bioload? I'm currently using the Fluval PS2 and it works great when it works. Some issues I have with it is:
1) it produces so a decent amount of air bubbles from the gate
2) whenever I turn my skimmer off and turn it back on, sometimes it starts overflowing out of the collection cup
3) it also leaks a bit out of the neck of the skimmer and collection cup.

A skimmer isnt necessary per say but it help but so does water changes....often smaller tanks go without because many smaller skimmer really dont do much to be worth the fiddleing around they take. So pointing a pump towards the surface slighty can help disperse it some and keep the oily slick broken up and help with gas exchange

 

[moosk]

Yes its a delicate balance on getting flow just right. Some need more than others. If you were going to use both Jebao SLW-5, i would put one on each end of the tank to keep the oily surface slick protien build up out of the corners and towards you hob, Though im not familar with the the wave maker pumps it maybe too much flow but maybe you can lower the flow down to where its just right for your tank. Also what are the pellets for? If your feeding your corals stop doing that they dont need food...the fish will do that by pooping plus the fish food they miss. Coral placement works best by putting the corals where it looks like they are ahppy with the flow your providing....leave them for few days once you get a new coral and watch its reaction. I do that before i just glue them willy nilly in some spot. Experience will come and you can look up what type flow each needs

I think I got the placement of both wavemakers perfect. I have one on the right side of the tank near the upper middle pointing slightly up for surface agitation and the other on the left side in the back corner blowing diagonally across the tank.

The pellets are for the LPS corals. Usually I just feed them with reef roids prior to a water change and sometimes feed my acans with fish food pellets but during my black friday shopping on saltwateraquarium.com, the price of the pellets were exactly what I needed in order to meet the minimum threshold for free shipping and I thought I'd try them out too. Do these foods really help with coral growth or they're just a waste of money?

My torches, frammer, and zoas are liking the flow but I'm also still experimenting with the placement of the other corals.

 

[moosk]

A skimmer isnt necessary per say but it help but so does water changes....often smaller tanks go without because many smaller skimmer really dont do much to be worth the fiddleing around they take. So pointing a pump towards the surface slighty can help disperse it some and keep the oily slick broken up and help with gas exchange

Do you think it's even necessary if I'm doing water changes every 1-2 weeks? I thought about just getting rid of it because it takes up a lot of space in my tank and I want to move my big island to the right a bit more.

 

[Sam7]

I think I got the placement of both wavemakers perfect. I have one on the right side of the tank near the upper middle pointing slightly up for surface agitation and the other on the left side in the back corner blowing diagonally across the tank.

The pellets are for the LPS corals. Usually I just feed them with reef roids prior to a water change and sometimes feed my acans with fish food pellets but during my black friday shopping on saltwateraquarium.com, the price of the pellets were exactly what I needed in order to meet the minimum threshold for free shipping and I thought I'd try them out too. Do these foods really help with coral growth or they're just a waste of money?

My torches, frammer, and zoas are liking the flow but I'm also still experimenting with the placement of the other corals.

dont feed the corals pellets and dont use reef roids...or i promise you be sorry at a later date about algae out of control