My 20 Long Reef

Radicalrob1982 · Oct 1, 2020

Hi all. Been reefing for about 7 years now. I've had a lot of fun and problems along the way.

Here's a few pics of my tank

Equipment :

1 aquadream power head wave pump
15 pounds of live rock
20 gallon long seapora aquarium
Eheim 100 watt heater
Digital thermometer
Gen 1 AI prime 40 watt led
Aquakniflght v2 36 watt led

All dosing and water changes / salinity, done by hand. Very low tech tank but seems to be doing ok. Corals growing very slow. Since my lighting seems to make my rbta look happy I decided to try a couple of montipora digitata's. Anemone has doubled in size in two months.

DazAquariums · Oct 1, 2020

My tank and my second one were 20 long. Because of this it’ll hold a special place!

Radicalrob1982 · Oct 1, 2020

Joshua McDermott said:
My tank and my second one were 20 long. Because of this it’ll hold a special place!

Ya I believe a 20 long is a great starter tank. Because it requires the work, research and knowledge to be successful. Once you can run a 20 gallon then the rest is easy lol

Chrisfish · Oct 1, 2020

Beautiful tank!!

Radicalrob1982 · Oct 1, 2020

Chrisfish said:
Beautiful tank!!

Thanks. It's about 1.5 years old. Very basic tank. Have 2 clowns and a coral beauty. My bio filter seems great. It took 3 weeks without a water change to even consider doing one. I didn't know until after that coral beautys require larger ranks until I bought it. It seems to be fine and eating very well.

DazAquariums · Oct 1, 2020

Radicalrob1982 said:
Ya I believe a 20 long is a great starter tank. Because it requires the work, research and knowledge to be successful. Once you can run a 20 gallon then the rest is easy lol

this was my first one. Had some serious rough times with it but had some awesome successes as well!

Radicalrob1982 · Oct 1, 2020

Joshua McDermott said:
this was my first one. Had some serious rough times with it but had some awesome successes as well!

Is that t5 lighting ? I've been trying to justify which one to switch to. I like my LEDs for the timers and the sunrise and sunset feature. But really dig my t5 lightning I have too. I run a purple plus, true actinic and two blue plus since the tank is so shallow

Radicalrob1982 · Oct 1, 2020

Radicalrob1982 said:
Hi all. Been reefing for about 7 years now. I've had a lot of fun and problems along the way.

Here's a few pics of my tank

Equipment :

1 aquadream power head wave pump
15 pounds of live rock
20 gallon long seapora aquarium
Eheim 100 watt heater
Digital thermometer
Gen 1 AI prime 40 watt led
Aquakniflght v2 36 watt led

All dosing and water changes / salinity, done by hand. Very low tech tank but seems to be doing ok. Corals growing very slow. Since my lighting seems to make my rbta look happy I decided to try a couple of montipora digitata's. Anemone has doubled in size in two months.

This was my favorite aquascaoe. Don't know why I ever changes it lol

Radicalrob1982 · Jan 7, 2021

Radicalrob1982 · Jan 7, 2021

Tank is coming along nicely. Recently added an aquaclear 20 hob filter and introduced some chemi pure elite. Tank water is way clearer now. Bio filter is still holding strong. Havent done a water change in almost 4 weeks and nitrates still around 4 to 6 ppm. Algae is also a little less since using chemi pure. No new corals or anything. But both my Montis are growing quite well. Getting about half an inch or some a month in growth. Recently put back my vipar spectra led. Just bought an orphek or3 blue plus bar I will use in conjunction with it. I should be able to mount it to the front of the light using screws and the provided brackets. Will update again once I have my light in place and will take some pics.

The vipar will more than enough have the power to grow whatever I wish to. But I believe the or3 will help give it that much needed color and spectrum. We all know the black box LEDs aren't the best color rendition out there. Can't wait to see how it looks

Radicalrob1982 · Jan 29, 2021

Hi all. Ended up going with one or3 blue plus 24" and a single AI prime. Here's a pic

I used a photo filter app to wash out the blue a bit so it looks more real. Tank is starting to look nice. I love the or3. Can't wait to get a Reef day plus bar as well

Radicalrob1982 · Feb 11, 2021

Decided to try another light source. I added my old aquatic life t5 to the same mount I use for the orphek or3. Much better light distribution and coverage. As well as more light and less shadows.