Ok I need you guys the most now lol

[40B Knasty]

I would buy a glass top and put a SolarMax Deep Blue HO T5 w/ ATI Blue Plus Coral plus. Those LED lights will rust in hood and poop the bed on you in about 6 months. At least with the T5s you are putting the best bulbs on the market on one of cheapest fixtures. So great light quality on a $120 fixture w/ 2x $20 bulbs. Most LEDs are going to cost you a little bit more for that good quality I believe and that money saved will get you a quality protein skimmer,

 

[johnny4491]

I would buy a glass top and put a SolarMax Deep Blue HO T5 w/ ATI Blue Plus Coral plus. Those LED lights will rust in hood and poop the bed on you in about 6 months. At least with the T5s you are putting the best bulbs on the market on one of cheapest fixtures. So great light quality on a $120 fixture w/ 2x $20 bulbs. Most LEDs are going to cost you a little bit more for that good quality I believe and that money saved will get you a quality protein skimmer,

I wanted to go with some good light to keep some anemone In it what do u suggest

 

[johnny4491]

The C3 would be better, because you can always control the flow from the little nub on the top. It rates for 20-50g.
Here is something you wouldn't know unless you owned one. I will try to explain this as best as possible.
The flow that pushes water out over the little filter screen on top of the wet dry. When the flow is slowed down. It is actually better water cover across the top. It will go across the whole filter pad. When it is cranked up. It trickles out and only goes across 1/2 of the area. So with a lowered C3 flow all your ceramics in the wet dry would stay moist for that good bacteria on the ceramics

Ok thank u it made sense I’ll look into that one thanks

 

[40B Knasty]

That was my 20g with the T5s. It laid on an acrylic piece that went across the hood. You might not have that. One thing about glass tops it keeps the fish in, less evaporation, light penetrates better, and you can pull it off to clean it with warm water and scrape it with a razor blade in under 3 minutes. That I wish I did, but I went super cheap.
Also notice the Reef Octopus BH1000

 

[johnny4491]

That was my 20g with the T5s. It laid on an acrylic piece that went across the hood. You might not have that. One thing about glass tops it keeps the fish in, less evaporation, light penetrates better, and you can pull it off to clean it with warm water and scrape it with a razor blade in under 3 minutes. That I wish I did, but I went super cheap.
Also notice the Rest Octopus BH1000

Did u keep any coral with those T5 lights

 

[40B Knasty]

(Shhh. I had a mandarin in mine. 20 gal doe 6 mo, 30g for two and half years.)

I had a spotted mandarin in the 20g as well. It was great for feeding him all kinds of frozen foods. The hydro 460 was not very good flow.

 

[johnny4491]

The C3 would be better, because you can always control the flow from the little nub on the top. It rates for 20-50g.
Here is something you wouldn't know unless you owned one. I will try to explain this as best as possible.
The flow that pushes water out over the little filter screen on top of the wet dry. When the flow is slowed down. It is actually better water cover across the top. It will go across the whole filter pad. When it is cranked up. It trickles out and only goes across 1/2 of the area. So with a lowered C3 flow all your ceramics in the wet dry would stay moist for that good bacteria on the ceramics

Where can I buy the C3 I tried amazon and they didn’t have it

 

[40B Knasty]

Did u keep any coral with those T5 lights

Yes 2 frogspawns, candy cane, pulsing xenia, and 8 different zoas. The lights were great! That first picture is the 20g. This one

 

[40B Knasty]

Where can I buy the C3 I tried amazon and they didn’t have it

Check Chewy.com

 

[johnny4491]

Yes 2 frogspawns, candy cane, pulsing xenia, and 8 different zoas. The lights were great! That first picture is the 20g. This one

Do you have a picture of your setup on your hood so I can get a better picture

 

[40B Knasty]

Do yourself a favor and order a box of Fluval C3 Poly/Foam Pad Filter Media, 3 count. It is right above it. They are hard to find at LFS

 

[40B Knasty]

Do you have a picture of your setup on your hood so I can get a better picture

I can take a pic of the hood. I just ripped the the lid that opens and closes off and put it on my brackish 13g. Give me a minute. Man my puffer is going to hate me for doing this haha;Rage

 

[40B Knasty]

Do you have a picture of your setup on your hood so I can get a better picture

If you can picture the lid that goes up and down(the white line) I ripped off. The rest is the 20g hood. This is on the 13 and works for the top of the tank.

 

[johnny4491]

I can take a pic of the hood. I just ripped the the lid that opens and closes off and put it on my brackish 13g. Give me a minute. Man my puffer is going to hate me for doing this haha;Rage

Mine hood is different the lights are in the bottom the only thing that opens and closes is the feeder

 

[johnny4491]

Mine hood is different the lights are in the bottom the only thing that opens and closes is the feeder

This is the bottom of it

 

[Charles4400]

Honestly you can make that into a functional and successful saltwater tank without buying anything extra (equipment wise except for maybe a cheapie lighting fixture) depending on what you want to do with it.

I bought a similar kit years ago and wanted to see how cheap I could get a tank going without spending that much at all and with using the least amount of space and hearing the least amount of noise.

Granted I only kept a pair of clownfish, a go y and shrimp combo, some awesome looking fan worms and maybe a softie or 2.

I used the included filter with those changeable crappy fabric filters with carbon in between and may have bought a better but still cheap hood with 2 cheapy bulbs in them. Not even a powerhead in the tank!

Tank lasted for 4 years untill I took it down because I wanted some kitchen counterspace back. Had coralaine algae everywhere and did not have gha problem long term. I only tested parameters excpet when making sure it cycled. It was a 20g as well.

Had live rock and seeded the sand from another existing tank (a 300g).

You can do it, though with that hood and filter salt creep was a *****. But it definitely can be done with success.

Yes it could have been better had I put in much better equipment but that was more of a simple, fun tank than a serious one.

With regular water changes (easy for that size tank) it can be very sucessful.

It's actually kind of refreshing keeping a super simple tank if you have another one that has tons of apex controlled everything on it, lights that cost a small fortune, wavemakers that cost more than tvs etc... I have all that on my main tank which is a rsms 650 which costs more than I'd like to admit lol!!!

KISS tanks are awesome try it out first and add all the other stuff later. After all you bought the tank inexpensively, why not try it out the inexpensive way first, you might be surprised!

 

[40B Knasty]

This is the bottom of it

Yeah I would not trust those lights for a coral over $5 to be honest. I found a quick video. Give me a second to download it to my YouTube channel and I will post in it 5m. It is all about quality lights. You would have been better off getting the $1 gallon sale at Petco For your 20g and build your own w/ a glass top like my 40B in that picture.

 

[johnny4491]

Honestly you can make that into a functional and successful saltwater tank without buying anything extra (equipment wise except for maybe a cheapie lighting fixture) depending on what you want to do with it.

I bought a similar kit years ago and wanted to see how cheap I could get a tank going without spending that much at all and with using the least amount of space and hearing the least amount of noise.

Granted I only kept a pair of clownfish, a go y and shrimp combo, some awesome looking fan worms and maybe a softie or 2.

I used the included filter with those changeable crappy fabric filters with carbon in between and may have bought a better but still cheap hood with 2 cheapy bulbs in them. Not even a powerhead in the tank!

Tank lasted for 4 years untill I took it down because I wanted some kitchen counterspace back. Had coralaine algae everywhere and did not have gha problem long term. I only tested parameters excpet when making sure it cycled. It was a 20g as well.

Had live rock and seeded the sand from another existing tank (a 300g).

You can do it, though with that hood and filter salt creep was a *****. But it definitely can be done with success.

Yes it could have been better had I put in much better equipment but that was more of a simple, fun tank than a serious one.

With regular water changes (easy for that size tank) it can be very sucessful.

It's actually kind of refreshing keeping a super simple tank if you have another one that has tons of apex controlled everything on it, lights that cost a small fortune, wavemakers that cost more than tvs etc... I have all that on my main tank which is a rsms 650 which costs more than I'd like to admit lol!!!

KISS tanks are awesome try it out first and add all the other stuff later. After all you bought the tank inexpensively, why not try it out the inexpensive way first, you might be surprised!

Wow thank you that made so much sense and sounds right lol I’m thinking of just adding live rock and making it a fish only tank because I’m on a budget right now and from having a 6 gallon to a 20 is a big difference and the white LED it came with are pretty good and maybe later when I have the extra money I’ll start changing the lights and adding the good stuff

 

[flsalty]

This is the bottom of it

That's never going to last with salt water. I would replace that whole thing.

 

[40B Knasty]

Wow thank you that made so much sense and sounds right lol I’m thinking of just adding live rock and making it a fish only tank because I’m on a budget right now and from having a 6 gallon to a 20 is a big difference and the white LED it came with are pretty good and maybe later when I have the extra money I’ll start changing the lights and adding the good stuff