Stocking for a 30 gallon with 20 gallon refugium Soft Corals/Macroalgae

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Hmm Ai Prime wouldn't work without getting creative to mount it due to the hob filters so I'm debating on ordering the Marine 3.0 Friday. To be honest I'm not all that interested in soft corals, the idea of gsp sounds cool but bet I will regret it once it takes the tank over. Probably could find other lights that would work but this is the simple way out.

Might take a gamble on a tank raised rbta locally, thinking the marine 3.0 should be enough light. Top rocks are only about 6" from the water surface, next row down is maybe 9", about 12" or so from the sandbed to the surface, sandbed varies between 4-5". From what I read it should be fine light level wise but I could be wrong. Think the flow should be plenty, no idea what the filters are pushing for flow, the live rock rubble slows the flow down, 2 ac110 and 1 ac50. Powerheads are the Koralia 425's, will have to diy a guard for them.

Only big question is if my rockscape will work for a rbta, they are only 1-2" currently but not sure how it will work if it spreads out to it's possible 12". Would have to sell/rehome if it ever split obviously. It's the opposite direction of my usual lfs and I haven't been to this one yet so it's worth the trip just to check the place out. Fingers crossed the clowns decide to host in it but to be honest I would be glad just to see them more instead of hiding in the back waiting for copepods.
 
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I keep forgetting to close this thread out and make this a build thread but I’m still figuring this site out. Gf tested nitrates, which shockingly are only at 5. Told her to shake out all the chaeto in the tank then toss it all out, loads of copepods so that’s a good sign.

Gonna do my last big water change, 15 gallons, then I will switch over to weekly 5 gallon changes. I’ll have to watch levels closely and probably dose nitrates so they don’t bottom out and end up with dinos. Think I will grab a foam insert for a ac110 at the lfs and make guards for the power heads with that, gives me another point of filtration. Be a good time to clean the chaeto out of them anyways.

thinking I will shut the yellow off on the lights, turn red down to 25% or maybe even off completely. Then run blue and cool white around 75-100%. Need to get some coralline growth going. One issue I’ve noticed of going macros is planted lights don’t seem to grow much coralline. I lost the 2nd tuxedo urchin, debate if I should off dried seaweed twice a week. Was doing a whole sheet split in half between two clips.

little bit of cyano on the sand bed, I’ll vacuum that up when I do a water change tonight. Once the marine 3.0 light comes in I will probably run both for a bit to see if there is any benefit from the extra blue and cool white leds. Fluval lights aren’t very powerful so it’s worth a shot. Gonna check out the new lfs Saturday, already talked to them and they sold all but one tiny 1” rbta so it might be a while before I get my hands on one.

Gotta call my usual lfs and see if they have started stocking the fluval lights yet, if not I’ll order from Petco for the rewards and 2 day shipping. Would give me a chance to add some more hikari frozen foods to the variety I already have on hand. Whole bottom of my freezer is nothing but fish food.
 
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Thinking I may want to rethink my lighting choice going for a rbta. Would go right for a ai prime but no clue how I would mount it. Might just work if I can figure that part out, tank 3ft long but rock work is just about 2ft long

come to think of it I could just mount it on the left side of the tank with the flex arm
 
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Wanted to double check so grabbed the tape measure when I got home, my rock work is exactly 2ft long so an ai prime should work just fine mounted on the left side of the tank. Not quite certain if it's the best light for the tank but any feedback in that department would be appreciated. A ton of options on lighting and hard to decide on any one particular light, especially being my first time with rbta's.

Didn't realize the AI Prime 16HD Reef had so many bad reviews and apparenltly a lot of issues, guess I will keep looking until I find a light that will do the job. Can see spending $2-300 for a light that will sustain rbta but not if it has issues, would really rather not spend any more than that.
 
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Yeah I'm stumped as far as lighting goes, think I will just go safe and simple and stick with the Fluval Marine 3.0, at the least I don't need to download another app and at least I know it will work. My tank is so shallow with all this sand so don't think I'm gonna need a super powerful light.
 
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Debating on giving these a shot before I buy the fluval marine, had seen one like this that seemed like better quality before but can't find it now. From what I read Bridgelux leds are a step down from cree. At liveaquarias standard on lighting it's just shy of high, 3.6 watts per gallon. Can either buy them directly from the company or on ebay from the company.

https://www.21ledusa.com/aquarium_led_reefbar_pro_36_5050_p/rbp505036.htm

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282229803785

Edit: The ebay ads make it hard to tell which light you are buying. Thinking safer bet is directly from the companies website.
 
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Actually a few different versions of that light, sent them an email to get their opinion on which light would be the better match but I'm leaning towards their blue heavy light, 20000k-22000k
 
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Yeah think I'm about to stop wasting my time researching led lights, doesn't look like hardly any of them are worth bothering with unless you spend close to $1000. Everyone swore by AI Prime but they seem to be full of problems, so I'm torn between just going to the fluval marine and sticking to low light soft corals or going T5 for bta's. Sticking with fluval and soft corals sounds like the financially responsible move, I can hardly justify the money I have already spent on the fish tank, probably don't need to drop another $1000 plus. Gonna have to upgrade the light just to get some coraline going, tank is nearly bare. Running just cool or cold white and blue at 100% with the plant 3.0 and it's dim, seems brighter without the white.
 
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Okay already got too much money into this tank so might as well sink a bit more and have it done right. Going with a Photon 24-V2 for lighting and will be swapping the Koralias for a Icecap Gyre 2K with controller. At some point I will order the battery backup as well. Will be anemones only, thinking rbta.

Biota Court Jester Goby came in, seems to be doing fine and eating pretty good but still a bit on the pale side and stomach still looks a bit sunken in. Heading to the lfs for copepods and phytoplankton today, don't want to way on algaebarn right now but will still order 5280 pods. Got a Ora Orchid Dottyback coming in today also.
 

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Good choice on light the others you mentioned are garbage . This hobby is all about spending money lol . Every tank you setup you learn something new , face new challenges but it usually gets better every time :)
 
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Yeah I went cheap on quite a few things during the initial setup to save money but now I'm going for the better equipment. Thinking I will swap these filters out for a cpr aquafuge 2 small and medium to make the most use of the space on the back of the tank. Will help to gain back some water volume, only around 50-60 pounds but still think I should probably build a support under them.

Edit: At least I won't need a light for it, will put the 36" plant 3.0 over both. Would go for a hob overflow and a bigger fuge underneath but want to keep things simpler, plus I don't have a ton of space down there.
 
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Well I've already got bristle worms so decided heck with might as well add some more biodiversity. Ordered 12 micro brittle stars from Addictive Reef Keeping, been eying them for a while. Think I will order a few more things from them later on, some coraline covered shells once I upgrade my light and possibly some small pea sized crushed coral for the pistols burrows.

The court jester goby is starting to look a lot better, picked up quite a few new options on frozen food today. Orchid dottyback is settling in nicely, seems to sleep in the green pistol shrimps burrow. Will get a picture of it tomorrow.
IMG-0182.jpg
 
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Still having to dose nitrates, shut blues off at night, turned the fuge light intensity down. If this having to dose nitrates continues I may consider adding a 6th fish, unsure of what would work well. Everything is pretty calm now, the orchid dottyback is settling in well, the court jester goby is over on the other side of the tank now. Also waiting on a new test kit so I can test phosphates.

Edit: Only ideas for 6th fish that I can come up with would be another court jester since the one I have is out on it's own or maybe a neon blue goby. After adding the orchid dottyback the court jester has moved to the other side of the tank and stays in the open sand area by itself.
 
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Actually had turned the fuge light down to 50% cold white, blue and red a few days ago, going down to 25% on all 3 now.
 
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To anyone considering modding an ac110 for a fuge it works somewhat, probably not as well as a typical hob refugium would but I have run into a few issues with it. Initially did the mod with one side of the basket siliconed in place, eventually the silicone gave way and the flow was horrible. Ended up ordering new baskets and putting the live rock rubble on top of the basket, fixed the flow issue but have to run it full flow or it starts slowing down with a sponge pre filter on it and 2" of rubble, but at least it doesn't clog up now. The other downside compared to a hob fuge is the usable space and lack of ability to have sand in the fuge.

Overall if you are on a budget and can only fit one ac110 it might be the simple route, but if you are going for 2 you might as well go with a cpr aquafuge 2, a medium would be about the same usable space but deeper and the large is even more. Me personally having already run the ac110s for a while I would spend the extra for the aquafuge. A few downsides on that route as well but less so than the ac110 route. Luckily I have only had to clean the impeller a few times before adding the sponge prefilter but I'm still planning on going with a medium and small to utilize the most space behind my tank. Thinking I will try to move the pumps to the inside and put a prefilter over the intakes.

Planning to build up this shelf, which was on the wall at my parents house growing up, to help support them, just happened to be the length of the tank. Figure it's about 50lb full so this should be rugged enough to help support the weight. Well by build up I mean just build a 2x4 box to make up the gap and probably use the foam squares cut up to make up any difference. Also doubles as my storage space for all my dry food. The foam squares are used in place of the cheap plastic leveling tabs, which let go shortly after adding the live rock rubble. Also handy for sliding furniture on the vinyl floor, stuff my mother had lying around from the daycare.

Might not be a huge improvement for the money spent but I'm thinking they will be more functional as refugium's, planning to go half sand and half rubble up to the divider. Don't mind the mess of wires, planning to straighten that out once I upgrade my equipment, only thing staying will be the 36" plant 3.0 which will go over both fuges.

IMG_0185.jpg

IMG_0186.jpg
 
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On a side not the last bit of cyano in the sand bed seems to be clearing up now that blues are off at night.
 
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And I just read about dosing nitrates making alkalinity go up so guess I will stop dosing and feed heavier. With how complicated these tanks get I'm starting to question if I dare try corals or an anemone. Might just have to fully stock the tank to avoid having to dose nitrates in the first place, maybe then I can get back on the right routine with water changes to keep all the parameters in line. Feel like I'm gonna drive myself insane with all the testing, dosing and chasing numbers. o_O

My last 20gal I had to stock it with 4 fish to avoid dosing but I also didn't have fuges and had half the depth of sand bed, which might make things more complicated. Suppose if I do go for the small and medium aquafuges I can pull sand from the display rather than buying new sand.
 
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Don't think I will take a gamble on the neon blue goby, the court jester has been looking worse and worse since adding the orchid dottyback. Don't think he ever stood a chance, the other fish had him pinned to the one area of the tank they wouldn't use and it hasn't been eating. Will take it to the lfs and see if they can take it, think I will have to stick to semi aggressive fish with my current stocking. The clownfish got along fine with the initial pair of banggai cardinals but I brought them back because I couldn't get them to eat anything dry or frozen. Betting they sold me wild ones so I may try a captive bred pair from live aquaria, seems to be the only place that has them.
 
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Turned the fuge light down to 10%, will wait for nitrates to come up before turning it up anymore.
 
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API reef master test kit came in today, kh was between 10 and 11. Threw the seachem nitrogen in the trash. Changed another 15 gallons of water, hopefully that was enough to bring it back where it’s supposed to be.
 
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