Hello Everyone,
Well I've been off and on in the saltwater hobby for about 8 years now and have had a few tanks and setups through high school and college. I haven't had a tank for about a year and a half now but the hobby is simply to enticing and I'm looking to get back into it.
The Plan:
I'd like to have a 15-20 gallon nano reef aquarium. I have thought about a Biocube setup however I am leaning for towards my own setup simply for the customization factor. What I was thinking was a 20gallon aquarium with a single 1 inch drain into a 10-20 gallon sump. I would like to make the sump myself and I planed on buying the aquarium and the sump (just another aquarium) from the LFS.
For filtration I wanted to create the sump to lead into a mechanical tray first followed by protein skimmer through a baffel and into a refugium. Here is a diagram of what i was thinking.
My biggest questions are:
Would a custom setup be better than a biocube?
I wanted to go with the Reef Octopus NWB 110 protein skimmer but is this overkill for the system and would it take out to many trace elements? (i.e. Calcium and Iodine for my sps plans)
Is there a better skimmer out there smaller aquariums?
Does anybody have detailed instruction on the drilling of the aquarium and plumbing installation?
In terms of a water pump any ideas of the ideal flow rate and a product?
Other things to keep in mind:
I plan on focusing on a pristine coral landscape with a variety of exoctic corals including all soft, sps, and lps
Inverts consisting of shrimp starfish snails and crabs
Maybe a clownfish and firefish. No more than 2-4 fish ever
Future plans for U.V. installation as well as Ecoxotic LED lights someday when I start sps.
Plan on doing a 3-4gallon water change weekly on 20 gallon tank.
Thank you for looking over this. I understand its a lot of information and filled with questions. Basically I am looking for help from people with more experience than me. I would like to come up with a system that can maintain pristine water quality so that I can focus on maintaining even difficult corals.
Also I am on a budget being a college senior and holding a part time serving job. I have however saved up about 800$ to get this thing started.
Thanks for all your help
Well I've been off and on in the saltwater hobby for about 8 years now and have had a few tanks and setups through high school and college. I haven't had a tank for about a year and a half now but the hobby is simply to enticing and I'm looking to get back into it.
The Plan:
I'd like to have a 15-20 gallon nano reef aquarium. I have thought about a Biocube setup however I am leaning for towards my own setup simply for the customization factor. What I was thinking was a 20gallon aquarium with a single 1 inch drain into a 10-20 gallon sump. I would like to make the sump myself and I planed on buying the aquarium and the sump (just another aquarium) from the LFS.
For filtration I wanted to create the sump to lead into a mechanical tray first followed by protein skimmer through a baffel and into a refugium. Here is a diagram of what i was thinking.
My biggest questions are:
Would a custom setup be better than a biocube?
I wanted to go with the Reef Octopus NWB 110 protein skimmer but is this overkill for the system and would it take out to many trace elements? (i.e. Calcium and Iodine for my sps plans)
Is there a better skimmer out there smaller aquariums?
Does anybody have detailed instruction on the drilling of the aquarium and plumbing installation?
In terms of a water pump any ideas of the ideal flow rate and a product?
Other things to keep in mind:
I plan on focusing on a pristine coral landscape with a variety of exoctic corals including all soft, sps, and lps
Inverts consisting of shrimp starfish snails and crabs
Maybe a clownfish and firefish. No more than 2-4 fish ever
Future plans for U.V. installation as well as Ecoxotic LED lights someday when I start sps.
Plan on doing a 3-4gallon water change weekly on 20 gallon tank.
Thank you for looking over this. I understand its a lot of information and filled with questions. Basically I am looking for help from people with more experience than me. I would like to come up with a system that can maintain pristine water quality so that I can focus on maintaining even difficult corals.
Also I am on a budget being a college senior and holding a part time serving job. I have however saved up about 800$ to get this thing started.
Thanks for all your help