Razorbacks
Active Member
I started my first tank just under a year ago (a 10 gallon) and bumping up to a 20 long.
Tank Components:
Tank: Aqueon 20 Gallon long with glass lid
Filter: AquaClear 50.....nothing permanent other than the sponge. Sometimes run a bit of carbon if needed.
Protein Skimmer: Bubble Magus MiniQ skimmer Nano.....I use this primarily for oxygenation. The plug is usually off letting anything skimmed drip back in as my nutrients are always low.
Heater: Eheim 75 watt....plan to add a second one at a lower temp as a redundant fail safe.
Rock: Marco Rock 10lbs.....some new but mostly aged from the last tank
Sand: CaribSea Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Aquarium Sand 20lbs
Lighting: A029 AquaKnight.....need to add or upgrade
Flow: hygger Mini Wave Maker & Hydor Koralia 240....Hydor is proving a bit too weak so upgrading to the 425 to elminate some detritus buildup on one side
Corals: GSP, Xenia, Superman discosoma, chalice, blastomusa, favia, frogspawn, neon green sinularia leather
Plan to Add: 1 Royal Gramma, 1 Wheeler's Goby, 1 tuxedo urchin, and possibly a small conch to keep sand clean. Would love a blue porcelain crab if I can ever find one.
It's pretty clear the single AquaKnight is insufficient. There is too much dark space and coral placement is a bit of a challenge. Also because of the black plastic strip between the glass panes on the lid there is a long, ugly band of shade the length of the tank. I don't want to ditch the lid so I'm looking at the new AI blades as an upgrade. I think with it sitting almost flush to the lid vs several inches above, the shadowing should be minimal plus they're supposed to have better spread all around.
I planned to buy new sand, but the store didn't have enough of the kind I wanted so I ended up washing the old sand and then adding more. I was SHOCKED how dirty the old sand was at less than a year old especially given I cleaned it regularly. I'll upload a few pics of the before/after. I was a little nervous to wash and re-use the sand, but followed what others said and washed it with regular tap water until it was clean. I've seen no ill effects from this.
The tank is only 24 days old, but I've already run into a couple set backs. One of the big drivers to upgrade from the 10 was because I really want a Royal Gramma and needed just a hair more swimming room. I paid a big premium vs wild to order a Biota captive bred one ($120 total: $60 for the fish and $60 for shipping) because I like the idea of sticking to captive bred when possible and supporting the programs. It arrived healthy and was in a QT tank. The day I was going to add it to my display I walked in to find it dead. The air pump on the QT went out overnight and the poor thing suffocated. They are now out of stock on biota as well as all my local shops so I'll have to wait to replace it. I'm learning from the situation and converted to a slightly louder air pump that has better reviews and will be adding a small power head to the next QT as backup to create some more surface agitation. I'm also upgrading the temp controller on the main tank which will allow me to put my current one on the QT vs just running a stand alone heater. Basically adding redundancy where possible to the QT. I also finally cleaned up my wire mess by the main display and put everything safely elevated with proper drip loops, etc.
One other small set back is my trochus snail seemingly crawled out of the tank to it's death. I couldn't find it for days then looked behind the tank and there it was. Not sure if this is common. I've never had a snail do this before, but the cerith do often crawl slightly above the water line and just hang out. Since there's a lip on my tank, totally getting out is a bit harder.
Tank Components:
Tank: Aqueon 20 Gallon long with glass lid
Filter: AquaClear 50.....nothing permanent other than the sponge. Sometimes run a bit of carbon if needed.
Protein Skimmer: Bubble Magus MiniQ skimmer Nano.....I use this primarily for oxygenation. The plug is usually off letting anything skimmed drip back in as my nutrients are always low.
Heater: Eheim 75 watt....plan to add a second one at a lower temp as a redundant fail safe.
Rock: Marco Rock 10lbs.....some new but mostly aged from the last tank
Sand: CaribSea Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Aquarium Sand 20lbs
Lighting: A029 AquaKnight.....need to add or upgrade
Flow: hygger Mini Wave Maker & Hydor Koralia 240....Hydor is proving a bit too weak so upgrading to the 425 to elminate some detritus buildup on one side
Stocking List: 2 Ocellaris clownfish, 3 cerith snails, and one nassariusCorals: GSP, Xenia, Superman discosoma, chalice, blastomusa, favia, frogspawn, neon green sinularia leather
Plan to Add: 1 Royal Gramma, 1 Wheeler's Goby, 1 tuxedo urchin, and possibly a small conch to keep sand clean. Would love a blue porcelain crab if I can ever find one.
It's pretty clear the single AquaKnight is insufficient. There is too much dark space and coral placement is a bit of a challenge. Also because of the black plastic strip between the glass panes on the lid there is a long, ugly band of shade the length of the tank. I don't want to ditch the lid so I'm looking at the new AI blades as an upgrade. I think with it sitting almost flush to the lid vs several inches above, the shadowing should be minimal plus they're supposed to have better spread all around.
I planned to buy new sand, but the store didn't have enough of the kind I wanted so I ended up washing the old sand and then adding more. I was SHOCKED how dirty the old sand was at less than a year old especially given I cleaned it regularly. I'll upload a few pics of the before/after. I was a little nervous to wash and re-use the sand, but followed what others said and washed it with regular tap water until it was clean. I've seen no ill effects from this.
The tank is only 24 days old, but I've already run into a couple set backs. One of the big drivers to upgrade from the 10 was because I really want a Royal Gramma and needed just a hair more swimming room. I paid a big premium vs wild to order a Biota captive bred one ($120 total: $60 for the fish and $60 for shipping) because I like the idea of sticking to captive bred when possible and supporting the programs. It arrived healthy and was in a QT tank. The day I was going to add it to my display I walked in to find it dead. The air pump on the QT went out overnight and the poor thing suffocated. They are now out of stock on biota as well as all my local shops so I'll have to wait to replace it. I'm learning from the situation and converted to a slightly louder air pump that has better reviews and will be adding a small power head to the next QT as backup to create some more surface agitation. I'm also upgrading the temp controller on the main tank which will allow me to put my current one on the QT vs just running a stand alone heater. Basically adding redundancy where possible to the QT. I also finally cleaned up my wire mess by the main display and put everything safely elevated with proper drip loops, etc.
One other small set back is my trochus snail seemingly crawled out of the tank to it's death. I couldn't find it for days then looked behind the tank and there it was. Not sure if this is common. I've never had a snail do this before, but the cerith do often crawl slightly above the water line and just hang out. Since there's a lip on my tank, totally getting out is a bit harder.
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