Looking for tank to copy

[thjones29]

Hello All! I am looking to get back into the hobby after about 8 years. I know all the co$tly perils of trial and error, so I am looking for a member who has a successful tank, similar to the one I want.

I know I want the following:
-Frag Tank (Independent)
-Some Fish (not picky. just for my son to look at)
-Bare Bottom
-Similar size to the WaterBox 55.2 Frag tank
-Sump
-I am in Florida, so I don't know if a chiller is a "must"
-If possible to use this tank for breeding fish, that would be awesome too
-I am open to a certain amount of DIY to save costs. I am relatively handy.

For reference, I have had a nano reef tank with sand, fish, shrimp, gobie. But that was a long time ago.

I would appreciate any help in identifying someone with a similar setup and any feedback. Thanks!

 

[WIReefer]

Welcome back to the hobby!

 

[ADAM]

Welcome back, check out the members tank "build threads" forum. You should be able to search for certain terms within the subform to help find what you are looking a little easier.

 

[thjones29]

Welcome back, check out the members tank "build threads" forum. You should be able to search for certain terms within the subform to help find what you are looking a little easier.

Thanks! I will give that a shot

 

[PicassoClown04]

Hey! Welcome to R2R!! I second the look at the build threads forum. Here’s my 20 gallon with a pair of clowns and a cherub angel. Super low maintenance fish. It’s an AIO so no sump

 

[NashobaTek]

Welcome back!

 

[thjones29]

Hey! Welcome to R2R!! I second the look at the build threads forum. Here’s my 20 gallon with a pair of clowns and a cherub angel. Super low maintenance fish. It’s an AIO so no sump

Nice! is this NUVO AIO? If so, did you buy their protein skimmer, reactor, lights, etc?

 

[PicassoClown04]

Nice! is this NUVO AIO? If so, did you buy their protein skimmer, reactor, lights, etc?

The tank is a Innovative Marine 20 gallon peninsula. I switch brands a lot, the lights are AI Primes (HD on right, regular on left), don’t have a reactor , skimmer is a eshopps nano (pics below from BRS), filter media is a rack in the first chamber with bioballs in the bottom and filter floss on top. I believe the main pump is a sicce micra venturi. Hope all of this helps, the skimmer is A+ best skimmer out of all of my tanks and I’m running a reef octopus on my 45.

 

[thjones29]

The tank is a Innovative Marine 20 gallon peninsula. I switch brands a lot, the lights are AI Primes (HD on right, regular on left), don’t have a reactor , skimmer is a eshopps nano (pics below from BRS), filter media is a rack in the first chamber with bioballs in the bottom and filter floss on top. I believe the main pump is a sicce micra venturi. Hope all of this helps, the skimmer is A+ best skimmer out of all of my tanks and I’m running a reef octopus on my 45.

Thanks for the info! I think I'm going with the 25 lagoon as it fits perfectly on a table I already have. It should still be pretty similar to the equipment you use though. The AI Prime lights seem to be very popular.

 

[Uncle99]

Hey! Welcome to R2R!! I second the look at the build threads forum. Here’s my 20 gallon with a pair of clowns and a cherub angel. Super low maintenance fish. It’s an AIO so no sump

Think you got enough in there?
Stunning and well done

 

[Picasso Clown]

Hey, this is her dad on my account. She’s not planning to stop any time soon! She just set up a 45 gallon lagoon that’s gonna be sps dominant. She’s already saved her pennies and got some stunners in there! CB the Thing anacropora, Walt Disney, red planet, a red plating monti and a green one, JF rainbow monti, a bunch of cyphastrea, and some others I forgot the name of. They’re just beautiful and I wish I had her talent! What’s it called when someone has a green thumb for coral? Her plan is to move the maxima clam she’s got into there when it gets too big for her tank, we’ve got a crescent shaped aquascape so it’s gonna be in the center of the lagoon. We’re working on getting a fish and special inverts (not cuc) list together so we can stock it! Anybody got any ideas?

 

[PicassoClown04]

Think you got enough in there?
Stunning and well done

I actually just added 8 new corals... maybe more since this post came up. Got a dragon soul torch (terrifying) another scoly (purple rim, pink center, turquoise streaks), yellow polyps, some kind of blue stag, green slimer, a wile colony of very pretty zoas, some ugly palys, and a rainbow blasto. Here’s some pics but the acros are definitely gonna need time to color up.

 

[92Miata]

Thanks for the info! I think I'm going with the 25 lagoon as it fits perfectly on a table I already have. It should still be pretty similar to the equipment you use though. The AI Prime lights seem to be very popular.

We have a couple Nuvo 40s. IMs tanks are great. The majority of their other equipment is terrible. I don't know much about the eshopps skimmer above, but it know all 3 of our IM skimmers will get replaced at some point.

I haven't used the newer mighty jet pumps, but the older IM pumps are awful.

I'm going to give you the same suggestion I give everyone for lights - you're better off with a bigger fixture turned down, than a smaller fixture maxed out.

A prime 16hd with their terrible mounting arm is going to cost you about $250. For similar you can find a used Hydra 26, or maybe a 32. For a little more, you can end up with a radion xr30 in an older generation - which is a much better light.

I currently run a xr30 gen 3 at about 50% on my nuvo 40 (which has surprisingly similar dimensions to the lagoon 25. The tank section works out to 24*15*20. The lagoon is like 20*12*20 once you account for the sump) . I had all sorts of issues when I was just running a prime hd (before I touched it on the wrong side and their class-action-worthy mounting arm unscrewed itself and fell over into the tank)

 

[PicassoClown04]

I have a lagoon 25 and use a single hydra, only on 40% power too! My sps started bleaching so I’m turning it up slowly