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Finally back into reefing!


pmcgarty

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Finally getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus. Lost my whole tank during the blackout that happened in the midwest/east coast back in '03. Stickin' my toe in the water by starting up with a 10 gallon nano-reef and we'll see what happens from here.

 

Here's a pic of my tank as it stands right now. Just rescaped it so bare with me on the cloudiness.[ATTACH]12302[/ATTACH]

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My roommate's girlfriend took down her 200 gallon aquarium so I picked up some live rock pieces from her along with her remaining paired clowns and a psuedo. Didn't really want that many fish but the LFS would take them from her so I kind of got stuck with them in return for getting the tank, salt, and rock from her. Made a DIY LED light for it so far (still waiting on some bulbs to arrive from china to complete it 100%). Picture attached. Trying to figure out what to do about additional filtration right now. All I have right now is a HOB filter and one pump. Got pretty good circulation in the tank but with this much livestock I am going to need some sort of fuge or skimmer. Just space and cash limited right now.[ATTACH]12303[/ATTACH]

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i like the AC70 fuge idea. I was thinking about doing this though as it just utilizes what already comes with the ac70.

http://reef411.com/showthread.php?1021-Easy-DIY-HOB-Refugium

 

that looks pretty easy. one thing i have read about these, is that you may want to change the impeller to something smaller, as the AC70 is rated for 40-70 Gallon - 300 GPH, which may be way too much for a 10g tank.

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Right now, Amazon has AC70's on sale for like 35 bucks. I just bought a second one because of the price. I'll keep it around as an emergency backup. The InTank media basket was around 45 bucks (I know, a little spendy, but worth it IMO).

 

 

So, I swapped out the impeller for an AC20 impeller. It worked just fine, but I think the flow might have been a little too low. Very difficult to get all of the air out of the top of the intake tube. Also, I felt that the mechanical filtration with the AC20 impeller wasn't as good as I would have liked. So this weekend, I put the stock impeller back in and just moved the intake tube to the lowest flow setting. I think I prefer the amount of flow I get through the tank with the extra water movement from the AC70's stock impeller in combination with the MP10. I'm not sure if this makes it better or worse as a mini-fuge. I suspect the chaeto will grow just fine with the added flow, plus when I stir up any sediment, the tank clears in less than 10 minutes if I switch it to full flow.

 

I got an AC50 impeller, but it doesn't fit. I might have received the wrong part. I haven't had time to sort that out, but I'm pretty sure an AC50 impeller should fit and be a nice compromise between the 20 and 70 impeller.

 

Let me know if you want any additional info or pictures.

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