techymechy

I started, but did not finish, a 20 ish gallon tank. I started this build over 10 years ago but life got busy with kids, family, work, etc. I can see that I will want to finish this build in the next couple of years. I believe that the tank is 16" high, 16" wide, and 22 inches long. I was going to put a false wall in the tank so that I can have a sump on the back that housed the main pump and some extra live rock. I was also going to have a lighted refugium located (reverse time of the main tank) above the main tank where I would focus on trying to grow mysid shrimp, macro algae, etc and let them go over the overflow naturally to help feed the small tank. I have two peltier chillers and a heater and a controller to maintain temperature. There is a flange around the top of the tank, but I tried to make it small enough that most of the features in the tank can be observed from above. I made my own lighting. I have a 150W HQI bulb, two 24W actinic compact fluorescent bulbs, and two incandescent blue bulbs for moon light. I originally built my ballast box (which housed the HQI and CF ballasts) with X10 modules to program a lighting ramp and moon light variation. Of course, I ran out of memory on the X10 modules and never really got it working right. The HQI, actinics, moon bulbs are in a single hood that I will hang about 18" above the tank. I plan on ditching the X10 modules and run separate cords for the HQI, CF's, and moon bulbs. I am totally out of date on the latest tank set up, but this is my thoughts. Can you please provide some input? 1. I would have about 1" of fine sand on the bottom of the main tank for aesthetic purposes. 2. I would build my rock structure with PVC piping. I would actually drill holes in the piping so that the return water would jet through these holes. I would also have one small water exhaust near the water line to keep the surface agitated. I was going to use an Eheim 600 for this purpose. 3. I would have two small power heads on a timer to vary the lower water current from left to right. 4. I would hang a skimmer on the end of the tank next to the peltier chillers. 5. I would have calcium addition via my make up water. I don't want a calcium reactor. 6. I am thinking about doing 2 gallon water changes every two weeks. Now for the question: a. What is an appropriate skimmer for my purpose? I want it to be quiet as possible. b. Is there a simple controller available now to provide the lighting changes including a possible lunar cycle? I was thinking of having my actinics come on around 9 am, HQI around 10:30 am, HQI off around 9 pm and actinics off around 9:30 pm. c. Is there anything else I should think about? I would like to have this primarily a large polyp and small polyp coral tank with some zoa's and maybe a few very colorful mushrooms. I want only 1-2 fish - maybe a set of Banghi cardinal fish or two clowns and maybe a shrimp and the obligatory clean up crew. This tank probably won't be built for a couple of years, but I want to get up to speed on the latest advents in this hobby an potentially pick up the equipment when it comes up for a good price. Any thoughts? Dave P.S. I have to get 22 more posts before I can start to post on the classified! I have stuff left over from my larger tanks.

Hi Dave, What pictures do you want to see? I looked at the classified section and I need 25 posts before I can post anything there. I don't think that I can sell things here. As soon as I have enough posts, this is the sort of stuff I'll be posting: 5 – 2ft VHO bulbs – new 1 – New IceCap 430 Ballast 1 – 2’ lighting fixture with used VHO bulbs and icecap ballast (bulbs have less than 6 months on them) 8 - T12 - VHO sealed end caps 1 – Precision Marine HOT 1 skimmer 1 – CPR backpack skimmer with overflow box, etc. 1 – New 250W EboJager tank heater 1 – Slightly (very slightly) used 250W EboJager tank heater 2 - slightly used 100W Ebo Jager heaters ~33 lbs or fine aragonite sand – used for sand bed (in a sealed bucket – it is clean) ~26 lbs of ~3 mm aragonite sand – used for sand bed an calcium reactor (in a sealed bucket – it is clean) 1 – New Ph reader with new probe (but it may be dried out – I didn’t check) And a bunch of little stuff like Ph readers (the probes are probably bad), temperature readers, fish nets, air line tubing, 5 gallon buckets, etc. etc. I also have a food grade safe 33 gallon garbage can with a 5 stage RO-DI unit that I used for mixing my salt water. I threw out all of the filters and cleaned it all up before putting it away. This is clean. As soon as I get 25 posts, I'll start posting these. I'm going to start to take pics tonight. Or...are you talking about the All In One tank? I can probably take pictures of the lighting. I am going to have to rework the lighting. I originally bought these X10 modules to turn on/off the lights and moon lights, etc. but that never really worked out. I think I will have three cords coming out of my ballast box now, one for the moon lights, one for the HQI bulb, and one for the actinic CF's. It shouldn't be too hard to punch the holes in the ballast box and run the new cables. Currently, I only have one cable going in. Please let me know what pics you are interested in. Dave

Howdy, Thanks for the link to the classified forums. I didn't see classified because I didn't go to the bottom of the page. I'll start to post stuff. I started a 16 gallon (+4 gallon refugium + sump on the back) tank. I need to finish the divider wall and stand. I have the lights done. It should be pretty cool when done...but that may be years down the road. I really want to have a small reef tank that is easy to maintain but shows some beautiful corals and small clams. Dave

Howdy, I used to have a salt water aquarium about 10 years ago. Due to a move, family obligations, work obligations, etc., I never reset up my tank. I gave away my main tank to a teacher in Albany and I'm afraid that it was above his head on how to take care of it. I have a ton of equipment that was left over from my aquarium days. I cannot see that I will set up an aquarium for at least another 3-5 years and I'll just set up a small tank (like 20 gallons) if I start in this hobby again. What do people do with their old equipment? I have some nice stuff - like IceCap ballasts, brand new VHO bulbs, BackPak skimmer, Precision Marine HOT1 skimmer, new 100W EboJager heaters, food grade 33 gallon can with a Spectrapure 5 stage RO-DI (no filters), aragonite sand, etc. etc. I really don't want to sell it on eBay nor on Craigslist. I will be keeping a little bit that is better sized for a 16 gallon All-in-One tank I started, but am interested in finding a home for the majority of the stuff. How does someone find a home for this stuff in the day of Covid? Dave