Advise on 15 gal. tank setup.

[USMC81]

Need some advise on a 15 gal. setup. All livestock will come from existing tank that has been up and running for 2 1/2 years.

Here is my equipment list:
15g Tank
(2) 55W PC (Retrofitted into the custom hood hung 2" above tank)
4" to 5" live sand from existing tank
(2) Maxiet 400 powerheads on wave maker power strip
Tetratec power filter with media removed and filled with small pieces of live rock.
20 to 30 lbs of live rock from existing tank.

Here is my livestock:

2 Chromis damsels
1 peppermint shrimp
2 Turbo snails
Mushrooms (including Ricordea yuma)
Xenia
Leather coral
Cabbage leather
Zooanthids
Pagoda Cup Coral

All other corals will be traded into lfs for store credit.

Plan on adding B-Ionic. Water changes twice a month

 

[UnderGrad]

Are you sure about the damsels? 8O I predict that they'll be a PITA to catch in your other tank unless you plan on taking it down.
Your tank setup sounds good. I think you could get away with just one 55w PC instead of two according to the corals you plan to keep if you want to save a buck or two on electricity each month. What made you decide to go skimmerless?
Post some pics when you get it going!

-AM-

 

[USMC81]

I will be taking down a larger tank. So the damsels will be no problem to catch. The lighting is an existing retrofit that is a double 55 watt. As far as going skimmerless-the skimmer that i have is for a sump. I will not have a sump. I'll just increase the water changes per month to help. I will post pics as soon as I get it running. Thanks for your input undergrad.

 

[USMC81]

Does anyone else have any advise on this tank?

 

[fishfanatic2]

Not necessarily. It will be a lot easier without anything in the tank, but they are FAST lil'l buggers!

 

[Bleeding Blue]

The only advice I can think of is that you might want to start with new sand. If you have the time to have both tanks running at the same time for a little while, you could seed the new sand with the old and avoid all of the supposed problems of DSB failure. However, I am not completelly sure (nor is anyone on this board, which is why there is such controversy) that DSB failure is inevetable. It is just something to consider.

M

 

[USMC81]

I really don't have the time to keep both tanks running at the same time. So I guess that I will start out with new sand and seed it with small amount of existing sand. Thanks to all who responded to this thread.