My 15 gal

[skylsdale]

Okay, I figured I would post a couple pics of the 15 gal I have up and running. It was started over a month ago when someone I knew was breaking down a larger system, and I offered to take a few of their fish and some rock. I traded a bunch of the rock with a local reefer for some frags (just took a few initially, will get more later). It started out BB with a decent amount of rock...but I really wasn't happy with it, so a couple days ago I removed most of the rock and created a much more open layout (I prefer this visually over a tank crammed full with rock). This really opened things up for flow. I also added a thin layer of silica sand, which has added a nice reflective surface and brightened things up (I was actually surprised how much brighter the tank became after adding it).

Lighting is a 96 watt Coralife Aqualight and flow is provided by an Aquaclear 500 and a random powerhead to mix things up a bit. Inhabitants are:

4 Chromis viridis
1 Amblyglyphidodon sp.
1 Lysmata amboinensis

 

[Anonymous]

I dig it. Love the chromis.

What kind of light is that? Is there a sump under that?

 

[skylsdale]

The light is a 96 watt Coralife Aqualight...which I'm not all that keen on (loud, a pain to have to move all the time, etc.) but it was all I had on hand and I don't have the funds for a MH setup, so it will have to work.

There isn't a sump, nor any plans for one. I WISH there was one, though, because I would hook up an MR-1 skimmer that I'm not using on anything else. I'm thinking of trying a Current Fission skimmer in the reservoir of the AC500, but I've heard quite a few bad reviews regarding micro bubbles from them, so I'm not quite sold. If that idea bombs, I'll probably add a small light over it and grow cheato.

 

[Anonymous]

The light is a 96 watt Coralife Aqualight...which I'm not all that keen on (loud, a pain to have to move all the time, etc.) but it was all I had on hand and I don't have the funds for a MH setup, so it will have to work.

There isn't a sump, nor any plans for one. I WISH there was one, though, because I would hook up an MR-1 skimmer that I'm not using on anything else. I'm thinking of trying a Current Fission skimmer in the reservoir of the AC500, but I've heard quite a few bad reviews regarding micro bubbles from them, so I'm not quite sold. If that idea bombs, I'll probably add a small light over it and grow cheato.

So it's just a power head? I don't see any other filter on there.

Just wondering. I'm trying to absorb as much on small reefs as possible because I just set up a 10 gallon and now I have my sights set on something I can put on my desk at work. (No disrespect to fresh water lovers, but a beta in a bowl just doesn't blow up my skirt like a mini reef)

Thanks

 

[skylsdale]

There is a hang-on-back powerfilter (Aquaclear 500). Inside that I have a 50 watt Tronic heater and the probe for my pH meter. I took out everything that the filter came with (sponge, grate, etc.) and keep it wide open and empty. It gives a bit more water volume and works well at keeping things like the heater out of the main tank. It also provides most of the water movement. In addition to that is a single powerhead that helps add some water flow, and get rid of dead spots in the water column.

 

[kennyfish]

Thats pretty neet skylsdale. I have a similar setup in a 20g / 65w Coralife pc light / striped down hob penguin 330 / 100w heater . I have had mine running since December and added the fish in late January.

I hope I can learn about maintaining my tank from watching how your develops over the summer.

 

[garvondavis14]

any updates?

 

[saltman123]

How is this fish tank doing? I want to set something up extremely similar. So you just run an Aqua Clear 500 as your filter????

 

[skylsdale]

Sorry for the lack of reply, guys...but Reefs.org always logs me out and for some reason I wasn't getting any sort of e-mail notification when people replied.

This tank is no longer up and running in the 15 gal. I actually moved everything over to a 55 gal to give the chromis some more swimming space. However, I had a "user malfunction" on the 55 and forgot to secure the return line from a closed-loop type configuration I had put on it...and it drained almost completely onto the floor. I didn't find out about it until I got home later that day, but luckily there was still a few inches of water at the bottom of the tank and everything was fine (except for one of the chromis, which managed to jump up onto an exposed piece of LR and couldn't make it back into the water). Everything is currently holding out in a 10 gal as I rip out the soaked carpet and work on getting some new stuff layed down:

Still just using an AC500, but today added a carbon bag and some ceramic media (while cleaning out the room that flooded, I found the original box and forgot those things had come with it...so I threw them in).