Hello all, I am a new user, but not new to the reef scene. I am simply wondeing if anyone can give me a bit of advice? On every other tank I have had, I have had a skimmer and the tanks have done pretty well, especially the previous 5 gallon nano I had. I am attempting to go the natural route and have setup a tank with the following specs:
10gallon all glass aquarium
11 lbs of live rock from LFS
5 lbs of live sand from LFS
5 lbs of carib sea argonite medium
1 powerhead(aquatic life or something of that nature but it states 200gph)
1 marineland stealth 50 submersible heater set to 79 degrees
3 blue legged hermit crabs
2 snails(I cannot remember the type)
Instant Ocean Sea salt with specific gravity of 1.024
Corallife Aqualight 96W Quad on for 13hrs a day
Using Kent Marine Bare Bones R/O w/deionization cart which leaves a TDS of zero when measured.
The question that I have is should I just use a powerfilter such as an Aquaclear 20 with only the sponge and carbon or go back to the mechanical means of foam refraction/skimming. I am getting a little bit of hair algea, though the hermits are working pretty diligently. The tank as of today has only been setup for a week, so I know that with the cycling, there are going to be ups and downs, but my thought was that with the amount of live rock and sand along with the r/o water that I shouldn't have a problem with any type of algea, even with the extended photoperiod. I am wondering which I should do.
As I mentioned, I have always had a skimmer even on a small tank, and the last was a prism. I at that time dosed with Seachem Reef Builder, Reef Advantage Calcium and also if I remember reef complete. I did have explosive coraline growth dosing, but I am trying to go the less is more route this time and go natural. I also previously have always run plenum's and this tank is simply a gravel bed instead.
The ultimate goal is to do some SPS with the amount of light that I have on the tank since it equates out to 9.6 w/gal with this light, but I need to first of course let the tank cycle which I know. I do not have my test kits any longer(they were victims of my divorce), so I am not sure where the cycle status is. I also may simply take a water sample to the local store and have them test it for me, though it may be cheaper of course in the longrun to simply once again purchase tests and do them myself. Anyhow, on this small of a tank, should I go with a skimmer or just do the powerfilter with the carbon for polishing and the sponge for mechanical? I also am wondering if you all think it's worth it to dose once again. I will only do this if I am skimming because even thtough mfg's say they do not have other trace elements, there always could be something to throw off the balance and cause a huge algea problem.
Also, because I am getting a bit of hair algea, I am wondering what salt do you all use, since I am pretty sure with the TDS reading of 0 the water doesn't have anything in it, so that leaves me with the salt mixture though I have always used Instant Ocean salt, vur rhwn Fin, in the beginning I never have run this much light on a tank either.
Well, any help is most appreciated.
Damon
10gallon all glass aquarium
11 lbs of live rock from LFS
5 lbs of live sand from LFS
5 lbs of carib sea argonite medium
1 powerhead(aquatic life or something of that nature but it states 200gph)
1 marineland stealth 50 submersible heater set to 79 degrees
3 blue legged hermit crabs
2 snails(I cannot remember the type)
Instant Ocean Sea salt with specific gravity of 1.024
Corallife Aqualight 96W Quad on for 13hrs a day
Using Kent Marine Bare Bones R/O w/deionization cart which leaves a TDS of zero when measured.
The question that I have is should I just use a powerfilter such as an Aquaclear 20 with only the sponge and carbon or go back to the mechanical means of foam refraction/skimming. I am getting a little bit of hair algea, though the hermits are working pretty diligently. The tank as of today has only been setup for a week, so I know that with the cycling, there are going to be ups and downs, but my thought was that with the amount of live rock and sand along with the r/o water that I shouldn't have a problem with any type of algea, even with the extended photoperiod. I am wondering which I should do.
As I mentioned, I have always had a skimmer even on a small tank, and the last was a prism. I at that time dosed with Seachem Reef Builder, Reef Advantage Calcium and also if I remember reef complete. I did have explosive coraline growth dosing, but I am trying to go the less is more route this time and go natural. I also previously have always run plenum's and this tank is simply a gravel bed instead.
The ultimate goal is to do some SPS with the amount of light that I have on the tank since it equates out to 9.6 w/gal with this light, but I need to first of course let the tank cycle which I know. I do not have my test kits any longer(they were victims of my divorce), so I am not sure where the cycle status is. I also may simply take a water sample to the local store and have them test it for me, though it may be cheaper of course in the longrun to simply once again purchase tests and do them myself. Anyhow, on this small of a tank, should I go with a skimmer or just do the powerfilter with the carbon for polishing and the sponge for mechanical? I also am wondering if you all think it's worth it to dose once again. I will only do this if I am skimming because even thtough mfg's say they do not have other trace elements, there always could be something to throw off the balance and cause a huge algea problem.
Also, because I am getting a bit of hair algea, I am wondering what salt do you all use, since I am pretty sure with the TDS reading of 0 the water doesn't have anything in it, so that leaves me with the salt mixture though I have always used Instant Ocean salt, vur rhwn Fin, in the beginning I never have run this much light on a tank either.
Well, any help is most appreciated.
Damon
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