Research Stage - 15 Gallon Salt Mini-Reef

Clurin

Clurin

Melf
Sep 14, 2005
157
0
0
44
Maynard, MA
Hey, guys. I have a 15 Gallon High (20" x 10" x 18") that I am considering migrating to a min-reef setup. I have never setup a SW tank before, so I am trying to research all the variables I can before making my final decision.

First, the equipment:

I am thinking of a 20" 96W Aqualight (Power-Compact) for lighting.

The tank (currently FW) has a Penguin 150 HOB filter, but I also have an Emperor 280 HOB laying around that I could use.

I figure one of these Aquaclear 120GPH Powerheads would also be a necessary addition.

Any other equipment I should consider? Which of the HOBs should I go with?

Now, for contents:

The tank currently houses African Cichlids (shellies) and has Carib Sea Echo-Complete Cichlid Sand as a substrate. Can I use this (after washing) for SW?

I plan on somewhere between 15-20 pounds of live rock, 15 or so Blue Leg Hermit Crabs, 12 or so Turbo Snails, and 2 fish (not sure which yet, maybe a Percula Clown and some kind of jawfish?). I'd like to do soft corals (yellow polyps, star polyps, mushrooms, etc).

Any problems so far? What is the process I should go through to set this tank up? Anything else I need to know?

PS - I would love to go bigger, but this is the tank I have available, and the only free space I have, so unfortunately, I don't have the option.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies. =)
 
Last edited:
sounds okay except you can't use the sand you have, get a couple bags of Carib-sea aragonite sand for substrate. If you want a jawfish they will need a good sand bed to tunnel in. I would go with a good 20-25lbs of live rock and the powerhead sounds good, that should be all the filtration you need. You will need to do weekly water changes of about 10% as you won't be skimming, the lighting sounds good enough for softies, and a Aquaclear 1100 if it provides about 30x turnover you should be okay. A clown and jawfish would be all the fish you could handle in that size tank.....good luck and welcome to the salty side
 
Ok, I was just kinda hoping the sand would work since it buffers PH, but if I need to replace, I need to replace. Out of curiosity, why wouldn't it work? I'm guessing it may add nutrients that are not good for SW? :)

I'm not set on either fish, really, and I know in a 15 that 2 fish is just about the max capacity (which is okay, since I really like watching hermit crabs!). Any other fish you recommend in this size?

So I'm looking for 30x turnover of water per hour? So, 450 GPH. Is that in the filter alone, or with the filter AND powerhead(s)? The 280 gets me 280GPH, and the PH gets me 120, so I'm still about 50GPH shy. Maybe go to the next size PH?

Yeah, I figured I'd be doing roughly 10% weekly changes, so I'm prepared for that part.
 
This article should help. Add more powerheads if you dont have enough flow, they will help eliminate dead flow spots so you only end up with detrius piling up in one place.
 
The flow is important also to discourage algae growth. It should come from another source other than the filter alone. The filter you have is basically just for water movement as you will remove any filter media from it as you will use the live rock as your filter along with the sand bed. I wouldn't reuse the sand from the fw as it may contaminate your new set up. Though I am not sure if you were to sterilize it if it would work.....I would leave that up to some that are more knowledgeable on that point. Any small nano fish would be great, firefish, gobies, royal gramma *great colour* even maybe a blenny, anthing that stays small and isn't terratorial. I would steer far clear of any damsels as they are mean buggers unless that is all you are having. I personally just added a Wheeler's Gobie with his tiger pistol shrimp companion to my 20. They are a very interesting pair....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom