Amp's 25g Cube Seagrass build REDUX

The 9002's work really good for their size/price. My LFS has one running on a RSM and its doing great. The only complaint I have heard is that the skimmer cup is too small but I believe a inTank.com sells a larger custom cup.

After a fair bit of research and checking out quite a few skimmers at MACNA, I really like the SWC 120 cone skimmer. It has a very small footprint, is very quiet and gets great reviews. Price is around $225 so a bit more than the Tunze but can also handle a larger load. HTH.
 
I saw the SWC skimmer and it came highly recommended. The downside is that it is a bit taller than what I can accommodate. The whole stand and sump were custom designed and built by me with being skimmerless in mind. I had zero plans to actually include one and I still may not. I may just look into some mechanical filtration, though I think a skimmer would prove to be more beneficial on the whole compared to plain mechanical filtration. If I do get one, I may experiment with it being off for a period of time, say, at night.
 
Well, no skimmer and very few changes made. I suppose the only one worth mentioning is the fact that I added one of my modded Tunze 6025s. I noticed that even with the Vortech MP40 at almost full output was beginning to not be enough. At least not random enough for me. I basically have the Vortech on 100% in short pulse mode, making wave energy, while the Tunze is on all the time. Not too bad. I'm hoping it will help cleanse the leaves a bit. I haven't kept track of it so much, since it is hard to quantify, but I'm getting short bursts of 3000gph with the Vortech and ~1500gph with the Tunze. That's fairly hefty for a 25g with nothing but seagrass and a few corals. It seems necessary so far, IMHO, though.
 
No, no pics. I'm actually embarrassed to display it at the moment, since the grass has done a fine job in generating tons of detritus. Colonial hydroids have grown on many leaf surfaces and caused the leaves to trap said detritus, which, as you may well guess, leads to cyanobacterial and other epiphytic growth. So, to make a long story short, while the grass is alive and growing, it looks terrible.
 
Well, adding the extra water motion seems to have helped things out dramatically in terms of cosmetics. The grasses seem healthier and perkier than they were previously. At the very least, they aren't covered with detritus and/or cyanobacteria quite like they were. Aiptasia are still a fairly severe ongoing issue, though. That will be the next one to be addressed--maybe another bristle-tailed filefish...

Anyway, here are some pics of how things are looking at the moment. The water is always slightly hazy due to the amount of particulates in this display, which is one reason pests do so well. Let me know what you guys think of the tank as it matures.

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wow, your clowns are so orangeeeeeee lol I wish I had some beautiful specimens like that but my pink skunk clowns won't let me :-P
 
The large female is a wild-caught specimen I've had for a good long while. The tank-raised smaller male isn't quite as vibrant, but not bad nonetheless.

On another note, a small update. I managed to get a new fan to go on the tank. This time, it is a pedestal fan instead of a box fan, which allows for positioning and a much more efficient job with about 1/4 of the noise, or less. It also dropped the mean temp down to 82 degrees from about 86-87 F--one big reason my bright pink Pocillopora decided to turn a pretty brown for me.
 
One last note I've just realized is that the tank is now officially 6 months old. It feels like a year already, but the progress has been substantial in a very short period of time.
 
So, I've been thinking about things to do to minimize epiphytic growth on my grasses. I think I may finally start using an algal scrubber again, though I don't think it will be in-sump. I may opt for the classic bucket method, except with a more appealing container. I may even build a cabinet around it. This is all assuming that space constraints allow for it. I may also have to do away with the pedestal fan I'm using and break down and buy a nicer, quiet fan, like the Tunze ones. I may have to be forced to use the sump due to issues like keeping the few bits of macroalgae in there alive, though. Heat from a second set of lamps is also a concern. It's something I'm going to have to think about. I think if I scale everything from my previous scrubber down, it may be the most manageable form I can get given all circumstances.
 
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