I have a small 20gallon reef that I don't use a skimmer on.
I do a 5 gallon water change each week.....before syphoning the water out I put a filter pad over the outlet of the Aquaclear 70 HOB I use as a refugium......blow everything off really well with one of the powerheads so that there's a good amount of "dirts" blowing around...let the HOB suck that all out, syphon out the water and refill with fresh clean.....let the filter pad stay in the fuge until the dust clears...then remove it, rinse it off and set it aside until next week.
This has been working very well for me so far...and I havn't had to spend the money on a protein skimmer.
I purchased the Aquaclear HOB used from a forum member here for a VERY decent price....Thank you very much GK
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I have about 20lbs of partially cured LR which cost me about 90 some odd $ and I was given some LS from a friend with a well established 90gallon reef to get me started.
There are ways of doing sw FOWLR/Reefs on a budget.....check out Bigalsonline.com for some prices on marine salts...I use Instant Ocean which can be had for about 9$ + shipping from that site (for a 50gallon size bag) Be creative and look around for deals and check out the classified for used equiptment.
Good luck, have fun !!
I do a 5 gallon water change each week.....before syphoning the water out I put a filter pad over the outlet of the Aquaclear 70 HOB I use as a refugium......blow everything off really well with one of the powerheads so that there's a good amount of "dirts" blowing around...let the HOB suck that all out, syphon out the water and refill with fresh clean.....let the filter pad stay in the fuge until the dust clears...then remove it, rinse it off and set it aside until next week.
This has been working very well for me so far...and I havn't had to spend the money on a protein skimmer.
I purchased the Aquaclear HOB used from a forum member here for a VERY decent price....Thank you very much GK
.....I have about 20lbs of partially cured LR which cost me about 90 some odd $ and I was given some LS from a friend with a well established 90gallon reef to get me started.
There are ways of doing sw FOWLR/Reefs on a budget.....check out Bigalsonline.com for some prices on marine salts...I use Instant Ocean which can be had for about 9$ + shipping from that site (for a 50gallon size bag) Be creative and look around for deals and check out the classified for used equiptment.
Good luck, have fun !!
