My 20 Gallon Long Setup, 11 weeks old

Well, first off, I would like to thank everyone here for all the info I've been able to gather from these forums. You all have provided great insight into this hobby (obsession). I first posted pics in the say "Hi" area a while back. This tank was born on March 18, 2008. It's on my desk at work. I started with cured Tonga live rock. No fish for a month, but did have some hitchhiking zoas and macro. First came two false percula clowns, then two weeks later I added one coral beauty angel, and last week I added a firefish. In hindsight I should have added the firefish first, since he did take a little bit of a beating from the clowns, but they are now fine with no more aggression. The Fire fish has a nice hole to dart in when he feels threatened. There has been no aggression between any of the others in the tank. This is all of the fish I will be adding. My CUC consist of 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 emerald crab, 2 redleg hermits and 4 blueleg hermits. I only plan on putting softies in this tank. I added a minifuge made from an El Cheapo Aquatech HOB filter that was given to me and the lighting is a $10 clamp-on halogen I picked up at K-mart. I have some small pieces of live rock and chaeto in the fuge. The chaeto is growing but I may move up to a better light later. I have noticed that the little bit of brown algae or diatoms that I have on the sides of the tank dropped way off since installing the fuge. I also have a biocube skimmer that actually skims. I have had no cycling in this tank since it was born and my parameters are very stable. Ammonia=0, Nitrites=0, ph 8.3, Salinity 1.023, Hardness 9dhk. Started water changes at 6 weeks. I'm changing about 1 gallon per week using reef crystals. Here are some pics, hope you like them, and thanks again for all the info. BTW, I have used nothing but RO water in this setup since the tank was started.

 

looks good so far. nice tank

 

What filter/media are u using??? I see you have some type of hang on filter. Also what is the exact name of the protein skimmer you have.

 

looks great

 

Looks awesome... A 20 Long will most likely be my next tank...

 

Sorry I haven't replied, busy with my end of summer stuff here at home. Tundraburg, I'm using a Bio Cube Protein Skimmer. Supposed to be good for tanks up to 29 gallons. I'm also using a HOB Whisper 30 with regular carbon filters. I also have the Aquatech HOB filter converted to a refugium(I trimmed the blades on the impeller and installed a dimmer switch between the refugium power cord and the power strip). This helps me regulate the amount of flow to the fuge. I've added a few softies and will be upgrading my lighting for the tank next month. Everything is still alive so I must be doing something right. I'll try to add some new pics soon. Thanx for the commnets guys.

 

Tank looks ..... Amazing.... I really love your setup as mine as well will be this soon. I am goin to do a 20 gallon long with hob filter and hob refugium made out of hob filter. great idea for the dimmer as a controller for the fuge. K++

 

awesome. Looks great!

 

Wow really nice tank. K+

 

wow thats really cool man well done K+