not gonna lie, im a noob and i need help!

i started with a 29 with the corralife 2-65 pc and had no problems i kept a clam and lps.

 

im just here to say i keep over 12 bubble tips in under what you are trying to do
i think what you want to do is possible
just start very slow
dont add much at once
by the time you are fully addicted you will steal the money for a bigger tank and light

 

just to add to what njdevilsfan wrote.... You left off the part how you started with just ONE bubbletip, and you forgot to mention the other 10+ you traded in to the fish house, haha.(fish house=LFS in TX)

 

wow, thanks for all the help everyone, this doesn't seem so daunting anymore.. one thing that I'm still kinda grey on though. if I have a good amount (20 lbs or so) of healthy LR I dont really need any external filtration? just some power heads to provide circulation?

 

Yes, you are correct. About 1 lb/g will give you adequate natural filtration. With added fish and heavy bio-load, some may suggest a protein skimmer--but for a small tank <20g that's probably not necessary. I got a great deal on my light from a company called "inside sun". They sell MH systems if your interested in BRIGHT (8)) light.

 

To 3Reef!!! ​

Salutations! Glad to see you found way here! ;D

Ask a question and you will often get lots of answers, esp about light, as we have all experienced success with it at different levels, depending on what we were keeping.

Fish are not really an issue. If you are just going to keep soft corals, you can get by with little. I have about 2 wats per gallon in my Nano (1 24w 50/50) and kenya trees, finger leather, zoa's are doing great. Even have a couple small BTA's (not recommended) - living in there as well. Not really thriving, but living.

As long as you are not going to be getting into sps right away, experiment a little...

Good Luck...

Scott

​

The Tao of Marine Aquaria
Tips for Our Hobby and Life

© 1997 Adam H. Whitlock
Edited By Elizabeth M. Lukan 11/25/00 ​

 

wow i checked out that inside sun site and a 175w MH system is only $90.. that i might consider... but, was it kinda ghetto and you had to rig some stuff or is it a nice set up?

 

Well, it IS cheap--so don't expect it to be as nice as the ~199$ Odyssea MH, PC, and moonlight strip combo thingy. I was considering that, but if you custom build your hood/canopy lighting housing, you can't go wrong with these aquarium lights! You plug the ballast in, and screw the bulb in--no other assembly required as with some other 'retro' kits. Only possible problem is the cheap bulb it comes with--it has served me well so far, but some enthusiasts may wish to upgrade for 50-80$ extra. I still have no other opinions of the stock bulb, but my own experience leads me to believe that it's o.k. to start with. Here is the housing I made which cost around 30$ made of pine (it's not quite done yet..)



Oh and here is a link to a pic of the top. 2 bolts with a few nuts for spacing and security hold the reflector + light. And a closeup of my Kenya Tree coral after using the light for a couple weeks.