[mestupidcat]

Hi all.

I'm setting up a 20 gallon: LS/LR/eel/possibly soft corals..

This would've been a temporary home for my 1.5" maroon clown, but my husband wants to put his eel in there since his striped cat shark just hatched.

Anywho, I want to make this tank as suitable as can be for this eel; I'm not sure how long he'll be in this tank..

I moved the rocks around to make small caves. Should I look for a small power head or will the filter and skimmer be good enough?

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This weekend I plan on going to LFS for a skimmer and possibly a new fluorescent bulb and filter for the 20 gallon. Any suggestions on brands/sizes? I was considering the Fission Nano skimmer.

Also, I was gonna pick up my husband a new power head for his 55 gallon. Any suggestions on that, folks? His 55 has LR/LS, polyps and xenia.


Here's the 20 gallon; sorry so fuzzy. Just moved rocks and used a cell phone camera.
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Here's the eel's head; we don't often see much more than that.

Thanks, everyone!

Happy fish keeping!

[rlcline76]

Hey MSC,
I might be able to shed a little light on the skimmer and maybe someone else here with a small tank could concur. I have a FISSION nano skimmer. It is good for tanks up to 30 gallons. Flow: 84.5 gph.

[mestupidcat]

Yes, I'll probably get one of those fission skimmers for the 20 gallon. I have one in my 5 gallon and I'm VERY satisfied with it. I was mainly wondering about the filter. Right now it has an Aqua-tech (from Wal-Mart), seems to work okay, but if anyone knows of one that will work better for the sake of the livestock, I'll look into it.

But yes, the fission nano skimmer is awesome for small tanks and salt water newbies as well.



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Oh, just saw you're in TX too. *waves* Y'all have nice mountain views in El Paso (only been once, was freezing dry cold in Dec, I think.)

Do you have pictures of your tank/s on here? I bet you've been into SW longer than me, maybe I could get some ideas..

[glampka]

Word of caution with the Fission. Some people swear by them, most swear at them calling them useless & bubbles factories. Check here & other forums for comments. Guess they are tricky when it comes to getting the water level right. I bought 1 used but have yet to use it. The Fission definitely has a price advantage. You might also want to take a look at Bak Pak 2. I have 1 on my 30 & it does a great job. A bit costlier but it's a proven skimmer.

[rlcline76]

I will watch for any nonsense with my skimmer.

[pogodzib]

Can't help you with the skimmer, but the best/most reliable powerhead is the Maxijet 1200.

[glampka]

MJ 1200 IMO is way too much power for a 20 gal. and since it uses 20W, it'll add too much heat to the tank. Smaller MJ would be fine & they draw considerably less.

[Krazy]

Try the MJ-900's over the 1200's..

They use far less wattage

[pogodzib]

Originally Posted by mestupidcat

Also, I was gonna pick up my husband a new power head for his 55 gallon. Any suggestions on that, folks? His 55 has LR/LS, polyps and xenia.

Second part of her question was the best powerhead for a 55 gallon tank. A MJ1200 is by far the best choice.

[mestupidcat]

Thanks everyone. I'll look into the maxi jet powerheads. Haven't done anything else to the 20 gallon; tried adding an Aquaclear 20 powerhead, but apparently I didn't put it together right so it doesn't work. The tube kept falling out so I guess water got inside it. Killed it the day I bought it and my 5 gallon filter too. So now the 5 gallon has the 20 gallon filter and the 20 gallon has a 55 gallon filter (both Aqua-tech/Wal-mart brand).

So, if anyone has any suggestions on best filter that won't die when eating a little sand, please let me know. My husband's killed about 2-3 filters this way and I just killed one.

Is anyone deeply against using Aquatech filters for saltwater setups??

I'm gonna convert my own 55 gallon soon and want to know if this is a horrible idea.

Thanks everyone!!

[Danakor]

Being the resident el cheapo guy that I am I am actually using a Tetra Silent 30-60 gallon hang on back filter for my own filter. I just added Live sand(rather badly tank was cloudy for 4 days and still has a cloud in it) the filter has ran non stop for around 6 months. no problems as of yet. Now this is very close to what you get from Wal-mart in fact if I am not mistaken wal-mart sells this brand. As far as aqua tech I am not sure, but I do know that the esteemed penguin(hold your grumblings) actually makes a brand for wal mart exclusively same parts as their other filters but under a different name and a bit cheaper.

Despite what everyone says the filter was a rather easy job. and thus this is one time when more money doesn't necessarily mean a better job done. more money just means more bells and whistles. Remember you don't gain anything by over filtering.