RadReefer
Non-member
A few months ago I decided that I wanted to set up a new tank inhabited by something other than the typical coral reef style tank. I mulled over the idea of butterfly fish and softies, strictly an anemone dedicated system, or a macro algae and seahorse tank. I narrowed it down to the macros seeing that they are fairly inexpensive, I won't need to heat the tank as much as a reef, I won't need a skimmer, and I won't need to supplement or run tests as much if at all. All of the equipment I am using was all leftover or extra, aside from the overflow. I had the 46 gallon tank and stand all cleaned up and stored in the basement collecting dust. I had the tank drilled and installed a glass-holes overflow leading to a 29 gallon sump. I am using 2 koralia 1050 power heads for flow set up in a gyre fashion. The tank is being heated by a Fluval E300 heater and will be kept at 74 degrees. I do not plan on using a protein skimmer at all and will rely on filter socks as my only means of mechanical filtration. Filtration will be performed by the live rock, macro algae, and by water changes. For lighting, my old aquatinics 36" T5 which I grew SPS under nicely. Coincidently, my brother broke down his tank at the same time and donated his live rock to me. He had previously obtained the rock from live aquaria, he bought show piece size rock. There are 4 rocks total in the tank. The largest weighs 30 pounds, all totaling about 60 pounds. Total water volume is about 60 gallons I estimate.
