What I should put in this Filter?

[Alastar]

I have a small 10 Gallon tank that I set up a couple days ago, yesterday I threw in 20LBS of LS, and about 5 LbS LR. I have a modified Aqauclear 70 as the filter and I was wondering what I should put in the slot on the side.

I was thinking one of those Fluval Polishing Pads or what's a good recommendation to put there?

 

[Jzhou]

it depends on what you intend on keeping

 

[Alastar]

I intend to keep a couple fish, 2 damsels and an dwarf angel(coral beauty) to be specific, for a couple months, but I ultimately want to keep some soft corals, zoanthids, xenia, or some montipora. Still got months of research to do before I even put any corals in anyway :]

 

[Mattl22]

R u planning to run carbon and gfo in that along with rock?

 

[Alastar]

I suppose one of those carbon pads and stick it on the side, but I was thinking of have the sponge on the bottom, live rock, then macro algae.

Another configuration maybe, is having a polishing pad in the side slot, then on the bottom have carbon pads, then LR, then macro algae.

Edit: At the moment I'm having it run like that to let it cycle.

 

[Mattl22]

I would ditch the sand just add it to ur display and I would buy nylon media bag and use gfo and carbon on top of ur live rock rubble

 

[Mattl22]

After cycle !!

 

[Alastar]

I'm not going to put any live sand in it anyway, I have 20LBs in my tank and it is a pretty good amount, wouldn't want to take any out.

And no macro algae? I would think having nutrients would benefit the angel and future corals.

Any other inputs?

 

[Jzhou]

I won't keep angels in a 10gallon. Even they pygmies are territorial. From the pic it seems like you are trying to build a fuge. It might not be a bad idea to just use the standard media that is included with the aquaclear i you are just planning on a simple fish only tank. Def do more research before you do anything else with your tank. From your description, your planning is still somewhat scattered.

 

[Alastar]

I know I shouldn't keep an Angel in a 10 but i have the fish i stated in a 5 gal nano, fish only, and last time i returned a fish to my LFS , it just ended up dieing, water quality in my LFS isn't great. If I see the angel struggling, I'd drop it off at manhattan aquariums but its been eating and swimming nicely in that small tank, and doesnt bully the 2 damsel, I even started researching how to grow copepods for them, so they have a constant stream of food, and feed them a variety food. I know my setup for the fish isn't ideal but I swear I keep maintaince and take care of them very well.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I was defending myself there, lol. But, ultimately I do want to make this filter a refuge for a a soft coral and montipora.

 

[Jzhou]

Normally the aquaclear fuge mod is used for tanks that already have some kind o mechanical filtration that traps garbage. Try getting calrpa, since they are easy to grow and most fish tends to love it. One warning i have with that though is that you would want to block off you impeller from the calerpa itself because it can lock up your impeller.

 

[Alastar]

I looked into caulerpa and looks like there are many kinds, but looks like a good choice for fish but I'm also going to look for some macro that will benefit corals.

I was thinking of this setup, a polishing pad on the side, a carbon foam piece at the bottom, then fill it u with LR, then after 2-3 months, polishing pad, chemipure, LR, and macro and just leave it like that. Thouhts?

 

[Jzhou]

Are you sure your Aquaclear has enough room for all of this? from the pic it looks pretty crammed as is. Also, what kind of lighting are you using.

 

[Mattl22]

I would forget about the macro don't think u will be able to grow enough in there with all that other stuff to make a big enough impact on ur nutrients !

 

[Alastar]

The sponge in there is huge, but I don't plan to have it there for long, and there is a about 2-3 inches left of free space right now. But if I can't fit it I'll probably take out some lr to make room. I'm using 24inch nova extreme t5ho, and I'm gonna get a clip on led for the aqua clear refuge.

Just read url post Matt, what do u think I should put instead of macro?

 

[Jzhou]

I think one of the big issues here is that its still hard to know exactly what he wants to do. For a tank that size, doing weekly water changes is much more beneficial than growing macro algae. The other issues is that refugiums are meant to be more of a supplemental filtration system.

 

[Alastar]

Hmm, well I want to use the aqua clear for little filtration, but want to point most of its use in providing supplements to soft corals. I think that is the best choice for me, considring corals are harder to maintain.

And sorry for incomplete thoughts, typing on phone here at work lol..

 

[Jzhou]

I think you may be confused with something. Macro algae doesn't really offer any nutrients to the tank. They are mostly used to compete with other algae for nitrate and phosphate. When macro algae is grown in a sump, its a great place for pods to grow. A lot of people actually have issues growing Macro algaes in their tanks because of low nutrient levels. Its probably best for you to stick with the go idea that was mentioned earlier.

 

[rambler67]

Just a thought if you really want to put macro algae in get a second aqua clear and use it for just the macro they are pretty cheap anyways.

 

[guri]

bad choice for fish damselfish adults are solitary fish and very aggressive especially with each other they need at least 2sq/f so they defend that space coral beauty is also very aggressive fish.What about filter i would add only sponges no charcoal and would use nutrafin cycle or some other beneficial bacteria stuff good luck