Breeding 15G tank with UAS

[President89]

Hi,

I want to build a 15g breeding tank for a pair of clowns. I am going to use a UAS to remove nitrates. Since this is FO, with a clay pot and or tile, can I get away with just the UAS, Heater, and a light? Another option would be to put a HOB filter to store the bacteria for converting ammonia ->nitrite ->nitrate. I want to limit the ongoing cost of the build. Live rock and a refugium requires a powerhead and strong light which are costly, as is a sump with a return pump. The other good feature of the HOB filter is the oxygen it puts into the water.

Thoughts?

[SantaMonica]

Probably wise to have some sand on the bottom for bacterial filtration. And you'd want 2 UAS scrubbers... clean one each week.

[President89]

That sounds like the only downfall of a scrubber with 1 screen as opposed to a refugium. Once you clean the screen, you have no nitrate reducer. With a refugium, you should always leave some chaeto in there. Is that about right?

[SantaMonica]

Right.

[kotlec]

I clean half of screen.

Dont know if it really helps but my P rarely was above 0.03 and N above 4.

[Ace25]

I think the route I would go in this instance would be to use the HOB filter and just put a small mesh bag of bio-pellets in it, maybe a teaspoon worth of pellets, not much. Also a 1/2" layer of sand for bacteria like Santa Monica stated. I really don't see a need to add the complexity of a scrubber on a 15G breeding tank for 2 clownfish. It isn't that messy of a tank. Now when you get to raising clown fry, that is a different story, those are very dirty tanks where a scrubber would help out a lot.

[President89]

I think the route I would go in this instance would be to use the HOB filter and just put a small mesh bag of bio-pellets in it, maybe a teaspoon worth of pellets, not much. Also a 1/2" layer of sand for bacteria like Santa Monica stated. I really don't see a need to add the complexity of a scrubber on a 15G breeding tank for 2 clownfish. It isn't that messy of a tank. Now when you get to raising clown fry, that is a different story, those are very dirty tanks where a scrubber would help out a lot.

I have done a HOB filter without some sort of nitrate remover before... and I had to do constant water changes. What you propose will not eliminate nitrates, correct?

[Ace25]

Nitrates are the primary thing bio-pellets remove (in a round about way). ;) You would still need to do water changes, but that is going to be the case no matter what filtration you use due to the small volume of water you are working with. I just think using algae to filter the water on that small of a tank would create more of a mess and hassle than it is worth, but that is just my opinion, yours may differ. In my scenerio you would be using bacteria to clean the water instead of algae.

[President89]

My old setup were 4 10 gallon tanks FO with a HOB filter. I used to have to do frequent water changes to keep the nitrates down. That starts becoming a hassle because you really have to watch the temp of the water you are replacing due to the small volume of water in the tank.

I want to keep the small size tanks, but reduce the need for water changes. I thought that is where a UAS would come in.

To use biopellets, don't I need a reactor? Wouldn't that be sort of expensive for a 10G tank?

[SantaMonica]

If your UAS is strong enough, you won't have any nitrate, and won't need waterchanges.