new everything please help brandon429

[kimichan]

that's it. i'm hooked. (i hope you appreciate my fish humor) anyways, i got a couple more fish, and i am sick of this ten gallon divided in half b.s. so, i am getting an eclipse system 12. here's the deal. i can rig up the 2x28 kit just fine under the hood, because bleeding blue showed me how. I may even get a 13 watt pc just to make sure i have enough light. the thing is this: the system isn't gutted yet, and there'll still be some kind of filtration in it. I want more fish, in fact, i'll probably have too many, but to be more precise, i have 2 percula, a mandarin, and a $4 bling bling damsel. i'll probably get another damsel, and maybe 1 or 2 other specimens. i figure around 6 or 7 fish before i'm satisfied. i have around 10 lbs live rock now, and i think i'll have 20 for the 12 gal. my question is this: for 12 gallons, do i need a skimmer for this many fish, or can I rig something like bioballs (which i don't know anything about, i've only heard of them) inside of the already existing eclipse filter (which i haven't actually seen yet) I'll have the maxi jet 1200, and a rio 600 (which i'm not sure i need or want to use,) and I won't have a deep sand bed. (I can't stand that algae infested look in front of the tank. I like to look at it because it's interesting, but it's just plain ugly). what do you think guys. the one nice thing about my tank now is that there is no internal plumbing. I can hide the powerheads inside of the rock, but a skimmer just may screw up the whole "eclipse" theme i'm shooting for. bleeding blue has a sick setup, but i don't want all that plumbing on the outside. i don't mind doing water changes, but i would like to do them every 20-30 days or so. i know my standards may be just a bit too high for what i'm dealing with, but i just want to know if it can be done. let me know with an open mind please. and check out these sick pics

 

[Len]

I would really encourage you to refrain from adding more fish. 2 percs, a damsel, and a mandarin really is already pushing the limits of feasibility. Remember: the more fish you put in there, the more ugly algae you're gonna have. Also, two damsels may likely not get along.

Mandarin isn't a great idea for a nano, but if yours feeds on flake or frozen food (very few do), you're in decent shape. Otherwise, they'll inevitably starve to death.

 

[Len]

Hehe .... didn't realize this was a double post. Sorry if my comment was redundant.