new tank

[redskins2647]

Had this tank running fishless and sandless for 2 months now ita a 20 aga
pc lighting
biowheel thirty
2 aquaclear 20's
did a 50 percent water change on it and added my regiular ten gallon then acclimated the fish and inverts 2 peppermint shrimp 3 snails 1 hermit
and 1 blue damsel
all readings are great almost perfect just a bit cloudy here are some pictures

[redskins2647]

i meant to add that before all it had was lr so when i added the sand it went crazy hah hopefully it clears up soon and ill take more pics

[redskins2647]

Im an ididot. I was wondering why my tank wasnt clearing at all. looked in my filter to clean the cartridge and there was none i left it out it has only been in 20 minutes already looking better

[redskins2647]

My one and only fish
and fts niether one that great hopefully it clears by the morning

[Grins]

What made you decide to wait to add the sand until after the cycle?

[redskins2647]

I didnt feel like adding sand when i set it up and i just took the sand out of the now empty 10 and put it in there saved 20 bucks because im cheap like that:grinyes:. but now looking at it i wish i hadnt. but ohh well .my water params are all good
ph8.2
amonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate0
sg 1024
so im not complaining. turns out i have a tiny baby mantis in there probably 2mm long found him in my chaeto which im letting grow in my tank tons of pods too.

[Grins]

Did you rinse it first? Looks like maybe not?

[redskins2647]

How does this sound
1 bta when i upgrade my lights
2 false percula
3 green chromis
any suggestions or critisism are appreciated

[redskins2647]

No, i didnt rinse and it dosent help that the has a very fine powder over it dont know how im going to get that out of my water. I think a skimmer is in order for my tank which one do you recommend

[Grins]

How many gallons is it? I'd wait on the anemone for a minimum of 6-12 months.

[redskins2647]

it is a 20 gallon high i already tried the nano fission waste of 40 bucks
and about 2 months ago i had a nem die and i know im waiting at least 4 more months even though i have had my ten running for 4 which made up everything on the 20.Filter, rocks, and sand, and everything but i took ten gallons from my dads fowlr. But yea there is an awesome store called reef cheif and another one animal jungle reef chief sells used seaclone 100's for like 50 bucks. but idk if its two much

[redskins2647]

do you think the 2 false percs and 3 green chromis are pushing it with my filtration i have 21 lbs of lr 15 lbs of sand and a biowheel 150 and an aquaclear 20 powerhead and another small 80 gph powerhead

[redskins2647]

Suggestions or combinations for a 20g high like fish other then my plans reallly open to anything reef safe. I already have 2 peppermint shrimp 1 blue leg hermit and 3 cerith snails. any other shrimp suggestions and or fish really would like any type of clown as like my base fish so give me some suggestions and im nto worried about money
any skimmer reccomendations?

[redskins2647]

Im going to go with a Tunze reefpack 200 if i get a skimmer at all and stocking 2 peppermint shrimp 1 blue leg hermit 3 cerith snails
2 Perculas or 1 clarkii or 1 maroon or 2 black saddlebacks
and 2 chromis
and some sort of goby a small one
any changes

[JohnLin]

overstock in saltwater tank usually doesn't have to do with filtration. More often than not is not enough territories for all the fish. You can try, but I'm just not sure if 20 gallon will be enough for the fish to co-exist peacefully.

[Grins]

it is a 20 gallon high i already tried the nano fission waste of 40 bucks
and about 2 months ago i had a nem die and i know im waiting at least 4 more months even though i have had my ten running for 4 which made up everything on the 20.Filter, rocks, and sand, and everything but i took ten gallons from my dads fowlr. But yea there is an awesome store called reef cheif and another one animal jungle reef chief sells used seaclone 100's for like 50 bucks. but idk if its two much


The 6-12 months is not only for the tank itself to mature but for you to have had a chance to successfully stabilize everything in that environment. And yes, I feel that is too much for the Seaclone.


do you think the 2 false percs and 3 green chromis are pushing it with my filtration i have 21 lbs of lr 15 lbs of sand and a biowheel 150 and an aquaclear 20 powerhead and another small 80 gph powerhead

I agree with what JohnLin has said in the post above.


Suggestions or combinations for a 20g high like fish other then my plans reallly open to anything reef safe. I already have 2 peppermint shrimp 1 blue leg hermit and 3 cerith snails. any other shrimp suggestions and or fish really would like any type of clown as like my base fish so give me some suggestions and im nto worried about money
any skimmer reccomendations?

I see you mentioned a Tunze reepack in a later post and I think it is a good choice. You might enjoy skunk cleaners more than peppermints. The skunks don't tend to hide as much, mine are always out front and will glady clean your hands. The peppermints tend to huddle in their caves until cover of night. On the fish, I'd suggest getting the pair of clowns you want (Ocellaris is a good choice in whichever color you like), and then a small but not neccessarily nano sized goby as the clowns will most likely ignore it and the goby will be fun to watch at the bottom.

[redskins2647]

Yea, I decided im going to get a skunk cleaner and two false perculas or 2 saddlebacks tomorrow not sure which goby any suggestions also im not going to bother with a skimmer as i think my flow is good and i have pleanty of lr and idk if me getting a skimmer would be a 200 dollar difference p.s. i gave away one of the peppermints my nieghbor wanted him haha
also some pictures of tonight after i got off work looking better already:)

[Grins]

I'd personally skip the skimmer and spend it on more rock. The pieces you have are nice but I think you'd do better with more.

[redskins2647]

yea there is like 20 lbs in there rit now i plan on getting at least ten more pounds tomorrow if we go to the pet store. If only i was old enough to drive.
Ha but does ten more sound good. Also I about to just forget about getting a nem all together. Just wouldt want another to die so its not going to happen maybesom more yellow polyps there my favorite ha.Im thinking 2 saddlebacks and a goby tomorrow and the cleaner if there cheap.sound good? And if i do go there will definitely be pictures.

[Grins]

It is a 20g right? If so and that is 20 pounds of rock it must be dense, which would be likely for the branch pieces. If you get all dense rock you are going to need 2#s per gallon in my opinion. If you mix in some porous rock you can get away with 1 1/2#

[redskins2647]

its probably a litlte less then 20 probably 16ish but i think ill get at leave 10 to 15 more lbs and the rock i have is very dense.But i i think i migt wait awhile on the rock my lfs dosent have any rubble just huge chunks of fiji
so idk if they have it ill buy it any suggestions on a common goby?

[redskins2647]

Changed my mind im just going to get 2 very young clarkii as they are some of the more docile clowns and 2-3 chromis and possibly another small fish it all depends on what I find.Also Does anyone knwo anything about pink skunk clownsi know they stay smaller then clarkii clowns but yea. Anyone else want to chime in and at least give me a little input

[Grins]

In a 20g I'd probably go with the pink skunks over the Clarkiis. Of course I'd go with the goby over the 2-3 chromis too though.

[redskins2647]

I have been debating all night... I ended up with this list 1 clarkii instead of 2
the goby but only if you pick it out grins i wouldnt even know where to start and a skunk cleaner im definitely passing on the chromis all together if i get a goby but nobody has chimed in with a suggestion on a good goby

[Grins]

do you want a sand sifter? Maybe a shrimp goby and consider a pistol shrimp to go with it?

[redskins2647]

I dont like the fact that they are under my sand wouldnt want to crush them
I also like the bigger gobies you said i could do a larger one since my fish wont be cruising the bottom to much right. But im still not sure but something not to big not to small

[Grins]

Which ones are you meaning are under the sand? My sand sifter has caves under rocks and builds sand banks near it but doesn't burrow into the sand at night.

As for bigger, I meant more of a medium sized one. Mine gets up to 6" so too big for a 20g.

[redskins2647]

Yea I like the pistol shrimp yellow watchman goby pair i think itd be neat to watch hopefully the pistol shrimp will eat my peppermint all he does is hide. If the Lfs has them when i go thats what i will get and if there not like 50 bucks
Idk if me and my dad are going today though ill try to convince hah:devil:

[tarheels910]

You change your mind too much...

I wouldnt buy and fish for a while. Seeing you have fish dying and your water is cloudy. Since you are adding more live rock, the die off will cause more ammonia and you will go into a mini-cycle.

[redskins2647]

When did i have fish die and the tank has been cycling 2 months with it lr i just added the sand from my other tank all my params are good and the tank is now clear?I havent had a single fish die. And the reason im not sure is because i dont know what my lfs has and when we go its like a once every 2 month thing

[Grins]

The pair will probably run around $50 if not a little more. Depends on your local market. Don't feel as if you need to get all the fish at once, and..do you have a QT setup? No sense in having done all this work to get the tank cycled only to run into a parasite, disease, or nutrition problem.

My advice, get the rest of the rock you want and put the goby into QT. By the time the rock is ready the goby can come out of QT and then you can add whichever type of clown pair you want for your tank and put them in QT, on that trip you can buy the pistol shrimp and put it into the display for the goby.

[redskins2647]

I will just buy base rock today so there is no worry about a mini cycle. iI dont have a quarintine but with an almost empty tank do i really need one i mean ive never had a fish get ick so im not to worried

[Grins]

The danger isn't in what is in your display tank now, but what is in the system at the LFS and where they got the fish from. If the fish has ich for instance (ich isn't the only thing to be concerned about) and you put it in your display system you've just created a problem where there isn't one now. I highly recommend using a QT.

[redskins2647]

I have a 5.5 but idk if ill be aloud to set it up my parents sad no more tanks

and my lfs is usually pretty reliable. But idk if i buy anything at all today besides rock ill be surprised

[redskins2647]

instead of spending money today on rock and fish
i decided to upgrade my lights i got the current 20" satellite 24 hour light fixture with lunar lights acrylic splashgaurd for 75 bucks looks like ill get fish ill probably get fish in 1-2 weeks

[redskins2647]

anyone familiar with the fixture?

[tarheels910]

Wow. You change your mind too much.

Its a good fixture. Lots of people use them and suggest them.

[redskins2647]

I do but then who dosent.I bought what i needed new lights and new is more lr then fish. I know i am not doing it all at once so i have time to change my mind thats why i decided when i went to the lfs not to buy fish