New to SW tanks...have questions!!!

Y

yacobsen54

Registered Member
Jan 9, 2008
1
0
0
Hello, i just set up a 20 gallon saltwater tank...i realize that this is very small but its all that i have....as of right now i'm running a powerhead that pushed about 300 gallons an hour...i have a sponge prefilter on it...also in the tank is a heater that was recommended to me and about 8 lbs of live rock...SG is holding stready at 1.024...eventually i'll be putting a couple damsels in there, and hopefully a nice "feature fish" after a while....i had several general questions though
1. how much light should i be giving the live rock?
2. some reddish brownish growth has started on the live rock and i'm wondering if this is bad?
3. if you could give me one piece of advice to help me out along my saltwater journey, what would it be?
 
1. The amount of light isn't super important unless you want to grow stuff on your rock. So - are you planning on growing anything, or just having rocks and fish? If you want to grow corals or anything you will definately want more rock. It would really be best that you do about 1lb per gallon anyway even with just fish since the rock is part of your filtration.

2. Not necessarily bad per se, but you probably have an excess of nutrients from the cycling process. An excess of either ammonia, nitrites or nitrates can also cause algae growth, so have you tested your water parameters?
You'll also want to test your pH since it's important in a SW tank to have a pH around at least 8.0. It's important to test everything because it will tell you when you are able to add fish.

3. Do not rush things! Biggest thing with SW is patience. If you start adding things too fast your tank will inevitably crash.
 
yacobsen54 said:
Hello, i just set up a 20 gallon saltwater tank...i realize that this is very small but its all that i have....as of right now i'm running a powerhead that pushed about 300 gallons an hour...i have a sponge prefilter on it...also in the tank is a heater that was recommended to me and about 8 lbs of live rock...SG is holding stready at 1.024...eventually i'll be putting a couple damsels in there, and hopefully a nice "feature fish" after a while....i had several general questions though
1. how much light should i be giving the live rock? <<live rock does not need a light source, depends if your after promoting coraline growth>>
2. some reddish brownish growth has started on the live rock and i'm wondering if this is bad? <<Could be diatom algae, a little early for that maybe, is it slimy or dusty looking?>>
3. if you could give me one piece of advice to help me out along my saltwater journey, what would it be? <<Read, Read, Read....Have bags of patience>>
Click to expand...

Added some comments above in red..

Niko
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom