123 guide on small marine fish tank

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bukitimah said:

HOK, tomorrow, I will buy some #0 or #1 crushed coral to lay on the bed to about 2-3 inches.

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I would go with some aragonite sand (wich will provide nitrate free aquaria for years to come if you simply add a cup of live sand once a year, according to mysis) instead of crushed coral- a crushed coral bed that deep will just become a nutrient/ fish waste trap, unless your doing gravel vac's like you would in freshwater tanks, wich would remove benenificial micro fuana
and micro flora.

bukitimah said:

Next I wait for your expert advice because I was told I need to let the water stablized between 2 to 3 days. But how to determine that?

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If you introduce fish or shrimps 2-3 days after setting the tank up I assure you they will die. However told you that knows nothing about even freshwater tanks, let alone salt water tanks, do not trust thier advice.

You need to cycle the tank with uncured live rock, wich can take over a month, before adding fish to the tank. Purchase 15-20 ilbs of live rock, and monitor amonia and nitrite levels (with an accurate test kit, I recomend you purchase an aquarium phamicuetical's slatwater master test kit). You should see a spike of amonia, followed by that dropping back to zero, then the same for nitrite. Once nitrite drops back to zero after a spike, you are ready to add your first fishes, preferably a pair of the clowns.

Please note: during the time period in wich you are monitoring amonia and nitrite, watch out for any pest hitch-hikers that may have came in on the rock. Some pests are cpable of eating your fish and anything else that moves (mantas shrmp), and some will take over your whole tank (aiptasia/glass anemones), so you need to keep a watchfull eye on the tank and take corective measures when nessisary.

Please read this article, it tells you about manageing a small tank without a protien skimmer: http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_small_aquarium_filter.php

As for your fish population, I think its a little bit much(I would only get 2-3 fish that size, for your setup), and you need to know wich kind of shrimp you want to get, as some of them have specialized needs (some eat linkia starfish and only linkia starfish, some need gobys, ect.), and your tank won't be living up to it's full potential becuase of the limited variety. I would do something more along the lines of:

• 2 percula or occeleris clownfish
• 1 purple or orange firefish or 1 citron or yellow clown goby
• 1 cleaner shimp
• 1 blood shrimp
• 5 blue leg hermit carbs (be sure to provide extra shells)
• 8 astrea sp. snails

Also, corals do not need a chiller, they need adequete lighting and water quality (what either of those are depends on the species of coral).

20 gallons is quite small. You should change at least 15% of your water considering that you plan on 4 clown fish. You should seriously invest in a skimmer, they help a lot and if you look around you can find them pretty cheap.

How is the tank doing? I wish you had not used the damsels to cycle the tank. Your live rock would have done the same thing. If you don't have test kits, will your local fish store do tests for you, namely, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates? I would not add anymore fish until the tank has completely cycled (i.e., ammonia and nitrites both reading zero on the test kits. Sometimes this takes 4 to 6 weeks). Hopefully, you can keep the nitrates down below 15 or 20, but that can be hard to do.

A protein skimmer removes extra protein and some other minerals from the water, "before" it has a chance to break down into nitrates and stuff. You can have a saltwater aquarium without one, but most people agree that the tank and its inhabitants will be better off using one. A decent "hang on the back" skimmer (I'm assuming you do not have a sump?) for your sized tank will probably run you at least $100+. Do a little research and try to get one (if you decide to) that will do OK for your size tank.

You do have a "mechanical" filter, I think? I would clean the filter part (polyester/sponge or whatever it uses) quite often, maybe 2-3 times a week by rinsing it out (outside of the tank). If you do not rinse it out or replace it with a new/clean filter, then the gunk it catches/traps, stays in the water system and continues to pollute it.

Did you put in crushed coral? I do not know what the "0" or "1" signifies (grain size, I assume?)? When the tank has cycled a little while, I would put in 3 or 4 "scarlet" legged hermit crabs and if you can find a couple 2 or 3 small bristle worms. I think they will help you keep the crushed coral cleaner/free of left over/extra little food scraps not eaten by the fish. Also, try to add a small variety of snails. Maybe 2 or 3 each of margaritas, turbos and one or two other kind. If you do use the crushed coral, then I would (every week or two), kind of stir/swirl up the top 1/4 or 3/8 inch of so of surface to get the detritus mixed into the water column so that your mechanical filter can get some of it out so you can rinse/remove it from the tank.

good luck, Frank

fsa said:

A decent "hang on the back" skimmer (I'm assuming you do not have a sump?) for your sized tank will probably run you at least $100+.

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I'd just like to add that for the price, you could spend a little time surfing on the internet looking for DIY plans for a skimmer (and printing the good ones out), getting a properly sized powerhead/air pump/accesories to run it (you'll know what you need from your research) and some PVC tubing, and make 2-3 skimmers that could probably do better than any store bought skimmer you get for less than $500, assuming you use the first and possibly second skimmers as "prototypes" to tweak your design.

I would certainly consider doing water changes when you see the quality drop or the fishes not doing well. I would also consider doing "routine" water changes every so often. Maybe 5 or 10% water changes every week or two. I don't think that can hurt and I think your inhabitants will certainly like it (my opinion only).

I am glad your damsel is doing fine. Did you lose one? I think I would just sit back and enjoy the tank now for a couple of months before adding anything else. Let it become balanced and mature just a little. Also give the new live rock a chance to cycle. If you do want/have to add something, consider a couple or 3 snails, hermits or something similar for cleanup.

As far as the balance in the water and where the protein is coming from? There is always going to be "stuff" in the water from feeding (it does not all get eaten all of the time), the fish doing their thing in the water, and from water changes if you are not using r/o water.

Having a protein skimmer is not an absoulte must have, but I think most everyone will agree that it should be used if at all possible. One of its functions is to remove the proteins from the water before they can break down into nitrates. Continue to do some reading and researching on it, so you really understand just how important that it is in a salt water set up.

continued good luck, Frank