My 20g after 1 year

I've had this setup running for around a year with a fridmani pseudo and a valentini toby. There are about a dozen hermits, a local starfish, three snails, and a few mushroom corals, all of which seem to get along well.

I plan on moving this setup to a 30g in a few weeks, but it has really worked well in a twenty gallon so far. The fridmani was too aggressive for my wrasses (my other tank), but it seems to get along well with the puffer, even in a confined space.

Anyways, hope you like the pics and any comments are welcome!

Sap: I moved to a new house a couple of months ago, and was concerned how the move would affect my tanks. Everything went great though, and I think that a swithch to a larger tank should go pretty smooth.

Bukitimah: This tank went through several evolutions during its early days. It actually started out brackish, but my interest in salt water lead to what it is now. I planned to get a Valentini Toby for this tank, but the Fridmani Pseudochromis just happened to work out as well. I wasn't sure if the puffer would harm the mushroom, but it seems to be doing fine.

I use a Current US 65W light fixture ($60), a Coral life Super Skimmer 65 protein skimmer ($85), and 2 penguin power heads ($10 each, on sale). It's a small, inexpensive setup that has a lot of variety and life.

The tank has about 30lbs live rock, and a shallow live sand bed. Tank cleaners include several mixed snails, a dozen hermits (tropical and local), an emerald crab, and a local star fish.

Given some time this tank finally balanced nicely. The most important thing that I have learned is DO NOT OVERFEED! This is the key to a clean, healthy tank.

There are many opinions regarding filtration in marine tanks. I run my other 20g with only a HOB powerfilter and a powerhead for circulation. Most people seem to agree that undergravel filters aren't the best choice.

The skimmer that I use seems to work pretty well. It's the only one I've had so I can't compare, but it produces a full cup of dark green sludge every week or so.

I've read a lot of articles/posts that say with enough live rock and frequent water changes a tank may not need any filtration. The live rock and clean up crew (hermits, snails, etc..) should be able to remove debris and contaminants. For this set up it sounds like you should have at least 2 lbs of live rock per gallon, and do a 10% water change per week.