20 Gallon Plan

[mwood322]

Okay. Sorry for the extremely long post...

I've been doing some reading on saltwater tanks, Paletta, The New Marine Aquarium, and Fenner, The Conscientious Marine Aquarist. I'm planning on at least flipping through Tullock's Natural Reef Aquariums. Mind you so far I have kept just freshwater tanks.

What I want is a FOWLR. I love shrimp, such as peppermint or cleaner, and fish such as gobies, firefish, damsels, and clownfish. I am planning on no more than 2 fish that would stay under 3 inches or so. Originally I was planning on one Blue Damsel and as many inverts as I could put in that don't need special lighting. If I do go with 2 fish I want one who is more interactive, and another who is more likely to only be seen every once in a while. Perhaps a clown and a goby of some kind.

I'm looking for overall suitability to a small tank, very interested in tank-bred or raised fish, and am willing to do at the very least 10% weeekly water changes, adding fresh water to the tank as needed to offset evaporation. It won't be any where near as bad as my 25-40% water changes on 11 freshwater tanks every week.

Basically I have a 20 high tank, glass cover, double 24" striplight with 18" bulbs, 100 watt submersible heater, and a good sized powerhead. I was planning on sand (Southdown 2-3 inches or so) some live sand mixed in, and Live Rock (10 lbs or so, probably mostly base rock until the tank is cycled).

Of course I have a few questions.

1. How important is a skimmer for this kind of setup, and if necessary could a standard air pump driven skimmer suffice?

2. Live Sand, Where would my best source be if I'm not looking for much of it? I'm not really looking for critters, I'm more interested in bacteria. Critters can migrate off the live rock eventually anyway. Also, I don't actually know anyone with a clean tank that I'd want substrate from.

3. With a powerhead do I need a filter for anything other than catching suspended waste and debris? I have another filter lying around, and it runs fine, it just isn't the most relieable one I own. It's an old Aquaclear 610, water movement is around 200 gph.

4. What fish would everyone recommend for a tank this size. I've made several forays to shops, and seen tank-bred gobies and clownfish mostly. I am considering one Percula clown and one goby, looking for good ideas on which goby. I'd like a goby with a catchy color scheme, even if I saw it only every other day or so.

If it would be more stable I might go back to the damsel idea. I just want a brightly colored friendly fish that won't bother inverts or shrimp, and will largely be seen. Also very important is ease of feeding and ability to adapt to an aquarium, eps. with the inverts. I don't want anything that will be almost guaranteed to wither and die in my tank. I also don't want a fish that will be very unhappy with the lack of space. Homebody fish would be great.

5. Cycling. What are the seperate ways to cycle? I've had one person tell me their tank was cycled overnight with a bag of live sand, others saying dump in some damsels (which I will not be doing) and others to cure live rock in the tank. I've read about the shrimp method, and the supposed smell.

I'm interested in the easiest overall. I'm also not made of money. I've seen prices on live rock, and around 5.99 lb for base rock, which I assume is uncured? I was thinking as much base rock as I can afford, and check the levels and the smell on that. Perhaps add a small cocktail shrimp to get food there for the bacteria? Would water changes during this period be beneficial?

Once cycled perhaps add more interesting live rock, with actual life on it, supposedly cured. Run a sponge filter in the tank dutring the cycle, and while I'm waiting for the tank to mature a bit buy my first fish and keep him in a iso tank with that sponge filter? A few weeks later add the fish to the main tank. Get second fish into iso tank...And so on.

6. Do shrimp carry diseases that fish can get? Or do they only carry problems that might pass on to other shrimp? Basically is isolating shrimp or other inverts such as snails or hermits worth it?

7. Another one on Snails and hermits. What kinds would be best for general detritus pickup and algae scrubbing. I'd mainly kike the live rock tyo say free of huge algae blooms. My algae scraper can take care of the rest.

8. When I do want critters into the substrate which would be most beneficial?

I think that covers all my big questions.
Any replies would be appreicated.

--Mia

[VoodooChild]

I'll see what I can do here. Here goes...
1) I'd recommend a skimmer. You wouldn't believe the stuff that it takes out, especially in the first couple of weeks when you add LR. And with a good skimmer you don't have to bother with the pre-sponges. You can pick up a Prizm online for around $70. I believe it's worth the investment. I just have a supposedly crappy SeaClone and that cup is full all the time.
2) I can only find live sand online. No store around here carries it, so I guess you'll have to call around to your LFS'.
3) I wouldn't bother with the pre-filter, but that's up to you. You'd be cleaning it out pretty often. Again this is where the skimmer comes in handy. I still get a buildup on my powerhead but I just shake it a bit and siphon what flies off. I can answer whether or not you'll need the power filter for water movement unless I know the gph rate of the powerhead. It probably couldn't hurt though to have the filter on the otherside. Again though, I'm not sure.
4) If I were you, I'd get an ocellaris clown (though I really like my tomato) and a fire goby. Maybe a yellow watchman goby if you don't like fires.
5) I cycled with the shrimp and the stink wasn't much. The hardest part was all of the patience. Otherwise like you said some crappy LR will do the trick. I wouldn't feed it though, just let it sit there while you test your water.
6) Not sure but I know it's recommended to quarantine the inverts too.
7) My scarlet legged hermits do a great job of picking the algae. My margarita snails were ok, but the crabs I think do a much better job on the rocks. I know Ron Schimek only recommends one per 50 gallons (wary of his advice anyways) but I'd think about buying 3 or 4, especially if you're interested in inverts.
8) Bristleworms that come in in the live rock (and they WILL come in) are supposed to be good ones. My hermits stir it up a bit too and my skunk shrimps are always running around like mad so I'm sure they help out.
Hope this gets you started and kudos on setting up a quarantine tank! Most don't (including me). GL

[votek]

I've been running a Prizm on my 20g for a week now and VooDoo is absolutly right. I looked at all the crap in there from just the first week.

Deffinately worth the money.

[Mandairn]

Hmm...

1) skimmer is no nessasary, but i too recomend one.

2) Live sand .. I would say for LS and LR go with OFS, but call around too find out pricing and compare

3) ..Theres nothing that said there is too much flitering, but i would say u dont need it.

4) Yellow clown goby, or fire, i ll be it dragonets but they are much harder to keep in small tank i wouldn't recomnd it (a.k.a Mandairn Goby). I personly like Yellow tail damsiles.

5) I just put the LR in the tank and let it cure.

6) ......Sorry im no help here....

7) Turbo snail i hear to be good at keeping the glass clean (though like u wroght u got a scraper for that), Blue leaged crabs, maybe a starfish..

8)i gess i dont no what u mean, like digging critters?

aLL I gOT fOR yA.

[VoodooChild]

I thought I'd just throw this in. I just bought a pair of turbo snails (big suckers) and they're doing a great job. They've only moved about a foot in the last two days but you can see a trail of where they've been.