20 gallon advice

Andy16

Andy16

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Dec 10, 2002
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I currently have a 20 gallon lake malawi mbuna tank. It is the closest thing i could get to SW fish. Well now i really want an actual SW tank. I already know a lot about FW and i know that it doesnt help much. I also realize that a 20 gallon tank is small and will not hold a lot of fish. I have a lot of tiem to set this up since i have no money what so ever. So i will be getting LR and LS obviously and really like percula clowns. I would also probably get some shrimp and hermit crabs. I would like some corals so it could be kinda like a nano reef but i dont think that is going to happen since i dont have enough money. I will definantly get 1 or two just to make it look better. I already have 2 filters and a powerhead. All i now is that i need a lot of lighting and a lot of water movement. I have a penguin 170 and an AC mini. I dotn know anything about filters so im sure these wont really do anything except add water circulation since 2 clowns probably dont produce much waste. And what i have read a protein skimmer is now even that good to have on a small tank so thats a plus since i couldnt afford one anyways. My mom doesnt want me to get a SW tank just cuz she thinks it will be like more work for her or something like that so i also need to convince her its not. I will probably put in as many fish as possible but i will definantly get a percula or 2. I almost like the flase more then the true perculas. I could get one of each but i think that they will be agresive towards each other. I also like damsels. They are cheap and hardy. But they are aggresive to and if i cant have both the clowns and a damsel it will be the clowns. Another one i like is a strawberry purple psuedochromis. And gobies and blennys are cool. I really would like to keep an anemone even though all i have heard is bad things about them. I would like to see the clowns more natural behavior. I actually like doing mantenance on my tank so laziness wont be a problem at all. I wont have teh problems that most small tanks face. So what else do i need? And can i leave my current water in the tank and add salt so i dont have to cycle it very long? Or do i have to use new water? And does any1 know where i can get liverock cheap. My dad got mad the last time i spent $70 on slate and i know htat i will have to spend over 100 on LR.
 
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Hey, glad to see more people interested in SW. Ok, so you wana do saltwater, no problem. You also seem to have the right attitude for doing a nanno tank. If you enjoy doing maintenence (like me) then you will fit the spot for a nonno tank as long as you take it slow.

First off, filtration. Your filter will do fine, and move water enough so you will not need a powerhead. With a 20g you dont have the surface area of a 40 or higher so you won't need to up the circulation. If you have used the 170 on a FW setup, I reccomend chaning the Bio-Wheel and the filter (and purchase a backup). There are many reasons (biologically) why this is good to do, but for me, I just like to have clean items for a new tank. Clean the impeller out really well - or just purchase a replacement.

Second, heating. Go with something at least 125w. Ebo Jagers and Tronics are a good choice. I've been running my tronic 125 on my 20 for over a year and its stable as a rock. My rooms also gets very cold at night...and it doesn't budge at all.

Third, skimmer (optional). Some say a skimmer for a 20 is bad, others say its good. The skimmer WILL remove trace elements which are important to your system, but will help greatly with filtration. Perhaps a neutral contribution to the tank. However, if you do get one, go with something like a Prizm. They are execelent skimmers and can be found on ebay or other sites cheap and new.

Other setup considerations. Heres a checklist of things you will want to have.
  • Marine Test Kit - Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate
  • Backup filters
  • Hydrometer
  • Instant Ocean (or good sea salt with trace elements)
  • Access to very clean water (well water, reverse osmosis) NO CITY WATER
  • You need a hood to help with evaporation
  • Dont forget the food.
  • Bacterea enhancer (TLC, Bacter Plus)
  • 20w Coral Life 10,000k Bulb.
Thank should be a good list to get you started.

Setup the tank with your base, water (mixed w/ salt), filter, heater, let the water cycle for at least a couple days. Add the bacterea enhancer after the first day. Some will say more, but 3 should be fine (if you dont feel comfortable, just wait longer). Run that tank normally with the light on, and monitor the Amonia and Nitrites carefully. (once in the morning and once at night prefferably). Your want both at 0. You may want to add your live rock at this time and slowly start adding some cleaners (hermits + snails + shrimp) to keep algae under control. Look for a brownish algae, they are diatoms(sp) and a good sign that your tank is on the right path. All tanks go through an early hit of this.

Once the tank has been run for a while you could go ahead and add a couple perculas or a damsel or two. And from there you jsut keep monitoring your water.

After a month or two of stability I would say you can start planning some corals. Perhaps some mushrooms would be a good start.

http://www.garf.org is a good resource for corals.

http://www.nano-reef.com is another good resource for your tank if you plan on doing coral.

Coral shouldnt be a problem as long as you can keep your tank stable. Just take it slowly.

As for Anenomies. Most people I talk to have not be able to keep them alive for much more than a year. This is (from what im told) due to lack of food, and it is very hard to (if not impossible) to replenish their food source.

That should be enough to get you going smoothly :)

It may not be what others will do or recommend but if your only dealing with Live Rock and a couple Clowns, you should do fine.

PS: Buy your stuff slowly...piece by piece. It wont seem like your spending a lot of money to other people ;)
 
Votek's advice was good stuff, but I would recommend using a cocktail shrimp to cycle the tank instead of the "bacteria". TThat stuff is generally useless and by waiting a month you'll save a few bucks. As far as light, 20 w is pretty low. I would recommend spending $100 on the Corallife EZ ballast kit. That should give you 55 w and give you alot more leeway as to what you want. It's an investment at first but after the initial spending it isn't bad at all. GL!
 
I am glad that i am on the right track for the tank. Thank you so much for all of the advice. Do you know what the complete cost of live rock, live sand, the lighting set up, and everything else would be? I already have everything from my FW tank so you can exclude that.
 
Lessee
You have the water movement and heating covered, so
$20-100 on the lighting
$4 for fine play sand
$10 for a couple of pounds of LS to seed the sand
$140-240 for 30 lbs of LR, depending on if you buy online
$60 for fish, perhaps more
$30 for inverts
$30 for a decent test kit
$20 for salt (that'll last you awhile)
It gets kinda spendy, but I think it was well worth it, and I'm a very poor college student! Besides, after the initial investment, it's pretty cheap. By the way, these are based on Minnesotan rates.
 
Thanks for the quick reply voodoo. So what order should i buy all of this stuff. There is no way i could get it all in one day. It will take like a year before i can set it up and until i can get fish. I will only get like $50-60 on my current fish. And i will have to wait a while since i just bought new sand. My parents are gonna be mad when htey find out what im doing. I just asked my dad to give me an allowance so now hopefulyl they will pay me. I will also probably cheap out on some stuff. Not the stuff that i need though. I probably will get the lighting later since i will be ading corals much later. I really dont need it until then.
 
Well, it all depends on what type of coral your trying to do. If you do something like finger Leather, the 20w 10,000k should be fine.

I was taking into consideration that most of the heardy corals that will last in a 10g will not require quite the lightining that a 50w ballist puts out.

But then again, if you can upgrade...do it.
 
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I just figured out how i can come up with the money so i might be able to get it sooner then i hoped for. Just as long as poeple buy my stuff. I already could make around 150 for my old playstation stuff and my old fish tank. I probably have other stuff i could sell around some place also. The lighting is still last on my list since i will not be getting the corals right away. I dont neeed a ton of lighting if i dont have corals right? If i need it for other stuff i will get it sooner. The live rock is probably the worst thing that i really hate to buy.
 
Buddy, I've gone through all of your predicaments over that past couple of months. Video games are a way of life. It's hard to let go. But the LR is worth it. You get all sorts of krazy stuff. I find more bristleworms every night. And you don't need the lighting if you don't have the corals.
 
I hae no problem with selling my old playstation games but i dont know if anyone would buy them. That is what i meant. My brother has a SW tank and i know what u mean about the crazy stuff that lives on it.
 
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