Hey. I'm just new to the hobby and have a few questions to ask. So far I have purchased a 20Gal H Tank, Hagen T5Glo 24inch Fixture with 24W T5's, an AC20 and AC30 powerhead, a Fluval 305 and a heater and hydrometer. Am I capable to run a tank with this stuff above, just wanna have a few fish and some soft corals and probably will upgrade lighting later if I desire more/better corals. How often should I been doing water changes and what % should it be? Also, is it alright to mix sands because so far I only have 15LB of CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand and I'd like to get more so I'll probably get 10 LBs of CaribSea Live Sand. For LR, should 20LBS be enough or should I get more, and does anyone have preference over what kind. I have access to premium fiji cured, indo and branch, and Walt Smith Fiji LR. Cured or uncured...which is better? Also, I'm wondering what to use for clean up crew and how many of each. Well thats all for now, thanks alot.
20Gal Questions...
- Thread starter tskinner
- Start date
stingythingy45
New member
Welcome to the hobby.
If there's any way of returning the fluval and using some of that $$$ for a good skimmer.....do it.To me LR is LR and live sand is a waste of $$$.Just get some regular calcium based sand and seed it with somebodies established tank sand.
Make sure you buy a good quality salt mix also.
Good luck...
If there's any way of returning the fluval and using some of that $$$ for a good skimmer.....do it.To me LR is LR and live sand is a waste of $$$.Just get some regular calcium based sand and seed it with somebodies established tank sand.
Make sure you buy a good quality salt mix also.
Good luck...
IndoorOcean
Premium Member
In terms of live rock, I would opt for cured so that you have a much shorter cycle time. Uncured will save you some money, but your cycle may take much longer. You could also save some money by using about 10 lbs of dry base rock like marco rocks, and seeding it with 10 lbs of live rock instead of buying 20 lbs of live rock. In time the dry rock will also become "live".
For a clean-up crew I would recommend 3 Cerith and 3 Astrea snails to begin. But don't add them until your tank has cycled. You can add more down the road if you see fit, but I doubt you will need much more than 6-8 snails total in a tank your size.
Water change frequency and volume is very debated. Personally, I would change 10% every week, especially for the first several months. Then you could begin changing this much about every 2 weeks.
I agree with stingythingy45 that you should ditch the Fluval and get a good skimmer.
Good luck!
For a clean-up crew I would recommend 3 Cerith and 3 Astrea snails to begin. But don't add them until your tank has cycled. You can add more down the road if you see fit, but I doubt you will need much more than 6-8 snails total in a tank your size.
Water change frequency and volume is very debated. Personally, I would change 10% every week, especially for the first several months. Then you could begin changing this much about every 2 weeks.
I agree with stingythingy45 that you should ditch the Fluval and get a good skimmer.
Good luck!
IndoorOcean
Premium Member
Aqua C Remora skimmer would be a good HOB skimmer.
Been looking at a few skimmers. Would these be good and if so which would you go with.
Option 1: Coralife Super Skimmer - Needle Wheel up to 65 Gallon
Option 2: Red Sea Prizm Skimmer
Option 3: Aqua C Remora Nano Hang-On Protein Skimmer(Last Option because of price)
And just to confirm, this would eliminate the purpose of my using my Fluval 305 on my system. Thanks again.
Option 1: Coralife Super Skimmer - Needle Wheel up to 65 Gallon
Option 2: Red Sea Prizm Skimmer
Option 3: Aqua C Remora Nano Hang-On Protein Skimmer(Last Option because of price)
And just to confirm, this would eliminate the purpose of my using my Fluval 305 on my system. Thanks again.
Antiha8erz
New member
No need for a skimmer if you're doing a 10% water change every week IMO.
stingythingy45
New member
Hardly,
I woudn't run a tank without one.
Lockhartia
New member
Also look at hang on refugiums? I do not run a skimmer on my 20ga, never have, and never will. I do however have a hang on refugium and I swear by it. It will add more water and biological filtration to your tank, and throw some chaeto algea in there and forget about it. Apparently I threw a mushroom in my fuge at some point, and now have a zillion of them. I'm not sure how, either, as my macro algea is so thick not much light, if any, reaches them.
Mine is a CPR Aquatic (I think). It came with a pump and light and cost right around the fluval 305 probably did.
Mine is a CPR Aquatic (I think). It came with a pump and light and cost right around the fluval 305 probably did.
kzooreefer
New member
IMO a skimmer is necessary if you have a high bio load; corals, fish and inverts. As far as the HOB skimmers go the remora or super skimmer have pretty much favorable remarks on RC as well as the Bak-Pak, which I have. They all will need some tweaking to get them to work optimally though. Skip the Prizm.
I only do a monthly 10% water change for my 29 gal with no problems. Reef Crystals says on the container to do 20% water changes every 2 weeks but I just go by what has worked for me. I also use a fluval 105 with GAC and GFO as well as the Bak-Pak 2 skimmer 24/7.
You'll get a lot of differing opinions on just about every subject on this site so you just have to take all the advice with a grain of salt. Take all the advie given into consideration and then try and make an informed decision for yourself. Myself, I still end up pretty much just going by trial and error. Some things people say work for them never worked for me and vice versa.
My next purchase will probably be a CPR HOB Refugium with skimmer so I can dump the canister filter and other HOB skimmer and add some water volume. Heard good comments about them.
I only do a monthly 10% water change for my 29 gal with no problems. Reef Crystals says on the container to do 20% water changes every 2 weeks but I just go by what has worked for me. I also use a fluval 105 with GAC and GFO as well as the Bak-Pak 2 skimmer 24/7.
You'll get a lot of differing opinions on just about every subject on this site so you just have to take all the advice with a grain of salt. Take all the advie given into consideration and then try and make an informed decision for yourself. Myself, I still end up pretty much just going by trial and error. Some things people say work for them never worked for me and vice versa.
My next purchase will probably be a CPR HOB Refugium with skimmer so I can dump the canister filter and other HOB skimmer and add some water volume. Heard good comments about them.
kzooreefer
New member
As far as cleanup crew goes, skip the astrea snails, they have a tendancy to fall off the glass onto their backs and can't turn themselves back over and die. Though this does make for a supply of shell replacements for hermits.
My personal CUC is 10 snails, mixture of margaritas and turbos, an emarld crab and 2 blue legged hermits. I still need a few nassarius snails to do some sand sifting but I always seem to forget to get them when I'm at the lfs.
Personally I would go with the cured live rock and which ever type you like. I just bought what ever was on hand at the lfs and picked out pieces I thought would make a nice display. And 20# should be enough to get a 20 gallon going but you could even bump it up to 30#.
You can mix sands but I myself went with all the same type just because I wanted a consistent look to the display. I used 40# of Caribsea aragalive sand because that is what I could get locally. I orignally had a crushed coral bed but hated the look of it and switched it out.
My personal CUC is 10 snails, mixture of margaritas and turbos, an emarld crab and 2 blue legged hermits. I still need a few nassarius snails to do some sand sifting but I always seem to forget to get them when I'm at the lfs.
Personally I would go with the cured live rock and which ever type you like. I just bought what ever was on hand at the lfs and picked out pieces I thought would make a nice display. And 20# should be enough to get a 20 gallon going but you could even bump it up to 30#.
You can mix sands but I myself went with all the same type just because I wanted a consistent look to the display. I used 40# of Caribsea aragalive sand because that is what I could get locally. I orignally had a crushed coral bed but hated the look of it and switched it out.
