Barb's 20 gallon

Barb0713

New member
Hi , i am a very successful freshwater fish keeper . I just started my first saltwater tank. 20 gallon , coral reef , so far I have 2 pajama cardinals and a Kenya tree frag , a big chunk of living rock. Parameters are perfect. In a few days I will introduce a sailfish tang and some more coral. I am deciding on a cleaning crew to add in the near future . I want a sea star and a shrimp . Any other suggestions or advice on a crew.? How many crew members do I need ?
 
Welcome to RC!

Sounds like you’re heading towards a good path but a couple things:

The Sailfin Tang will need a much larger tank than 20 gallons. They can get up to about 16 inches when fully grown.

How long has the tank been set up?

The clean up crew really depends on what food is available. For example if you don’t have much algae, you don’t want to overload with snails and crabs. A couple sure, but not necessarily 10-20. Snails you can’t go wrong with Astrea, turbos, or trochus (I prefer trochus) for glass and rocks and then nassarius for the sand.
Crabs are up to you, I try to stick only with blue leg hermit crabs. Be aware they will kill your snails if they want the shell.

A shrimp should be fine, though I may wait til the tank has matured a bit more. The starfish really depends on what type. Many of the colorful starfish are different types of linkia starfish and can be quite difficult to keep. Same with the sandsifting starfish. Chocolate chip stars have been easier in my experience, but will eat coral. Brittles and serpents in my experience have also been easy but hide so you usually only see their legs.

My next piece of advice is to slow down a bit so you don’t overwhelm your system. I hope this helps
 
Hi , i am a very successful freshwater fish keeper . I just started my first saltwater tank. 20 gallon , coral reef , so far I have 2 pajama cardinals and a Kenya tree frag , a big chunk of living rock. Parameters are perfect. In a few days I will introduce a sailfish tang and some more coral. I am deciding on a cleaning crew to add in the near future . I want a sea star and a shrimp . Any other suggestions or advice on a crew.? How many crew members do I need ?
I would not suggest the fish you are wanting to add, your tank is to small to add a tang. I am not familiar about star fish if I were you YouTube star fish in a nano tank
 
Thanks guys , I have decided not to take the tang. The pajamas are doing great , the coral frag is doing great. Parameters are as close to perfect as you get. Working on raising calcium a little. I will add smaller fish instead of the tang. I plan on seeding a 125g coral tank once I get this nano one complete and well established and gain some practice. I figured the tang would be ok until then , I didn’t realize they grow that fast. I will add a nano appropriate fish and then work on adding more coral while slowly introducing members of a clean up crew. There are sea stars like a nardoa spp that can be in a nano reef , but I am too scared of it not having enough to eat and eating my coral , so another one to wait for the bigger tank lol. I am now looking at different snails , shrimp and crabs. 🤷‍♀️
 
I like the nano gobies from biota

 
Wlecome to the club! :)

As you are just starting off I'd suggest not getting any fish that will be more than 2"-3" as adults. If it were my tank a Royal Gramma and Azure Damsel wold be my choices to add to your 2 Pajama Cardinals. I would not add any of the ornamental starfish like the Nardoa, linkia or Fromia, they do not have good reputations for survival and rarely survive more than half a year, likely because they starve to death. For a 20 gallon I would choose some hermits and small brittle star species for clean up crews.

FWIW there's no such thing as "perfect" water parameters and as there is a wide range of opinions it's better to post all the parameters you are testing for. Also, in the 4 decades I've been keeping reef systems I'd say the most important things for success are water changes (20% - 30% per month) and keeping the "big four" - Alkalinity, pH, Clacium and magnesium realitively stable.

Here's some links you may find interesting and hopelfully informative:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching
Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching / Curr. Biol., May 21, 2020 (Vol. 30, Issue 13)

DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome
Aquabiomics: DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"
What's up with phosphate? by Richard Ross | MACNA 2014

15 Answers
How 15 Answers Changed the Way I Look at My Tank Forever! 10 Months of Biome Cycling 12 Aquariums.
 
Wlecome to the club! :)

As you are just starting off I'd suggest not getting any fish that will be more than 2"-3" as adults. If it were my tank a Royal Gramma and Azure Damsel wold be my choices to add to your 2 Pajama Cardinals. I would not add any of the ornamental starfish like the Nardoa, linkia or Fromia, they do not have good reputations for survival and rarely survive more than half a year, likely because they starve to death. For a 20 gallon I would choose some hermits and small brittle star species for clean up crews.

FWIW there's no such thing as "perfect" water parameters and as there is a wide range of opinions it's better to post all the parameters you are testing for. Also, in the 4 decades I've been keeping reef systems I'd say the most important things for success are water changes (20% - 30% per month) and keeping the "big four" - Alkalinity, pH, Clacium and magnesium realitively stable.

Here's some links you may find interesting and hopelfully informative:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching
Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching / Curr. Biol., May 21, 2020 (Vol. 30, Issue 13)

DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome
Aquabiomics: DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"
What's up with phosphate? by Richard Ross | MACNA 2014

15 Answers
How 15 Answers Changed the Way I Look at My Tank Forever! 10 Months of Biome Cycling 12 Aquariums.
Thank you so much. I appreciate the advice and resources :) my parameters are
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20
PH 8.4
Salinity 24.8 and 25 even
Temp a stable 78
Calicium was 200 but coming up with seachem reef complete.
I will be retesting that today .
But the fish and the coral frag are thriving for the past week.
 
That seems like an error. What are you testing with? Magnesium is important to maintain stable calcium and alkalinity. Are you measuring all 3 (recommend you do) and if so what are the values?
I just got my reef test kit today. I was taking my water to my supplier and testing there. I will test in a bit but the tank appears very happy.
 
I just got my reef test kit today. I was taking my water to my supplier and testing there. I will test in a bit but the tank appears very happy.
My phosphates are pretty close to zero
My KH is at 10 drops
I have not been able to test for magnesium but with everything else I do know. Things look good
 
Keep your phosphates above .03 mg/l. Just FYI your Pygmy Angel may be fine long term or may decide it doesn't want to share it's space with anybody as it matures.
 
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