new to the hobby & started with this

[jabnew2dhob]

Hello,
recently a friend of mine had to move and gave me his salt water aquarium. Since im new to this with no experience, i will like to know some basics on how to maintain a healthy habitat for all of the living organism that inhabit the fish tank. what i currently have in this salt water fish tank is the following:
*
20 gal tank
2 filters: one marineland penguin biowheel200 & one aqueon quietflow1
1 heater allgrass 100w
1 50/50 t8 15 watt 18" lamp
1 T5HO 48w SolarmaxH.O. high output double t5 lighting system (this one he gave it to me in the box like brand new, said he wasn't using it because it is to strong)
**
As of the live stock i dont even know where to begin as i do not know the name of the species from both coral and fish... it took me a while to do the research of all of the species as i did not know any of the categories or names but for what i have found out here it is:
-- approximately 10 to 15 pounds of live rock
-->>>6 fishis
2 ocellaris clownfish
1 blue tang
1 purple firefish
1 purple stripe dottyback
1 watchmen goby
-->>>5 inverts
1 cleaner shrimp
1 porcelain crab
2 feather dusters
1 brittle sea star
-->>>Many Corals
4 candy canes or trumpets (cant tell the diff.)
3 purple mushrooms
1 red mushroom
2 green mushroom
8 bullseye rhodactis mushroom
1 little rock war coral
1 little rock war coral but green (couldn't find the name)
1 hammer
1 green and red colony polyp
1 jasmine polyp rock
1 glove polyp
4 ricordea mushroom
1 other type of polyp which cant find info online..
***
As of the food and supplements he left me a bunch of stuff.. but since im starting to run out of some of it i would like to know whats best for what i have so i can start and make this tank my own and my new hobby.
so this is what i got:
2 types of phytoplankton; 8-20micron PhytoGold-m brightwell aquatics and Dr. G's marine aquaculture live phytoplankton
2 types of micro bacteria; microbacter7 brightwell aquatics and nutrafin cycle biological aquarium supplement
1 C-Balance; A and B
1 SeaElements julians sprungs reef formula/twolittlefishiesthenaturalsolution
1 kent marine ZooMax

So thats what i got, it seems like a lot and for what i've been reading i can assume the tank is over populated. Regarding the food and supplements i think is a lot too, but given all of the life that the tank has i dont know what to think... i got some test kits and try them over and all of the levels seem fine except for the nitrate NO
−
3
which is always a little high.
Sorry for writing so much and pardon my ignorance in this whole matter but as i said im new to the hobby and will like to learn to take care of this beautiful set up that got FOR FREE (that's the best part, as i did research i noticed that this hobby is not cheap and all of the things that he got in there must have cost him a lot of $$$)
thanks for reading this and would really appreciate opinions and advices on what to do to make it better or improve it in somehow or anyway i can possible.
thanks again

 

[Kennyleary93]

I am also very new and my first tank is still going through the cycling process. I too have done a lot of research and the first thing I noticed was how many fish. That is A LOT of fish for a 20 gallon tank. A lot of the members would really appreciate if you could upload some pictures of the fish and coral to ensure you have what you are talking about. If you have a blue tang in there, that is worrisome because they require a minimum tank size of 180 gallons, which is quite a bit more than what you have.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+43+330&pcatid=330

 

[greech]

Welcome to the hobby. You've taken on quite a project but you've come to the right place.

Before you go any further, I highly recommend that you read the stickys at the top of the forum. Some may not apply since you inherited an existing tank with livestock but they should help you quite a bit.

How long have you had the tank? Depending on that answer and the fact that you have a shrimp that is still alive, water quality may not be a concern as noted below.

Knowing what I know now, I would suggest that you contact a LFS and see if you can get future credit for new livestock once you have a better understanding of keeping a reef tank, especially a small one. Keep the tank, rocks, and equipment to keep the tank running but I would remove all of the livestock. Note that mushrooms can live through just about anything so if you can't remove them from the rocks, don't sweat it too much.

If that is not an option (from what you have provided) here are some suggestions...

1. Remove the blue tang and take it to a reputable LFS or give it to someone that has an appropriate tank. All other fish are fine for that tank size but eventually should go in a bigger tank than a 20 gallon. 5 fish is a bit on the high side though so if you have an opportunity to rehome one or two that you don't want, you may want to consider it. Testing your water (see below) should also be a priority and any livestock should be removed if tests warrant it.

2. Unless the unknown coral requires it, do not feed any of the foods that you listed to the tank. The filtration you are running is simply not sufficient to handle it and the tank may crash and or become very polluted with nutrients.

3. I am not sure how you moved the tank but I assume things wet removed, stirred up and put back together. Even if the tank was matured, it is in a fairly unstable state. Over feeding, etc. can increase the impact of any repeat nitrogen cycle that you may have.

4. Test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. If you have any ammonia you need to take action by either removing the livestock or performing water changes and using a product like Prime or Amquel to convert the ammonia.

5. The corals you listed do not suggest the need to dose the C balance. Do not add any of this until you test the water for calcium, alkalinity and magnesium and have an understanding of how those work. The corals you listed are not very demanding and should be ok while you research.

Did you get any testing equipment? Hydrometer or refractometer?

Pics of the tank would definitely help, if you can provide them.

 

[CKI]

Yep...get rid of that Tang ... your tank is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too small for that guy