updating tank

[angelsj247]

in my 20 gal tank i have 2 clowns for a year now.. every new snail i put in dies, so i only have 1 turbo 1 astrea and about 5 nassauris snails that ive had for almos a year. my peppermint shrimp which is the first things ive had in my tank just died, one a month ago, and one just recently. i have a power filter, 2 power heads, 150 gph, and a 200 gph. Im thinking about getting a skimmer, would this really help me out, also is there anything else i should do to help survival in my tank, i would like to get a star and possibly some kind of corals in my tank within the next couple of months. i also have a coralife light white and blue lights. forgot the wattage and whatnot, i can look that up later if important. Ive never really understood the whole refugium thing no matter how much ive read on it.
thanks in advance for the help and ideas.

 

[papagimp]

forget the starfish, it'll wind up dying in that tank. Far to small to feed appropriately. As for corals, figure out your lighting, it's extremely important. Corals (most, not all) are photosynthetic and will require light. More accurate would be to say the algae living in their tissue that gives them nutrients is photsythetic. refugium explained simply, it's nothing more than a space devoted to allow for macro algae growth (if that's what you want) or to allow certain species/livestock/critters to thrive without fear of being eaten or killed by somethign in the display portion of the tank. For instance....having a refugium in a tank with a green mandarin will allow for your pod population to breed saftley in the fuge, a mandarin will quickly eat all the pods out of a display tank and will starve without more live foods. Since he can't get to the pods in the fuge, it makes for a constant source of live foods. Alternativly, when used to house macro algae, gives a place for that to grow without spreading aroudn the tank or without fish and other livestock eating on it. Bascially you are just taking a sump and going one step further and adding more benefits to the tank.

As for the snails, are they starving out? Do you have plenty of algae growth to sustain new snails? Also, what are your water parameters sitting at? nitrates, nitrite, ammonia, ph, specific gravity/salinity, alk, phosphates, ect. ect.

 

[killagoby]

Check your parameters and get a skimmer for the tank. Aqua-C's Remora would work well for that tank, so would CPR's BakPak with the bio-bale removed. After that I'd work on getting a fuge. CPR has the AquaFuge which would work well with your set up.

If you have any filter media like a sponge in your power filter remove it. It is working as a nitrate factory.

 

[Brooksy]

A tank that small really should have a skimmer. I had the same problem and after you see wat the skimmer pulls out you wouldn't wanna be without one

 

[angelsj247]

i do have a sponge and carbon in the filter, ill take out the sponge.
this is the lighting fixture i have
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12109&N=2004+113345

is a fuge the same thing as a sump.. is the aquafuge something that is already set up that i can just buy? what are the benefits of this?

 

[angelsj247]

i know my salinity is .25, the temp is 79-80 right now cuz its getting warmer. normally have it at 78. i have lots of algea, brown and some cyno, and coraline.. think that what its called, all over the sides of my tank. ill have to let you know the other parameters when i get home, i dont test for phoshates, what kind of test do i get for that, i only test for alk, ph, nitrates, nitrites.

 

[angelsj247]

ok here are my readings..
ph is about 8.0
alk is good
nitrate is at about 10
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
temp is 78
salinity 1.025