Got my 20 gallon set up...

mes1

mes1

Member
Originally Posted by rbaldino
Nitrate's high, so you definitely want to do a water change before adding anything. I'd say 25 percent. You can probably take the shrimp out now, and get your CUC whenever you want. Just make sure you acclimate them properly. Snails in particular don't take new-tank shock very well.
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
clarify real fast on how many fish in tank.... it depends, but yes, four small fish are def doable. I had a firefish, ocell, and watchman goby in a ten gallon forever..... if you dont have crap filtration, it is very doable. I didnt read the whole thread cuz their are alot of long posts, so sorry, but when you said that the only way to avoid a cycle is to use all rock and sand from an established tank.... isn't that how you do everything? The sand I get is from and established tank, and the rock is too.... Im no expert, but in theory id say im right.
 
rbaldino

rbaldino

Active Member
Originally Posted by bknow
So what should my nitrates be at?? I'm going to do a water change this weekend probably and get some snails and hermit crabs
Fish can handle it at fairly high levels, but you want to aim for under 20 ppm, under 10 ppm if you want corals.
Just a guess here, but I'm thinking the nitrates are as a high as they are because of the dead, rotting slab of shrimp meat you've got in there. That thing's probably producing a far higher bioload than a few living fish ever will.
 
bknow

bknow

Member
Yeah i took that nasty shrimp out...haha im going to check the water again in the morning...then time to get the clean up crew!!...10 turbos and 10 hermits sound finee?? if i can afford it..haha
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
im not a pro but Ive got a 20g setup much like yours.
I used a penguin bioheel filter but took the biowheel out since the live rock is WAY BETTER than any biowheel. I still use it for the pad filter (physical filtration) I run a seperate hang on back sump that has MORE live rock and a couple chemi-pure bags to help with the bio and chemical filtration.
I added the rock and sand and water to start up. I let all the sand settle before i turned my two powerheads on. I let the tank "get going" for about a week. it DID go through a cycle but it wasnt big. Probably cus the rock I bought wasnt fully cured. Plus when you add rock, there is some die off that happens with the bacteria colonies already on it.
After that week I added 4 domino damsels (DAMNIT
) and removed them like 2 weeks later when i realized they were not going to work with any other fish. I now have a clown fish with a bubble tip anemone, and a bunch of other corals, galaxea, zoas, polyps, xenia, etc... I added macro algae to start using up smallamounts of nitrates, and a few clams for the same reason.
Back to the setup. I added a cleaning crew a few days before the damsels. So that they can acclimate and find their homes and establish a bit before the fish came into town.
Ill tell you right off the bat. With the size of tank we are dealing with, youll need tons of water changes and tons balancing acts. cant feedtoomuch cuz a nitrate spike is always just around the corner. I feed my clown every other day, and still only enough to keephim healthy.
The live rock acts as a living creature so it breaks down any organics into a final chemical nitrate. theselevels can grow quickly in a smalltank as i learned the hard way a while back.
Youll find your self keeping just a couple maybe a few fish, and start exploring the almost endless possibilities with corals, and other filter feeders.
feather dusters, macro algaes, soft corals, hard corals...sponges, sea squirts, clams, i can go on and on.
Heres a pick of my tank. Im only getting started. but you can see, there is only one fish, hiding in the anemone, the rest is all the other amazing stuff the sea has to offer.
enjoy,
Maks
 
rbaldino

rbaldino

Active Member
Originally Posted by EmoNemo
im not a pro but Ive got a 20g setup much like yours.
I used a penguin bioheel filter but took the biowheel out since the live rock is WAY BETTER than any biowheel. I still use it for the pad filter (physical filtration) I run a seperate hang on back sump that has MORE live rock and a couple chemi-pure bags to help with the bio and chemical filtration.
I added the rock and sand and water to start up. I let all the sand settle before i turned my two powerheads on. I let the tank "get going" for about a week. it DID go through a cycle but it wasnt big. Probably cus the rock I bought wasnt fully cured. Plus when you add rock, there is some die off that happens with the bacteria colonies already on it.
After that week I added 4 domino damsels (DAMNIT
) and removed them like 2 weeks later when i realized they were not going to work with any other fish. I now have a clown fish with a bubble tip anemone, and a bunch of other corals, galaxea, zoas, polyps, xenia, etc... I added macro algae to start using up smallamounts of nitrates, and a few clams for the same reason.
Back to the setup. I added a cleaning crew a few days before the damsels. So that they can acclimate and find their homes and establish a bit before the fish came into town.
Ill tell you right off the bat. With the size of tank we are dealing with, youll need tons of water changes and tons balancing acts. cant feedtoomuch cuz a nitrate spike is always just around the corner. I feed my clown every other day, and still only enough to keephim healthy.
The live rock acts as a living creature so it breaks down any organics into a final chemical nitrate. theselevels can grow quickly in a smalltank as i learned the hard way a while back.
Youll find your self keeping just a couple maybe a few fish, and start exploring the almost endless possibilities with corals, and other filter feeders.
feather dusters, macro algaes, soft corals, hard corals...sponges, sea squirts, clams, i can go on and on.
Heres a pick of my tank. Im only getting started. but you can see, there is only one fish, hiding in the anemone, the rest is all the other amazing stuff the sea has to offer.
enjoy,
Maks
That's pretty cool, but I'm fairly certain you can have more than the one fish. DeMartini has 3 in her 14 gallon nano, and it's packed with corals.
BTW - Chemipure isn't really going to help with bio or chemical filtration, and you should consider adding a skimmer.
 
bknow

bknow

Member
NICE TANK i like how the clown plays with the anemone i wanna do that with my fish too...how many times a week did you have to do a water change...and how much water? My tanks almost ready, just need to do a water change and i think im set to start adding things...
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
with 4 fish i had to change the water like 20% every 6 days or so.
with the clown I change once a week and im keeping nitrates at like 5-10.
Im not getting a skimmer because that will simply take out all the supplements im paying money to put in there.
and chemi pure does help with chemical filtration. its super activated carbon along with being designed not only to remove ammonia and other harmful toxins from aquarium water, but Chemi-pure actually stabilizes the negative and positive ions in your aquarium, which are a very important aspect of aquarium fish health.
ever since i started running chemi pure Ive SEEN result in the form of ULTRA crisp looking water. almost unreal at night under the moon LED's. just shimmers, and clear as day in the uh, day. haha
plus i dont have to replace the carbon filter pads for the old penguin i have. all it does is run rubble rock and i wash out the physical filter pad and slip it in again. no need to pay 8 bucks a pop for a one weeks worth of carbon in that thing.
also you probably cant see in my pic but my HOB sump dumps right down the back middle at the force af about an aquaclear20 power head. then I have two more powerheads one on each side using hydor rotators to keep a random current. The rocks looks snug but there are tons of places for water to flow. Main point there is make sure youve got flow, not just strong flow, but flow everywhere....
i hope i dont sound like im trying to hijack the thread and talk about MY tank. im just throwing ideas at you.
hope im helping...
Maks
 
bknow

bknow

Member
i could run chemi pure through my hot magnum right? what kind of supplements are you using also?
 
rbaldino

rbaldino

Active Member
Originally Posted by EmoNemo
and chemi pure does help with chemical filtration. its super activated carbon along with being designed not only to remove ammonia and other harmful toxins from aquarium water, but Chemi-pure actually stabilizes the negative and positive ions in your aquarium, which are a very important aspect of aquarium fish health.
ever since i started running chemi pure Ive SEEN result in the form of ULTRA crisp looking water. almost unreal at night under the moon LED's. just shimmers, and clear as day in the uh, day. haha
Yeah, I know what it says on the back of the container. That doesn't mean it's actually doing that in your tank. I used it for a while and it didn't seem to make any difference. If anything, it just clogged up my filter because the bag is quite large.
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
Im supplementing with Calcium to keep it at around 450. get a kit to test it.
and iodine, and strontium.
CP has worked pretty good for me so far. i know what you mean about the bag size though, i just happen to have room in my hob.
 
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