My 20 gal. ?'s

[jessed244]

Hi, I have a 20 gallon Saltwater tank, this is my second attempt at saltwater, didnt work the last time. Here is what I have
20 Gal Tall Tank
Whisper Filter In Tank (would love to take out)
Heater
Powerhead(up to 145 GPH)
I have had it up and running since end of december, I started adding live stuff late FEB.
I have 9lbs of Live Rock
1 Green Chromis
1 Maroon clown (just added last night, hope he makes it)
5 Hermitt crabs
4 snails
1 emerald crab
1 Red crab of some kind
I have Fake sand, Couldnt afford Live at the time.
I also have some kind of live plant, the LFS gave me to test the phosphate. I dont know the name, it looks like a fern, and I think the name begins with a C.
I have ordered some stuff from SWF and I would like to know what anyone thinks I can have in my tank in addition to what I have. I dont know about corals, cuz i dont know how well i can keep them lol. are they hard? I also would like an anenome, but have been a little worried about handling it, How do you handle. Thanks for any help and advice you have for me! Thanks

 

[condyman]

What type of lights do you have?
Don't get an anemone until you have atleast 75 w of light on top of the tank.
anemones feed through photosynthesis and if you dont have adequate lights, it will starve to death.
sounds like you want to stick with 90% fish maybe some small corals nothing to crazy. you have community fish in the tank, you can try a nice royal gamma (Hardy) maybe a yellow tang (Intermediate), clowns (Hardy).

 

[condyman]

whatever you do make sure you add one at a time and check your biological load before you add another fish

 

[jessed244]

Thanks, the bulb I bought has a picture of an anenome on the box and the lfs told me that was the one to buy if i got an anenome,
Could I really have a yellow tang? I thought you had to have 55gal or bigger.
Quick question- if amonia and nitrates, nitrites. How do you get them down?? Thanks!

 

[condyman]

You are absolutely right. NO tangs in anything smaller than a 50g
read all the articles about "nitrification cycle" search in google.
It tells you the time frames, amount of spikes and amount of water changes between spikes. your tank you should be able to cycle in 2-4 weeks.
if you've had this tank setup since december you shouldn't have cycle problems. you need to do 30% water changes until all levels go down.
every how long do you change your water?
the end caps of the bulb will tell you the wattage.

 

[poop_head]

here is one point of advice. Don't believe everything the lfs tells you. Some places are good and only try to do their best while others will just try to sell you crap. Always come and do research then go and buy. I've lost several fish due to bad advice given by lfs.

 

[poop_head]

I forgot to add that you will want to add more cured LR(around 1-2lbs. per gallon) and your sand will become live sand in time.

 

[jessed244]

Originally Posted by Poop_heaD
http:///forum/post/2513687
I forgot to add that you will want to add more cured LR(around 1-2lbs. per gallon) and your sand will become live sand in time.
Yea I thought I needed more rock, I dont have a lot of room, When I get more can I get rid of the filter?
I didnt know that about the sand! Thanks!

 

[alexa11]

I think the rule of thumb on lighting is about 3 watts per gallon for soft corals/anemone (people can correct me if i am off). so if you have a 20 gallon, you would need 60 watt min. for those types of things. so the light you got would be fine, but you'd need a few of them on your tank and perhaps reflectors in the fixtures: ). My lfs (not any good) used low fluorescent lighting on their tanks and would also sell anemones, which would last a while but would eventually die in their tanks. Get a feather duster. I've been fine with 4 fish in my 20 but wont push it above that. good luck!

 

[jessed244]

Hi, Thanks, I have 3 chromis (1 larger, 2 small) 1 small Maroon clown, and one slightly bigger percula clown. I have a cleaner shrimp, purple lobster, feather duster, snails, hermitts, and 2 small crabs. I am all set for critters, I just hope everything makes it. Everything looks good for now, a lot of them are new today, and a lot are some weeks older. Thanks

 

[perfectdark]

All that in a 20 Gal? did your LFS tell you these fish will all get along? In time (and I am guessing a very short one) Your maroon clown will kill your perc and most likely wage war on your chromis. They are the most aggressive clown species to own and you have them in a very small tank. You may hear some storys to the contrary but I warn you they are of the minority. 99% of the time mixing clown species ends poorly.
Having said that you are also IMO grossly over stocked for a 20 gal tank. Your high levels of nitrates and or nitrites is due to your huge bio load for such a small tank and possibly over feeding.
And lastly NO your lighting is not sufficient for an anemone nor do you have room for one. You need a minimum of 50 watts of HO-T5 lighting I would recomend 75 to be safe. Also if you do attempt one you need to seek out a specimine many times larger than your clown fish. At least 3x to 5x larger, maroons are very aggressive hosts and have often killed anemones that were not many times larger than their host. I hope this helps... good luck.

 

[jessed244]

Well right now My clowns are all getting along friendly.
I Never said I had a nitrite or nitrate problem ( I said IF i did how would I fix it)
I asked the live support on hear how many fish i could stock it with and she said 5 or so smaller fish (such as clowns and chromis)
Thanks for the info about the anenome, I dont think i am going to mess with one for know. Thanks

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by jessed244
http:///forum/post/2515379
Well right now My clowns are all getting along friendly.
I Never said I had a nitrite or nitrate problem ( I said IF i did how would I fix it)
I asked the live support on hear how many fish i could stock it with and she said 5 or so smaller fish (such as clowns and chromis)
Thanks for the info about the anenome, I dont think i am going to mess with one for know. Thanks

Perculas can get up to 4" in captivity and maroons can reach 6". For a balanced system 1" of fish for every 5 gals is where you should be. Although that rarely happens you are on the other end of the spectum. A maroon is not considered small, and yes for now as juveniles they may get along, but its a ticking bomb. I wish you luck, I fear your going to need it.