My 20gal tall

kemfish

kemfish

Member
I am about 3 weeks in to re-starting my 20 gallon tank (I had it up and running but we had an emergency accident...not going into that). So, here we are...my list so far (I have had to buy almost all new equipment due to the emergency, but at least I know what I have now!):
1 Marineland Penguin 200 Filter (operating in my DT)
1 Millenium 2000 filter (this one is not operating, husband thinks he can fix it to keep as a back up, but we will see how that goes)
1 5 galllon bucket for mixing salt into water
1 Zoo Med Power Sweeper powerhead (this is not in my tank, I use it in my mixing bucket)
1 Tetra 100 watt heater (this is the next to be replaced, it is preset with no adjuster and I HATE it...thinking of getting 2 50 watts instead, what do you think?)
1 hood with light bulb (I don't know what kind of lighting I have, it came with my tank and is also on the "next to go" list)
10 lbs of live sand (20lbs more is expected to arrive on Dec 30th, but I am not sure if I will end up using it now that I see what 10lbs looks like in the tank)
1 5.5lb chunk of live rock in my QT waiting to move to the DT (more to come when I am not so broke!!)
1 Instant Ocean hydrometer (hoping for a refractometer in the near future, but this works for now)
1 magnetic thermometer
Based on how the tank was operating when we bought it (only had a filter for equipment), and the fact that it will be a FOWLR, do I NEED any other equipment(besides a new light)?
Here are before and after pics, I will update as things move along!
Before:

Currently:

And my live rock(bad pic, but you get the idea):

My end goal is to get 2 Ocellaris Clowns in here, with...I don't know what else yet. Ideas?
 
S

smallreef

Guest
maybe a goby or blenny...(excluding sand sifters and copepod eaters)
pistol shrimp and goby combo??
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
You will have an interesting time aquascaping that tank. Do you have any ideas on how you are going to make use of the space you have?
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Seth it may just be a 25, my husband got it for me and the guy he bought it from thought it was 25 gallons but wasn't really sure.
As far as aquascaping goes I haven't thought about it much. I saw a really nice looking tall tank recently that I may take some ideas from though. I am excited to get it going, should be off for more live rock this weekend!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Yup - definitely a 25g breeder. Make sure you have enough water flow at the top of the tank and don't enclose the top because you need proper gas exchange. No O2 in the water = low pH. You may even want to consider putting a small nano powerhead blowing across the top of the water (not up at the surface or down from surface to bottom, but ACROSS) which will keep pH relatively stable and the water well oxygenated. Tall tanks such as that have problems with pH issues unless they are put on a sump system. Getting a decent light fixture and filling the tank with some decorative macroalgaes would probably be the easiest thing to do - and would keep your inhabitants safe and happy.
Macroalgaes consume nitrate and phosphate, they add oxygen to the water by the process of photosynthesis. They also have the ability to remove ammonia and heavy metals from the water. It's also the easiest thing for new saltwater hobbyists to keep, grow and harvest. It's all around beneficial. Some macroalgaes are great for seahorses to grab on to. 25g breeder tanks are used primarily for breeding finicky clownfish, but I think they make pretty good seahorse tanks too.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Thanks very much for the recommendations! My husband and I have been looking at new lights for a week or so, do you have any input on the Marineland LED Double Bright Aquarium Lighting System? Or the Zoo Med AquaSun T-5 HO Double Light Linear Fluorescent Hood? We were looking at them recently, and seeing as you said we should not have a full hood on it, those light fixture make sense, but I don't know much about lighting systems.
We will definitely look into getting some macroalgaes for the tank too, sounds like a great addition to the tank.
Seahorses would be an interesting thing to keep, we originally had planned this tank to become a QT once we get a bigger tank going, but it might have to have seahorses instead since I already have a QT.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Bought some more rock recently, it makes the old chunk look sad. Should be able to start dumping money into the tank every week now with my new job :D Here is the new rock. (Don't mind the ugly clown fish veggie clip, I have some clear ones coming sometime this week!)

Very excited to start getting seriously into this tank. I think I have decided I will create two separate piles of live rock with a "divide" in the middle, and an arch at the top. I saw a tank with divided piles and my only thought was it needed a nice arch piece, so we'll see what he husband and I can assemble over the next month or so...and then on to fish!!
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Here is my next question: Can we epoxy the rocks in place as we build? If so, what is a good brand to get for this purpose?
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Well, time for an update.
We are tearing this tank down and putting it into storage (or maybe getting rid of the tank itself). Our 2 year old can reach the 25 gallon on it's stand (it is on a low end table) and it is proving impossible to keep him out of it. We also are having difficulty with a stock list...the availability on this island makes me crazy some days! Anyway, my husband got me a 29 gallon with stand (the stand needs some love, so we'll be fixing that soon enough) and we are working on setting it up. Hopefully this weekend he will get the stand reinforced (it was sold as a stand for a 29gallon, but says not to put more than 290lbs on it
) so we are going to reinforce it and build some shelving inside of it. I will open a new thread for that tank here in a minute, since I think I have my potential stock list narrowed down. The only thing I am still baffled about is a good CUC. I don't like snails or crabs... at all...so it's going to be hard to decide on something. I also have no idea where to get them at, I have never seen any at the two LFS I have been to on island, or ***** (which we don't want to buy from anyway). Oh well, another thread :)
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Quick question though, before I lose your help here Seth...I cannot get anything from SWF.com shipped to me in Hawaii. It isn't an option the site offers, so I am trying to find a refractometer, because I plan to buy one tomorrow. I have not seen on in the LFS, but I found one on another site...except it says it is used "to measure the specific gravity of dog urine"
...can I use this one for my tank? I don't want to dish out that much money for something that won't work properly.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Lol, you kill me.
No, I would not buy a piece of equipment for my saltwater tank that can test dog urine. I'm thinking that the salinity of dog urine is probably quite low and it's probably very accurate, however, it's not the proper "range" that saltwater aquariums use. I'm sorry you can't find something better.
Maybe a friend from the states can buy and ship one to you? I'm not sure how much shipping to Oahu would cost...
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
Dogs urine (for a normally hydrated dog) averages from a SG of 1.015 to 1.045 so I'm assuming this refractometer would be okay to use.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Not sure, I went ahead and had one shipped to my sister in Colorado anyhow, it'll be here in a couple weeks...we've made it this far, a few more weeks won't kill me I suppose. Great info though, where did you learn that?
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/389675/my-20gal-tall#post_3454436
Lol, you kill me.
No, I would not buy a piece of equipment for my saltwater tank that can test dog urine. I'm thinking that the salinity of dog urine is probably quite low and it's probably very accurate, however, it's not the proper "range" that saltwater aquariums use. I'm sorry you can't find something better.
Maybe a friend from the states can buy and ship one to you? I'm not sure how much shipping to Oahu would cost...
My husband and I both sat here laughing for quite some time over this...and decided you are right, we probably wouldn't want something that is made to test dog's urine near our tanks
Shipping isn't as bad as you would expect, which is why it drives me insane that so many places refuse to ship to the island. Not sure why I didn't think of that before you mentioned it though, that is how we got my son's birthday presents here!
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Ok, just kidding. I am gonna keep you here forever lol.
I know we talked about lights for a brief minute...is Nova Extreme a good brand for T5HO? The husband is giving me $400 for my tank when taxes come in, so new lights are a must. I still don't know anything at all about lights, I completely fail at retaining any information on them. I tried to talk to the guy at the LFS about lights, but I get the feeling he is trying to give us things we don't need because we don't know any better. We will be buying lights for both the 25 and 29 gallon tanks. The 29 we are going to attempt coral (found zoas at a LFS on the island!!) in, so we need a better light than the one that came with it...and the 25 doesn't have a set plan yet, so we'll likely mimic what we do for the 29, just in case we do decide to do coral in it later.
Or scratch that, I found linkables like you said :)
AquaticLife Dual T5HO for saltwater...would those work well?
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Here is the new thread:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/390360/our-final-build-thread#post_3456258
 
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