Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sam8 http:///t/396772/new-to-salt-water#post_3535099
Hi Guys...just purchased a 20 gallon tank from Walmart to start a salt water (fish only) tank....i am very new to it....so need some advise for the same...need to know the following before i purchase my stuff for the tank -
1. Is it advisable to keep live sand or can i keep crushed corals as well?
2. Since i would be keeping a 'fish only' tank - do i need to have LIVE ROCK or i can keep artificial rock for decoration as well?
3. I have a 50W Marina submersible heater - would that suffice for a 20 gallon tank?
4. The tank came with a Tetra Whisper internal filter - 115 Volts 60 Hz - would this suffice for a 20 gallon tank?
I will also be buy salt and hydrometer to check salinity but please let me know on my above doubts before my purchase it?
Hello, and welcome to the site!
A 20g tank is super small for saltwater, the larger the tank the easier it is to keep it going and stable. SW critters need space or they fight, they also need a tank with very little changes taking place. Most of us use 20g as a quarantine or hospital tank. A good starter would be a 55g to 75g (75g is best)
It isn't that you can't do a 20g, but I wanted to give you fair warning...most beginners think a small tank would be easiest to learn on, but the opposite is true. It will cost the same amount of money to set up a 40 breeder as it will for a 20g.
A good beginners book on saltwater aquariums should be the next purchase, a book will help you to know what questions to ask, and get you familiar with terms, so you understand the lingo, and the WHY we do what we do.
You need rock, you can have base rock (dead dried) and just a few pieces of live rock. SW tanks rely on the tiny critters that live in the rock (why it's called live) to keep the tank stable. Unlike a FW tank, the little snails and such living in the rock, actually do their job. You can also have decorations, but they collect algae...be prepared. I personally use a combo of rock and décor.
Crushed coral is not a good choice for substrate, it's too coarse for most of our CUC (clean up crew) of snails and other critters to take care of. Sand is best...live reef is the best, live (bacteria loaded in a bag) is next in the line of good, and then dried dead sand, which is still mush better then crushed coral. Our CUC critters dig in the sand, moving and sifting it, keeping it clean for us and keeping the tank healthy for the fish.
The heater is fine, any filter is good enough to use, EXCEPT the under gravel types. The HOB or canister is a better choice then the internal filter you mentioned, because the internal takes up your space, of which you already have very little of.
You need to use RO (reverse osmosis) water...any grocery store with a filling station. Tap and well water causes all kinds of problems, that you can avoid if you start off with good quality water.
Besides a good salt mix, you need test kits...lab type not strips. The quality of your water is the life of the critters that live in your tank, so a good kit is essential, you need to be able to test on the spot for any problems, you need to know exactly what is going on, so you can fix something before it becomes a problem...In a small tank I can't stress that enough.
Hydrometers are fine for water changes, but a Refractometer is mush more accurate.
Your tank must cycle before you can safely add living critters....a chunk of raw shrimp, pure ammonia (found in any laundry isle at the grocery store) or ghost feed an invisible fish for a few weeks. PLEASE don't use a live fish, it's cruel, and that first fish dictates what you can add later. In a SW tank, every thing you add affects what you can add later. Your ammonia needs to spike to 1 and be allowed to drop back to 0, then you test for nitrites, when that goes to 0, you test for nitrates...when you have nitrates over 10 and 0 on the others, you can do a small water change, I wait 1 week and ghost feed, then I restest all three.. If I still have 0 on ammonia and nitrite readings, it's good to go and ready for that first fish.
During this cycle is a good time to set up your quarantine tank (QT). You can't put medicine in your display, if your fish get sick or have parasites, they must be removed to a hospital tank...and in the event of an ich parasite, the display would have to be free of any fish for 8 weeks, for the parasite to die off. You can save yourself all kinds of problems by setting up a quarantine right off for all new fish. Another big plus to a QT is that it will regulate how fast you add new critters...too much too soon is the number 1 reason for failure, AKA: Tank crashing and everything dying. Patience is your greatest asset for success.
Last but not least...the wave is the life of the ocean and your SW tank, so you need a power head. Not a maxijet that just sends jet streams, but a Koralia type (looks like a little fan) that type sends a kind of wave dispersing outward as it pushes the water. We don't use air lines in a SW tank, it causes salt-creep, and it doesn't do much for moving the water. There is less oxygen in a SW tank then FW, so the tank needs to be open in order to have the best gas exchange possible, make the top of the surface look like it's boiling...a SW tank looks quiet and peaceful, but it's actually quite turbulent...without beating the fish to death.
