What can I add to a 20g? + pics of my tank

[Neuahda]

I have a 20g High tank with a sump. The total ammount of water is around 35g (with sump). I have about 15lbs of live rock. I am getting more and I'm thinking I will end up with about 25lbs when I'm done. I also have a skimmer setup on the tank that is rated up to 75g. My lighting is PC coralife 50/50(actinic blue and 10k) 65W.

What I'm wondering is what can I get for fish, inverts, and corals? I want to get a pair of clown fish or maybe just one. Other then that I would like a starfish.
For corals I have no clue what I can keep under this lighting. I am researching every day and I'm making some progress but I'm not ready to really start adding corals.

I'm mostly interested in finding out what fish(other then a clown) I can put in this tank. Any suggestions would be nice and I am looking for colorful fish that are easy to take care of(I'm still new to this so I don't want anything that is very difficult for a semi-newb to keep).

I will be checking this post frequently so I will respond if anyone needs to know anything else about my tank.

 

[SaltyMist]

Forget the corals unless they are low light corals. In my 20 gallon I have 2 false percs, 1 firefish, 1 lawnmower blenny. Im at my max if not over my max, but so far everyone is doing nicely. I have several mushrooms of differeing variety, and I have a flowerpot cora (yes, I know I shouldnt have - but I didnt learn until after I bought it, but thankfully it's doing good so far). I have 110w of lighting.

If I had it to do over againl, I wouldnt do the flowerpot coral, and I'd ditch the two clownfish and blenny and just go with about 3 or 4 firefish, they make interesting viewing when they dont have anyone chasing them and are quite beautiful.

 

[brandon4291]

Good luck with your new 20H setup, you are sure to succeed with the research and reading you are taking on before the build. Can you fit another 65w on top of your system>? that will help, and in the mean time you can set some of your first corals higher up on the reef wall until you get stronger lighting. Aside from controlling water quality (with the skimmer you've mentioned and regular water changes) and specific-gravity topoff, you'll probably find that soft corals get by in the system as is with your 65 w light. I wouldn't really pack them in until you have more light, but it should allow for some experimentation after the tank has cycled and you have chosen your fish bioload.

I believe some clownfish can be territorial as saltymist has mentioned so keeping them in pairs is often discouraged though it is done. You are on the wise track getting input from those who keep marine fish, so I'd recommend to keep reading up on the behavior interactions and as far as their impact on the system, you can measure that with ammonia and nitrate test kits.

Ammonia tests (after complete system cycle) done regularly tell you if your fish bioload is too heavy (registers any ammonia at all) for the amount of surface area (live rock) and circulation provided within the system. Should you have an ammonia reading at any time, you can correct it by changing 50% of the water first, removing a fish or two, increasing LR surface area (what you described sounds like plenty enough) or search for a dead fish/rotting food somewhere within your rockwork. The immediate correction is the water change, more than 50% may be needed along with removal of the origination source. Ammonia tests warn you of immediate consequence to the system whereas nitrate can warn you of the long-term consequences.

An acceptable nitrate range for your new tank might be somewhere in between 5-30 ppm. It can be allowed to go higher, but if you have practice keeping it at 30 max that will get you ready to move up to trickier corals as the lighting allows. Corrections to nitrate levels are the same as ammonia, although I don't shoot for a zero reading in my tank. In my opinion, attaining that reading consistently in a nano requires too much system disturbance or more gadgets and after years of pico keeping (most of them with the same pico, the reefbowl) I have yet to see a mild nitrate consistency wreck a tank or prevent SPS/stony coral growth.

Good luck and get us pics when you can!

Brandon M.

 

[Anonymous]

I happen to keep two clowns in pairs (A. Clarkii) however i have heard of them turning on one another...You want to get ideas on the tanks me and Ricky1414 both have 20gal High..check out the members tank spec forums maybe seeing our pix of the tanks will help...

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... 2&start=40

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=50294
If you are gonna get a clown pair, introduce them simultaneously..less likely to turn on one another..if you add one, it will assume the whole tank as hers and is less likely to share..i know from first hand experience...Good luck and keep reading..

 

[SaltyMist]

My clowns are fals percs, and maybe I just got lucky, probably did, but I bought a 2 1/2 inch fish and put it in the tank, about a week later I had to tear down one of my tanks, and nowhere to put the 1" false perc so I put it in the 20H tank with the larger clown and they took to each other immediately, and became virtually unseperable. I think theres only been one night where the smaller clown slept up near the top of the water (like he did in his old tank) and the rest of the time they sleep right next to each other all night long.

So at present by this experience Im an advocate of getting one large and one small, though there are many variables involved, like how long each has been kept by itself in the pet store and suppliers place. I ended up buying the larger one that was on it's own from the LFS, and the smaller one from Petco where they keep them with like 20 to 30 in a tank to reduce the risk that the smaller one may have already turned female.

Worked out so far.

But again I wouldnt do clownfish again, they are territorial, but it seems in my tank they are only really territorial against the firefish, the lawnmower blenny, they completely ignore when he comes into their space.

 

[Neuahda]

I will post pics as soon as my water clears up. I've been fighting green water with some success. I just added the skimmer, so that should help. However it's going slow. I am doing more water changes and it seems to finally be going away. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.

I have a question about buying a pair of clowns. If I were to mate them. Should I buy them from the pet store when they are young? or should I just try to buy a mated pair? I'm only wondering because if I were to get 2 of them I'd like to start with 2 rather then try to add one later.

Thanks again for all the input.

 

[SaltyMist]

If you can buy them pre paired, they by all means do so, if thats the fish you really want. But I dont see hardly any mated pairs in the lfs's around here.

As far as the green water, Im not sure what you mean by that, are you fighting an algae bloom where your tank is getting covered in algae on the walls of the tank, or is your tank water literally green when you siphon some out into a clear glass jar? If its algae on the walls, then this is somewhat normal, also more prevelant if you are using regular tap water to do your top up and water changes (mixed with salt mix of course), but if your water itself is green, then Im stumped, sounds stagnant, but I just dont know.

 

[Neuahda]

Yes my water is actually green. The skimmer is turning out green skim mate. It's nice to see the stuff comming out that way. The green water from what I've read is micro algea and it's caused by to much light. The skimmer should keep the stuff out. However, it's been in there for a while. Before I had the skimmer the water changes weren't able to clean up the water. It would just turn green within a day. I would do a 50% water change and 2 days later the tank would be a cloudly green. I've also heard that I should turn out all the lights on the tank and cover it so no light gets in there and do this for at least 2 days. Well my one coral that I have in there can't survive without light. If the skimmer doesn't clean up my tank I'm going to take the coral out and place it in a bucket with a light on it for 3 days and cover the tank.

I was wondering if anyone else had any input on the green water.

Thanks again for all your feed back.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have calupera? Cuz when it goes sexual, it releases "sperm" and in a small tank it can actually turn the water green..just another angle if you have calupera

 

[Anonymous]

How long has your tank been setup total?

 

[Neuahda]

No, I don't have culpera. The tank has been set up for 5 months and I've had green water for a month and a half. But, I've only had the skimmer for about 3 or 4 days.

 

[ricky1414]

I think a max of 3 fish would keep a good bioload. I have a clarkii (well behaved I might add), a juvenile green chromis, and a black clown goby. I don't think I would consider adding another fish into the mix. I had green water syndrom when my tank first started. Do religous water changes with quality ro/di water, don't overfeed, and it should clear up.
HTH

 

[Neuahda]

Here are some pics of my tank..the green water is cleaning up

 

[Neuahda]

My electric blue hermit. I think he looks so cool

 

[Anonymous]

Are you sure its water not the glass? tank looks pretty good other than the green water :wink:

 

[Neuahda]

Are you sure its water not the glass? tank looks pretty good other than the green water :wink:

Ya I'm pretty sure. :wink: The water looks 1000 times better then it did a week ago. I can't wait till the water is cristal clear again... I've been dealing with this green water for so long.

 

[Anonymous]

Good luck! Im glad its clearing up...your tank is looking pretty good...

 

[Neuahda]

I just wanted to let everyone know that my water cleared up!!!!! I'm so happy to have a clean fishtank again.

Below is a pic of the tank as it stands today. Thank you all again for your help!

 

[Anonymous]

"There is only 1 fish in the tank btw"

Really? I see two...

 

[Neuahda]

ya I took 2 photo's and combined them. The damsel didn't want to stay on one side of the tank