Danno's Marine Journal

[Danno]

Ok my parents just gave me the a-ok for a 20 gallon long tank. This thing is gunna be awsome, exept for the 500 dollar bill i have to pay off later on . I was looking a power heads and light. I want hard corals and stuff so i was looking at this really nice lighting set. It is 130 watts and 30 inches long, which is the size of my tank. That way there is 6 1/12 a watt per gallon and since the tank is only a foot high it would be ok right? Another thing I was looking at was powerhead. The ones I was looking at was 2 ehiem powerballs. I would get 2 of them and a filter along which would help the gph. The total of the gph for the tank would be 500 gph. Is that wnough?

Im really getting exited for my first marine tank

If anyone has any more ideas that would be great!

WOOHOO!

 

[superman]

First thing I would say is get a 20 gallon that is drilled so you can add another 20 gallon underneath as a sump in order to increase water volume. OR get a 40 gallon, a 20 gallon is considered a very small tank and a challenge to maintain water quality, just not a good size to start out and learn with. Not much room for mistakes, and mistake are inevitable when starting out a new tank, larger the better!

 

[Ed4567]

As said 20 gallons isn't the ideal size to start off with, however provided you do your planning it is possible. I'm slightly concerned by 'hard corals and stuff'- if this is your first tank and you only have 20 gallons of water then it is best to leave the hard corals till later IMO. There are plenty of nice soft corals which are not so demanding in terms of water quality/ lighting/ calcium and alkalinity levels etc. etc.

 

[Ed4567]

Just re-read my post:
I wasn't trying to sound patronising- I'm still wary of adding LPS corals and am not adding any SPS in the near future to my tank due to the difficuilty in keeping them.

 

[Danno]

for me it is a 20 gallon or nothing and ive been thinking and been studing since september about it. I cant have a sump because im working in a place where thier is all cabinets below it. Its basically all horizontal....nothing vertical. I figured out if i could put in a fluval canister and all it might be ok. I talked to navarre along time ago and he seemed ok with it, but maybe things have changed.

 

[superman]

If you really want to keep corals in the 20 gallon then I would go with MAYBE one fish, this will keep the bioload way down and make sure that the tank doesn't get loaded up with excess nutrients and end up killing all the hard corals. I say this assuming that what you meant by hard corals was sps corals.

 

[Danno]

If hard corals are that hard then ill just stick with the basic soft corals like mushroom and leathery things

 

[Danno]

Well today I had some good news. The fish store just got some brand new items in along with another 1000 punds of beutiful live rock, matis shimp free . They garenteed it, its really reasuring =) (as long as their isnt at all for sure )

I talked to the owner and said that the best thing to cut expense is to go without fish for like 2 months and just get your stuff very gradually. He said it was better for cycling and catching problmes, and of course, price. I was conused at first but then i kinda understood but I just wanted to make sure that was good, so im asking you.

All the help you can give me would be great appresiated.

 

[parker313]

Sounds about right, if you're gradually adding live rock. If you add all of the live rock in all at once and then no fish or other critters, there's nothing contributing waste to keep the bacteria established on the live rock.

Check out this post pinned to the top of the forum, it's a GREAT article on setting up the tank.

 

[Danno]

Thats a great article! thanks for showing me that.

The next question is....i was to get a jawfish, but they need 7 or more inches of substrate. If you have that much substrait isnt that going to pack down easy? Also, The meens egtting a 20 gallon long with 7" of substrate you would only have a total of a tank 4" high . Then it would be better to get a 30 gallon right? I meen... i have a desk basically, and it is build into my wall (sturdy but...i dont want my room to fall off the house ) does substrate weight less then water? or more? My parents are freaking out with the idea with a 30 gallon. 20 took me 3 months of convincing....... So basically i need the best with a 20 and then if worst come to worst then ill have to convince them of a 30 gallon and all....that will be a pain and probably 6 months later

Anywho....

What I would really like is a coart jester goby, a yellowhead jawfish, a purple firefish goby and a ocerellis clownfish.

Thats really pushing a 20 gallon right? I think, from my research, it is really really raelly really (cant stress the reallys') risky....


Does anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks for all of your help so far

 

[sammydee]

Well I don't know anything about those fish you have, but if this is your first reef tank, you don't want to "really really really" push it, because you will end up with problems. Better to have say... three live fish than four dead fish + all your inverts killed by terrible water conditions.

If you add the fish slowly and one at a time (if there aren't any territorial disputes) and have loads of live rock though, you should be alright pushing the bioload a little.

 

[Danno]

I just talked to my parents and give them like.. a speach on how bigger is better , and sometimes cheaper. They seemed really convinced and i might get a 30 gallon now MAYBE....that is if i save up 300 dollars But ultamatly its the weight concern


...lol.....i told them the substrate and the live rock was so light it (i was thinking 7" of live sand) would seem like i had a 20 gallon

 

[superman]

I just talked to my parents and give them like.. a speach on how bigger is better , and sometimes cheaper. They seemed really convinced and i might get a 30 gallon now MAYBE....that is if i save up 300 dollars But ultamatly its the weight concern


...lol.....i told them the substrate and the live rock was so light it (i was thinking 7" of live sand) would seem like i had a 20 gallon

Why would you need 300 dollars for a 30 gallon?!!

 

[Danno]

300 Dollars for a 30 Gallon tank marine ready would include

-Tank
-Filter
-Heater
-Hydrometer
-Thermometer
-Light
-Hood
-Salt
-Food
-Chemi-pure
-Phosban
-Marine Essentials
-Marine for beginners book
-25 pounds of live sand
-5 punds of live rock

Its a really good deal

I just need to buy 2 Ehiem Powerball Powerheads

 

[Ed4567]

What lighting is included with that deal?

You are probably going to want a bit more live rock than is included and personally I would only have a thin layer of sand in this tank- a deep sand bed takes up too much waer volume.