First 20 g reef tank

S

Sookie

New member
Hello all!

I'm new to SW tanks, and last week I decided to purchase a 20 gallon from old town aquariums (Are any of you familiar with that place?). Here's my setup:

- 20 gallon (24"x12"x16")
- 100 w heater
- 1x koralia nano
- 20.2 lbs of live rock (5 cured, 1 uncured piece. All from coral reef, near lawrence and harlem. Any of you familiar with that place?)
- 20 lbs of live aragonite sand (from petco)

I mixed RO water from CVS with Instant Oceans salt mix and the tank has been running for a week. I haven't seen any ammonia spikes yet. Should I throw in a piece of raw shrimp?

Parameters:

5/20
ammonia 0.25
temp 78
SG 1.023
nitrite 0.0

5/24
SG 1.023
ammonia 0-0.25 (those colors are so darn to discriminate)
nitrite 0.0
Ph 7.8-8.0
temp 78

The first pic is the aquascape. The second shows a starfish? Are they pests?
 
Sookie said:
Hello all!

I'm new to SW tanks, and last week I decided to purchase a 20 gallon from old town aquariums (Are any of you familiar with that place?). Here's my setup:

- 20 gallon (24"x12"x16")
- 100 w heater
- 1x koralia nano
- 20.2 lbs of live rock (5 cured, 1 uncured piece. All from coral reef, near lawrence and harlem. Any of you familiar with that place?)
- 20 lbs of live aragonite sand (from petco)

I mixed RO water from CVS with Instant Oceans salt mix and the tank has been running for a week. I haven't seen any ammonia spikes yet. Should I throw in a piece of raw shrimp?

Parameters:

5/20
ammonia 0.25
temp 78
SG 1.023
nitrite 0.0

5/24
SG 1.023
ammonia 0-0.25 (those colors are so darn to discriminate)
nitrite 0.0
Ph 7.8-8.0
temp 78

The first pic is the aquascape. The second shows a starfish? Are they pests?
Click to expand...

Welcome and nice looking tank! That same starfish is exactly the first hitchhiker I had as well. Not a pest, but it is possible that they will explode in population (not likely in a brand new tank). I personally don't think you need to add any dead shrimp since you had some LR and the starfish is there. PH could be slightly higher (8.4). Do you have a sump or fuge or a HOB filter? Just that power head might not be enough and you will probably want mechanical filtration of some sort. Looking very nice.
 
i used to have like 3 or 4 of those white stars in my tank and now i see them everywhere ..

but they havent harmed any corals ASAIK
 
I thought if they're assymetrical they just underwent assexual reproduction? They are cool to look at. But if they become a problem, I'll just call Super Mario to get 'em.

Thanks on the tank! It was a little pricey ($165), but this tank is the centerpiece of my apartment.

Yes, the pH is a little low. I opened the lid this morning. Hopefully that will help the gas exchange. If not, do you suggest a buffer?
 
I don't have a fuge or pump. I've read that with nano's you can get away with live rock and live sand as the filter with 10% weekly partial water changes.
 
Sookie said:
I don't have a fuge or pump. I've read that with nano's you can get away with live rock and live sand as the filter with 10% weekly partial water changes.
Click to expand...

I had read this too and you probably can, but I can't control my feeding enough and had really bad algae outbreaks. I'll be following to see if you can stay with just natural filtration. I'm just a 6 month old myself.
 
I can't seem to adjust my ph! I've opened a few windows to my apartment, opened the tank lid, and placed a small fan near the tank. Should I go to the lfs and see what they recommend?

Also, I came back from the long weekend to find many small white dots on my acryllic surface. Are those pods? They look like star constellations!

I haven't seen an increase in ammonia or nitrite while my nitrate is around 20-30. The coralline algea on my LR looks great however. I've read that if your LR is of high quality, your tank may not need to cycle. Nonetheless I think I'll wait until saturday to purchase my first batch of clean-up-crew members!
 
Measured Ph friday night and it was around 8.2.
Ammonia nonexistent, nitrite 0, nitrate 10-20.
got new heater, temp=79.

Got my first batch of members yesterday from coral reef! 1x emerald crab, 1x peppermint shrimp, 6x hermit crabs, 3x nassarius snails.

I drip acclimated them for an hour yesterday. This morning I noticed my hermit crabs are all fine and my nasarrius snails are probably burrowed in the sand. My emerald crab was hiding underneath a piece of LR and he was barely moving. There's also a cobweb-like structure around my peppermint shrimp. Does this mean she's molting or is she dead?

My tank has been cycling for 2 weeks and my levels appeared normal. I hope I wasn't too hasty in adding livestock, inadvertently putting these creatures in their grave. :(
 
:hang2: as a doorknoob. Sorry bro at least it wasn't a total loss. Remember acclamation to Temp and Water parameters.
 
So, my emerald crab is doing well apparently. My peppermint shrimp is gone. I probably didn't acclimate correctly. I remember my crab running around the tank after I introduced the crew. I thought it was funny at the moment, but he was probably stressed out. The pep shrimp probably couldn't handle it.

As of this morning all hermit crabs look good, my emerald crab is shy, but healthy, and my nassarius snails are probably burrowed somewhere.

6/4/2012
Temp 79
SG 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Ph 8.2
Nitrate 10-20

View attachment 3812View attachment 3813
 
Emerald is doing fine. He just likes to hide once in a while.

Bought a pair of clownfish on saturday. They have a lot of character and it's fun watching them eat their food. The pellets are bigger than their mouth, so they had to figure out how to break it into little pieces. BTW, my hermit crabs and snails love the pellet food too! Every 3 or 4 days I plan on adding a pinch of brine shrimp as a treat.

I'd like to get some coral next weekend. Any suggestions? I was thinking mushrooms or zooanthids.

I also listened to advice from the salesman at the LFS and bought nitrifying bacteria. I added about 3/4 cup with my 25% water change. I'm not sure if it's helpful, but oh well.


View attachment 3917View attachment 3918View attachment 3919
 
tank looks good. they should have pellets that are 0.5mm that will be perfect for small fish. NLS -new life spectrum is a brand that alot of people use. with corals, try getting some from fellow reefers. you can't beat the price. all depends also on what you like and what will do well in ur tank. good luck with the hobby.
 
Thanks! I notice my emerald is shy since I've introduced the clowns. I think once I add some coral for the clowns to host in, he'll come out.

This hobby rocks! (literally!)
 
ur emerald will mainly come out at night.. try using a light on ur fish and night and you'll see ur emerald crab roaming around everywhere.lol
 
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