New to SW: suggestions for a 20 gal tank

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hobbeslax

Member
Greetings my fellow aquarium hobby nerds. I'm venturing out from my familiar fresh waters to the briny blue. Though I have successfully run a 55 gal African mbuna cichlid tank I have never run a salt water (SW) tank before so I'm looking for a lot of advise. :tumble:

I want to start off small. What would be a good combination for a 20 gal. long fish tank for a starter?

In breaking down my 35 gal hex tank that sprung a leak (terrarium anyone?) here's what I have as far as assets:
-Whisper 20 air pump
-4" penn plax bubble disk
-Tetra EX 45 filter
-20 flat tank
-box of Instant Ocean
-5 years of African cichlid experience.

So what would be a good set up? Here's what I've seen that I like, and then you can crush my dreams and tell me why I can't have any of them.
-blue hippos (I know they grow too big, like big)
-clown fish of almost any variety
-mandarins
-(OK, I would REALLY like this one) dwarf fuzzy lionfish
-blue damsel
-there was one that was pencil-like in body and was purple and yellow (shot in the dark)

In addition, any sort of coral, anemones, bi-valves, starfish (I know they don't go w/bi-valves) and invertebrates.

So hit me up aquascapists. How would you design it?

don
 
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mettjl03

mettjl03

Member
Hi and welcome to RS!!! Well I guess I'll be the dream crusher....

The hippo tang needs about 70 gals of H2O, your tank just isnt big enough for one of these little guys.

Maybe a black and white ocellaris clownfish could work. Depends on what other fish and how much space is left in the tank.

Mandarins need 30 gals or larger and they also need live rock, live side and plenty of hiding places... In my opinion he is a no go sorry.

The blue damsel should be ok. It is a hardy fish...

Im not even going to answer the lion fish question lol (your a big dreamer my friend)...

I have no clue about what the last fish is that you have listed sorry...

What about a goby or jawfish? You could also try a banded coral shrimp

As for corals, what type of lighting do u have? Do you have live rock or live sand? I would recommend getting some power heads in your tank for flow, they are much nicer than air stones. Let us know your plans.... Good luck!!
 
chipmunkofdoom2

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
You're on the right track.. you're saving yourself a bunch of headache and trouble by asking before doing :)

hobbeslax said:
-Whisper 20 air pump
Not necessary. Aeration is best achieved by surface agitation/water movement
-4" penn plax bubble disk
See above
-Tetra EX 45 filter
Not necessary for a reef. If you're going for FOWLR, then that's fine, but for a reef it's best to rely on natural filtration.
-20 flat tank
Make sure it's not a terrarium :D
-box of Instant Ocean
Good salt.
-5 years of African cichlid experience.
Always a good thing to have.

So what would be a good set up?
Anywhere from 1-3" of an aragonite based sand, with 1 to 1.5lbs of live rock per gallon. A skimmer is recommended, but not required. Decent lighting (T5s or PCs) if you plan on corals.

Here's what I've seen that I like, and then you can crush my dreams and tell me why I can't have any of them.

-blue hippos (I know they grow too big, like big)
You're right. They need at least 75 gallons, preferably 100 gallons. Mostly for the swimming room, not volume.
-clown fish of almost any variety
Excellent, easy to care for fish. Try a black and white or picasso/snowcasso for some great variety.
-mandarins
Definitely not. Not really difficult to care for, but they only eat copepods, which are a live beneficial hitchhiker that come on live rock. A mandarin needs 100+ gallon tank with massive amounts of live rock in order to be able to keep enough copepods so that it won't starve.
-(OK, I would REALLY like this one) dwarf fuzzy lionfish
Possible, as I think they're easy to care for, but I don't believe they're great reef fish.
-blue damsel
Easy to care for and hardy, but I would advise against. They are MEAN. Like hard core.
-there was one that was pencil-like in body and was purple and yellow (shot in the dark)
Probably a pipe fish, a relative of a seahorse and pretty difficult to care for I believe.

In addition, any sort of coral,

anemones, bi-valves
These need EXTREMELY powerful lighting systems and established tanks, preferably a year or older. Not for novices, no matter how much FW experience they may have.
, starfish (can be hard to keep long term)(I know they don't go w/bi-valves) and invertebrates.

So hit me up aquascapists. How would you design it?

don
Click to expand...

For your case, I'd probably do a 2 inch sand bed, about 25-30lbs of live rock, a T5 light fixture, a skimmer if you can afford one, and preferably a refugium for nitrate export. Read, ask lots of questions, and keep us posted! :D Best of luck
 
H

hobbeslax

Member
OK,
This is what I'm getting so far:
-We're all on board for a small clown fish of some sorts
-There is some varying opionions about the damsel fish and the fuzzy dwarf lion fish
-With the proper lighting coral is a possibility
-a banded shrimp is OK
-gobies and jawfish are OK too

"-Tetra EX 45 filter
Not necessary for a reef. If you're going for FOWLR, then that's fine,"
What is FOWLR?

Keep the suggestions coming! Thanks guys.
 
BentMyWookie

BentMyWookie

Member
Have you seen a wartskin frog fish? If you like lions you might think about these,

I say start of with a hardy fish, chromis, clown , damsel (clown and damsel will be agressive) ect. and then go from there maybe your taste in fish will change, from what I have seen most people get into SW for the fish but soon gain more interest in corals. the firefish is an easy peaceful fish but its definitely very timid and a jumper, so you may need a cover for your tank if ya want one.

Have you looked into protein skimmers? Some will say they're not necessary for a smaller tank, but I think they go a long way to improving water quality.

I dont know what your tetra filter looks like, but you could probably chuck any sponge filter that it uses and drop in a bag of carbon and ferric oxide for chemical filtration.
 
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OHreefer

Member
Definitely do a powerhead for circulation, and a protein skimmer if you can! And bigger is better for SW aquariums. If you can, go bigger than 20 gallons. It's easier to keep the water quality stable.
 
H

hobbeslax

Member
Bentmywookie,
I'm all about good water quality. I'll check out the skimmer.
I would love a fuzzy dw. loin and a clown. I would also like to try my hand w/ some coral and live rock (is that possible?). I'd also like to have a goby and a shrimp. Are there any other recommended species that would be possible?
Again, I'm just brain storming as I blog along here. Nothing set in stone.

The Tetra filter is a hang on back type. I dropped the filter bags and replaced w/quilt batting (just as good and much cheaper) and reduced the amount of C. Now FeO2 would be new in my repitore.
 
yungreefer2410

yungreefer2410

Well-Known Member
ok if i was setting up a 20g long i would get a 2 or 3 bulb t5 with individual reflectors (35w). that would let you keep mst anything with time. i would build a sump and refugium for it. they are very simple and refugiums all almost all positive benefits. for circulation in tank i would do two hydor koralia ones on opposite sides on the tank. with the return flow this would give you a very nice turnover. lionfish= NO. IMO they need at least a 40g tank. i would do no more then 2'' for the sandbed. about 30 lbs of nice quality live rock. for livestock a pair of black and white clowns and a pair of cleaner shrimp.
 
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hobbeslax

Member
OK, Youngreefer threw a lot of new info my way, wich I appreciate. I will look into those suggestions. I think I can put in 2-4 small fish in. And coral. Keep up w/the light info. b/c that's new to me.
Once again, thanks folks.

don
 
M

mandjhaley

New Member
I've had a 20 gallon for about 2 months now, and so far everything's great. Long skinny fish WILL find the small hole in your lid and jump out, so make your lid as secure as possible. I don't have a protien skimmer, sump, or rfeugium, so we'll see how that goes :)
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Well I can tell you some good and some bad of 20g tanks because I have one. :)
You can check out my chronicle in my sig to see what I have for comparison.
I have the 20g long tank with an Aqua C Remora skimmer and a HOB filter for carbon and some mechanical filtration. I have two large pieces of LR in the tank with a number of smaller pieces around them.
For livestock I have a pair of Clarkii clowns and a RBTA (Rose Bubble Tip Anemone), a yellow clown goby, a pistol shrimp (his goby died), a peppermint shrimp, and a fire shrimp.
For lighting I have T5 lights and there is an extra Koralia power head for some more flow.
I have quite a bit of xenia as well as a number of mushrooms and some kenya tree moved from my reef.
I think that is it.
I love the tank but I would not recommend the anemone. Everything else I have is pretty simple to keep but the anemone needs super water quality which is difficult to keep in a small tank. They also need very high lighting but with the shallow tank I am ok with T5 lights.
A small tank can be wonderful but is also a challenge. Small water volume means that any mistakes or forgetfullness is magnified. You need to do top-offs to replace evaporated water at least every day or your salinity will rise. You need to do frequent water changes to keep the quality of the water. One of the common phrases in SW is dilution is the solution to polution. In a 20g you don't have much dilution to cover up mistakes, but they are a nice manageable size.
 
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hobbeslax

Member
Funny, we had a similar phrase in the Coast Guard but the order was different: The solution to pollution is dilution.
Are there any sort of coral or anemone that would work after the tank is established?
 
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hobbeslax

Member
Your mission

These are all good tips.
What I was really looking for was if this was a work assignment:

You have to design a 20 gal long tank for a novice marine aquarist. What would you design to win a million dollars?
Client looking for 2-3 fish and inverts of any type (coral, shrimp, anemones, etc)

While client has had several years of experience w/fresh water fish marine environments are new and exciting to him.

If you are an expert aquascapist what would you design?
 
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