Wanting to start a 20 gal reef

[igotaweinerdog]

Hello, Im new to Salt Water although ive been dealing with fresh water for quite some time so i have some knowledge on aquatics. Im looking to start a 20 gallon reef tank. I have a 20 gallon high tank and a regular 10 gallon laying around. Id like to know what exactly i would need to set this up. should i get wet dry? how many watts of light ill need. how much live rock and the easiest corals and reef to keep that look good as well. any help is appreciated. thankyou

[bertoni]

To Reef Central

This thread has a lot of useful pointers:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1031074

This thread might be a good place to start:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=239848

We need to know what kinds of animals you want to keep before we can help with the lighting.

[orbit]

hi

i just started my reef tank not long ago, maybe i can help u with a few things i asked about b4

usually u want about 1 lb of live rock and live sand per gallon, which is a min, alittle more is usually better i think, its used natural filtration

for corals i would suggest u get better lights, because later will probably upgrade it, at first i though of getting Power compacts lights but decided not to and ended up getting MH lights and compare to LFS i think i made the right decision, even though MH gets hotter


some easy corals are probably mushrooms,xenia, or zoas, there are others one but i cant remember them

u can use your 10G as a sump if u want but u will either need to drill your tank or get pipes to move the water.

also u need water movements like maybe 1 or 2 maxijets

hope this helps and Good luck
Orbit

[orbit]

also wanted to say


To Reef Central

lol i always wanted to do that

[pepino]

how do you do it?

[igotaweinerdog]

alright thanks orbit. do i need a wet dry as well as the live rock? also what are the benefits of a sump.

[orbit]

Originally posted by pepino
how do you do it?

just type [ welcome ], without the spaces

[jar05g]

To Reef Central

[jar05g]

Hey!!! I did it!!! Sorry lol.

[igotaweinerdog]

If anyone has any pictures of their equipment set ups that would help too thanks

[Swanwillow]

okay, equipment list for a 20 gallon...
Most people don't use wet/drys for filtration, thats done with a skimmer. Do a search for skimmer, and you'll find everything you ever wanted to know about skimmers, and then some. I think that you'd be okay with a HOB, as long as you keep your stocking low.

Live rock is a big part of the filtration system also. It converts ammonia to nitrite to nitrate, etc etc. As previously mentioned, if you can get it for a decent price find about 30 lbs of it for your 20 gallon tank. There ARE places you can get 'dead' rock, and seed it with live rock, making it a lot less expensive.

Lights is a doozy. It really depends on what you want to keep. I had power compacts over my 20 high, and it was okay for low-to medium light corals. Mushrooms, zoanthids, softies mainly. If you want to get some bang, go for metal halide or T5 lighting. Probably T5, as its cheaper and cheaper to run. Then you get into learning about high light needing corals, such as LPS SPS.

http://www.reefcentral.com/search.php?menu=11
thats the google search for RC

Go over the previously listed threads about cycling, tank setup, whats good and what isn't, figure out what you want, ask questions.
And hello! If you have anything in particular, I think many of us can go off on tangents involving ANYTHING, I'm a stocking type of tangent girl though. But, cycling, filtration, etc have been covered many times, just gotta look for it.

[Swanwillow]

oh, and you may want to find the nano reefers forum down below here.. go to the main forums page, and scroll down til you see nano, since a 20 gallon in saltwater is considered small. My first tank was a 10 gallon, followed by a 29, followed by a 55...

Years later, its now gonna be a 75!

[igotaweinerdog]

would i be able to use an emperor 350 that i have previously used in freshwater? would i replace the inserts. also should i have a sump with the skimmer and hob or should i hang them directly on the tank

[Deb91]

welcome

[Deb91]

To Reef Central

[Deb91]

To cycle your tank,all you need is about 1-2 lbs of live rock or mix it with base rock per gallon.I think you mean base rock is dry and live rock is wet? Add some live sand depending on how deep you want it.
Add ro/di water, if you don't have a ro/di unit yet then get it from your LFS (local fish store) or grocery store.Next add a raw shrimp from your grocery store and I think you are good to start cycling your tank! If you Have A bulb for the tank you can use it for now

[bertoni]

I wouldn't add a raw shrimp to a tank with live rock. Small amounts of fish food are more than enough, even with base rock.

The Emperor can be used for circulation and to run activated carbon or a GFO like PhosBan. I wouldn't run any of the other inserts.

For a 20g tank, I'd go skimmerless or get a small HOB unit. A sump is just too much work for such a small system.

[jamiep]

I would disagree bertoni (oh crap did I just say that to a Mod?!?! Lol)

A sump will increase the amount of water in such a small system making it more stable which on such a small amount of water is a good thing. If you have the tank, all you need to do is get it drilled and add a bit of plumbing and a return pump!

[Newlin]

jamiep, you don't have to drill the tank. Just get an overflow that will flow down into that 10g that you have.I am using two on my main tank and one on the fuge and they work great. I wouldn't waste the money to drill the 20 as it's not worth it.

[Norward]

To Reef Central

that's so cool! As you can see already, there are lots of choices in setting up a reef tank. May I suggest doing as much reading as you can in addition to getting advice here before you start and have a fairly detailed plan. There are so many great posts and articles here. There are also several good books that you will keep going back to. A sump isn't necessary but has its own benefits, and getting the lights right the first time is really important. Just take your time, never hesitate to ask questions, and enjoy!

[Swanwillow]

how bout this-yes, you can use the emperor, but you need to understand stocking ratio, and nutrient export in saltwater aquaria.

What this means is, water changes every week, or every other. Small amounts of fish, and motile inverts.

I wouldn't do a sump either on this tank. But, as a warning, my first tank was a 10 gallon mantis shrimp tank-10 lbs LR, a emperor type filter, a shallow sand bed, one damnsel fish, and one mantis shrimp. Doesn't get much easier. 2 gallon w/c every week, and it was good to go.

[Newlin]

Why no sump? It adds water volume and stability to the system. Along with putting more oxygen in the water.

[Swanwillow]

but, its also more work, and can lead to the whole 30 gallons on a floor.
You can add O2 to the water via a powerhead, or the skimmer, or the hob filter.
If you do water changes regularily, stock correctly, then your tank SHOULD be stable.

[Newlin]

That is a good point about 30 gallons on the floor. I forgot that he is new to the saltwater. I went about a year before I put a sump on mine and I ran two HOB's on the 55g tank. Everything went fine so I think with weekly 2g water changes he should be fine.

[Swanwillow]

yeah, I started in 03, and the tank I'm setting up this coming year, 08, will be my first with a sump. Now that I know what I'm doing, its not as scary. But when I first started I'm glad I did an all in one tank, and something easy to bring myself into salt water!