Advice for my first tank

[rwana99]

Hey everyone,
I'm about to order everything for my first tank. I've been reading the forums and researching everything I can about marine aquaria online for almost 6 months now. I think I've reached the point where I need to get some hands on experience, so I'm ordering a tank this week.

I had originally planned on a 55g tank with a 30g sump/refugium, but a recent financial situation has forced me to go smaller for the time being.

I'm going to start with a FOWLR tank, with the eventual goal of turning it into a reef tank.

Here's my shopping list:

Seaclear 20g acrylic tank
Remora skimmer with pre skimmer box
2x maxi-jet 900
Kent Marine 24g/day RO
Refractometer
Coralife 24" Aqualight (2 x 65wPC +moonlights)
Seachem multi test kit (PH/Alk/Nitrite/nitrate/Ammonia)
30lbs Aragamax sugar sand
25lbs Fiji live rock
100w Jager heater
SeaChem marine salt
DIY coil denitrater

I know 20g is a bit small to start out with, but I have more time than money atm, so i'll be able to tend to it daily.

I haven't exactly decided on what fish I want yet, I'm going to have to go through the list I originally had for the 55g while the tank cycles, and narrow it down to a few fish. The only real requirement I have for fish is a bi-color blenny eventually (A friend of mine had a blenny that followed me around the tank when I was there ) . Its the fish that got me interested in starting my own aquarium )

Now, a few last minute questions

Do i need a RO/DI unit, or will a straight RO unit be ok?

Are there any lower cost alternatives to the Remora, or is it the best choice for a tank this size?

Will the Coralife Aqualight be enough for corals in the future? (6.5w/gallon)

What to use for a clean up crew. What species? How many?

I need some ideas on fish selection. What would be a good first fish for the tank (I don't want a damsel after reading how mean they can get).

Am I missing anything important?


Thanks in advance.

[antonio101]

Light is good, ro/di is what I would go with. Let me get back to you a little later today about the cleaning crew

[Perculareef]

yes 6.5wats per gallons is perfect, as far as the fish some damsels are mean but green chromis arent really that mean and you can allways get some perculas^^ .

[rwana99]

Thanks for the replys
I had originally planned a small school of chromis when i was going with the larger tank. I read somewhere that chromis prefer to be in schools of 6 or more. Would a single or pair of chromis be ok, or would they be stressed/lonely without a school?

I was also considering a clown, but i was thinking it might be better to wait until the tank is old enough to support an anemone. Would it be ok to add a clown before the anemone? From what I've read, I'm probably at least 6 months away from being ready for an anemone, if things go well.

[coral reefer]

You need to be careful with stocking fish as you can't have as many fish in a salt water tank as you can with fresh. I like the AquaC Remora as it does an awesome job on my 75 gallon tank. Lighting will be ok on that particular tank but if you go with a bigger tank in the future, you are going to need to upgrade. Go slow with the cycling process and add fish gradually. I cant stress enough that with your size tank you will not be able to have many fish!
Best of luck!

[Pisces23]

Sounds like you're well on your way. I spent a couple months lurking and reading everything I could before I got my hands wet as well.
I'm running a Remora on my 20H and I'm also using the Coralife Aqualight as well (though the one w/o the moonlights). My tank cycled in just about a week with my liverock helping it along. Have you thought about where you are going to get your LR from? My cleaning crew is 10 baja cerith snails, 10 red-legged hermit crabs, 3 turbo snails and 1 peppermint shrimp. Or rather, that's what is was. Most of the snails have been devoured my the hermits...I'm not sure if they died first or if the hermits killed the outright.
I'm trying to start thinking about fish as well. Like you, I'll probably be waiting a few more months, but now that I've got the rock and the sand and the cycle, I need something else to read about...

[RAVEN]

Stick with the remora and you wont be sorry. Its a great skimmer for tanks under 75g with very low maintanence. The bak pak or its chinese cheaper clone the propack are cheaper and ok for smaller tanks. If you are planning to eventually upgrade to a larger tank then stay with the Remora. With the remora you can upgrade the pump to a Rio 1400+ or mag 3 pump and get greater perfomance if you decide to go with a larger tank.

For fish for that size tank I like true percula clowns, royal gramma's any of the smaller gobies, fire fish, six line wrasses, and pseudochromis. For snails I like cerith, nassarith and nerite snails. They stay small and do a great job. Trochus snails are nice too. I would put about 20 snails in the tank. As far as crabs, I would only put a few of the scarlet red hermits in the tank if at all. Nassarith snails are great scavengers and will do the work of hermits.

From the looks of your equipment you appear to be off to a great start. Karma for you!

[rwana99]

Had some free time this evening, and decided to visit a few fish stores to do some window shopping before I ordered anything. The first 2 stores I went to were kind of disappointing, only 1 model of skimmer ($40 import labeled "Much Powerfull Filter"), but 5 different brands of undergravel filters. Not a good sign
So, I went home and googled for some more local fish stores, found a place about 40 miles away that was open late, and decided to check it out.

The store is called Pet Connection, and its located in Livonia, Michigan (coincidently, just down the road from the Riders Hobby store that I keep in business supporting my other expensive hobbies).

It's a small store, but they had a very good selection of just about everything, and the staff seemed very knowledgable. After hanging out there and talking to the staff for about an hour, I ended up coming home with just about everything I needed .

I ended up making a few changes to my initial shopping list. The staff talked me into a glass aquarium rather than an acrylic. After seeing the huge price difference between the two, I decided on a 32g wide (for about 1/4 the price of the 20g acrylic I was looking at online).

The only remora they had was one in the back that had been recently returned, and they didn't know why. They hooked it up on one of their display tanks and determined that the plastic input hose leaked. I looked at the Remora Pro they had, and after some discussion they talked me into a Coralife Super Skimmer. They told me it was one of the best skimmers in its price range (significantly less money than the Remora Pro) and they ran it on their home tanks with great results. The only reservation I have about it is that after mocking it up when I got home, it looks kind of large and unsightly hanging on the side of that small tank. I think I'll make a small sump for it first chance I get.

They also had a great selection of lighting fixtures. They pulled several out of the box's and hooked them up for me to check out. I ended up buying the 24" Current USA Orbit fixture. In person, it just seemed to be a little nicer than the Coralife I had originally decided on, and it was only a few dollars more.

Their selection and pricing of RO and RO/DI filters was amazing. I didn't expect to see that many in such a small store. I bought a 4 stage RO/DI for about $20 less then the best price I could find online.

Everything else I needed they had in stock, maxi-jet power heads, heaters (upgraded to titanium), sand, cleaning magnet, test kits, etc.

After totaling everything up, they gave me a very nice discount, and I walked out of there paying about the same if I had ordered everything online. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with my day.

If you live in the area, it's definately a LFS worth checking out. They also seemed to have a very nice selection of corals and fish, but I spent most of my time looking at equipment, so I can't comment on the livestock too much, other than everything looked healthy and well kept.

[nemo79]

Wow, Your Lucky, Here In Ontario We Have Only Aquarium Services And The One In My Local City Sucks, The One In Brampton Has An Amazing Selection But I Don't Know If Fsih Would Make A One Hr Travel Home. What Do U Think?

[reiple]

Have you dropped the coil denitrator? i hear it sucks to use and operate. And with good live rock/live sand you don't need it (unless you really overload and by then a really over rated and efficient skimmer is what you would want).

good luck.....