Help for another New Tank (only 20G)

Discussion in 'New To The Hobby' started by go_fish_dave, Aug 30, 2003.

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  1. go_fish_dave

    go_fish_dave Plankton

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    I have a 20G tank and a limited budget. LFS sold me a UGF (as a backup to my Bio wheel and air stone) along with crushed coral and a piece of live rock (which has a little corraline algae growth). Its a fish only tank (already cycled - ammonia 0 and nitrite 0) with the standard florescent light. The tank was given to me and really will likely lead to the acquisition of a much larger reef tank (100G plus or minus) probably sooner rather than later. I just don't want to make the investment until I have a better idea of what I am doing and getting myself into.

    Question: Is my filtration adequate for the 20G? Do I need a protein skimmer? Can I get by without it? How do I keep the cc clean with the UGF sucking everything down? Can I add some "softies" with if I add a power compact light? Too much to learn... Thanks in advance for your assistance!! This message board is great!!
     
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  3. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    [flash=468,60]http://www.3reef.com/fish/sitepics/threesteps3.swf[/flash]

    Thanks for joining!

    Well, I wish lfs' would get up to speed. That is a really retro setup they sold you. :p It's possible to maintain some hardy softies like mushrooms and such under a PC light on that setup, but I wouldn't do much else with it. If you get some live rock that would help.

    I would urge a skimmer. It's not necessary but I bet you'd notice a difference. A Prism or Remora would work well.

    With a UG filter, bio wheel and crushed coral you probably will have pretty high nitrates if you start feeding fish and a good canidate for algae blooms. :-/

    In the old days, people had setups like that and they can work, they just are really delicate and don't allow much margin for error.

    Crushed coral has a bad rap as a 'detris trap' and most prefer sand now. You can still maintain it with a gravel siphon, hitting dirty spots here and there when you do a water change. Some will say otherwise, but I say you can do that with sand too. Just don't get carried away trying to clean the whole bed. There is beneficial bateria and critters there. You can check the sand page for more details there.

    So you could just add a light and stay on top of things. Or add a skimmer to really help to give you more security.

    If you were willing to start over I would ditch the UG and crushed coral and get some sand and a skimmer.

    Hope that helps.
     
  4. Craig Manoukian

    Craig Manoukian Giant Squid

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    Matt hit the nail n the head, good advice from him and bad advice from your LFS!

    Oh and check the "Steps" tab in this forum!
     
  5. karlas

    karlas Fire Goby

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    i would take the ugf out and replace with sand. a sand bed is good for soft bellied fish or sand sifters, helps lower nitrates and holds the bacteria for a more stable tank. i had cc fore a while and it seemed to fluctuate in parameters a bit whenever i did a waterchange im not sure if anyone else experienced this but it has happened. also you would be surprised of the critters that take up in the sand bed that help clean up any xcess food that may hit the bottom.