Is 30 gal too small for a newbie?

I am still reading The conscientious marine aquarist and it says anything below 40 gallons isn't recommended for new hobbiests. It seems like the smaller the tank the more water changes need to be done. The tank has been running for almost two months with four snail, four crabs, and I lost two clown fish within 24 hours 5 days ago. I have 50lbs of base rock that I bought plus 20lbs of live rock from the LFS when I set the tank up two months ago. I cycled the tank with raw shrimp and did a 30 percent water change prior to adding the two fish. I added the fish with the drip method. The fish looked healthy. I had the light on when I added them to the tank(problem?) All my readings are fine. I am using a ro/di unit. The cleanup guys are fine. I don't want to fail at this so any ideas or solutions would be appreciated.

 

Small tanks require more water changes and more monitoring because when things go south they go south fast. As far as being not recommended for newbies well I don't agree. I started with a 10 gallon and now have 3 nanos and am working on a 4th.

I am going to ask the obvious what exactly are you water parameters? Seems rather odd you lost both fish within 24 hours without something being out of whack, one I might understand but 2 ??

 

the reason a 40 gallon plus is recomended is because the bigger the tank allows for a little more mistakes. Not a whole lot but they can be a little more forgiving. You should be able to go with the 30 gallon though but keep an eye on it as far as water parameters go. Are your ammonia and nitrite at 0? they are the toxic parts of the cycle. Also you said you did a 30% water change that might have been a little to much for the tank you should not really go over 25% at a time unless its a real dire emergency you might have tossed the tank back into a mini cycle. If by chance thats what happened let your water straighten back out before adding anything else. Everyone has there own preferences as far as water changes, additives and everything else but each tank is different you just have to find what works best for the tank itself. But for a suggestion after the cycle is done ya might try 10% every week or every other week, i have a 30 gallon eel tank that this works great on so give that a shot.

 

55 gallon minimum is recommended for saltwater. smaller tanks are less forgiving and require surgical precision. one drop of acid in the ocean is undetected, one drop of acid in a cup of water is off the scale. aquariums are the same way.

 

my 1st sw tank was a 5 gallon with the original hob filter and regular light that came with it.wife was sick and wanted a bright fish watch on her night stand.well i put blue sand and 3 lbs of liverock in,waited 2 wks added a yellow tail damsel then a month and a peppermint shrimp,then a month and added a black n white stripe damsel and kept it for 3 yrs before getting a bigger tank.accept the shrimp,it became food for the damsels one day after molting.at one point it went 5 months with no water changes,no carbon changes,and tap water top off.if your careful about what you put in it you can run any size tank easy.just research.i take great care of my current tank and would never take chances on it like my 1st tank and yes small tanks can crash much faster like everyone says,its undenyable.but you can do it and learn alot.

 

I would like to go 55 gal if need be. Seems like my fish options greatly improve with a larger tank. I would like to convert my 125 freshwater to salt if things go well with the 30 gal. It seems salt would become a huge expense plus so much more would be needed in terms of filtration, heating, lighting and a large skimmer. My water parameters following the fish loss were
ammonia=0
nitrite=0
nitrate=20
ph=8.4
temp=80
gravity=1.25
Took water sample to LFS and everything was fine, said they would replace them free of charge. So before I do this I want to learn why it happened.

 

did you mean 1.025 for salinity instead of 1.25?
if you got the fish from the lfs then it might have had problems prior to your tank. when you go bigger you might want a qt

 

Thats the problem! (kidding)

Yes its 1.025, missed typed it.

 

Should I get a skimmer now? I have a hang over back filter. I thought I would wait a month until I get one. Also what is a good skimmer, or what skimmer works the best?

 

I dont reccommend anything smaller then a 75g to a beginner. IMO a 75g is alot better then a 55g for a lot of reasons. In a 55g, the rock work looks like a pile a rocks stacked against a wall with hardly any room for expansion so a tank upgrade comes really soon. You also dont have a lot of surface area for gas exchange as you do with a 75g. 55g tanks are popular simply because there are so many of them. 55g tanks were the s@#t for freshwater and thats what people had when they decided to go saltwater. Then they quickly realized they needed a bigger tank which is why they are a dime a dozen now.