20 Gallon Reef Tank

P

Perfectblue

New Member
Let me first start out by explaining how this tank came into play. Well as some of you may know I have had a 55 gallon FOWLR tank running for about 6-7 months which is great but I really wanted to try my hand at coral but didn't want to spend alot of money on upgrading my lighting so I decided to downgrade to a 20 gallon long. I originally had 4 fish in my 55 which consisted of 1 Firefish, 2 Ocellaris Clownfish, and 1 Sandsifting Goby but obviously I couldn't keep all those fish in a 20g tank so I only kept the Firefish. Don't worry the other fish found good homes with local reefers. :)

I transferred most of the sand from the 55 which gave me a nice substrate depth of 1.5" to 2" in some areas. I am going to install 2x65watt PC's which came from my Current USA fixture. I also am using the two Maxijet 1200's that gives me great flow(Approximately 29x turnover) throughout the tank which should work out good since I plan to add coral. I would maybe like to add another small fish sometime in the future, as well as a Cleaner shrimp. I will list specifications but Everything is from my 55 gallon tank including the water.

Equipment:

20 gallon long tank (30"Lx12"Wx12"H)
DIY canopy with 2x65watt PC lighting installed
AquaC Remora protein Skimmer
2 Maxjet 1200's
11lbs of Fiji live rock
Roughly 30lbs of fine white sand

Inhabitants:

1 Firefish
1 Strawberry Crab
1 Whelk
1 Strombus Snail
2 Cerith Snails
4 Nassarius Snails
4 Astraea Snails

Future Coral Plans:

I will keep softies and LPS in this tank. My rough list of coral that I would like to keep:

Zoos
Mushrooms
Candy Cane
Frogspawn or Torch
Brain
Favia
Xenia

That is it for my introductory post on chronicling the process of my 20 gallon reef tank. I will post pictures of the DIY canopy I'm in the process of building as soon as I can. Comments are always welcomed. :)
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
You may need a little more LR but you are off to a good start. Lighting should work out great, especially in a shallow tank like this where you'll be able to keep most corals with no problem. You will need to find a new home for the whelk in a much larger tank because a 20 just isn't large enough and it will starve eventually. Keep us posted, you have what sounds to me like a pretty good idea on where you want to go with this tank.
 
P

Perfectblue

New Member
Skipm: I didn't want to add anymore live rock since I hope to house alot of coral in this tank and need the room. I have also created many caves and overhangs for the fish and inverts. As I said in my first post I transferred everything from my 55g to this tank and the Whelk is doing fine right now but when gets bigger I will definitely move it to a bigger tank. Thanks for your suggestions though I appreciate them.


Canopy is pretty much finished but I still need to purchase a couple hinges and will probably install a fan. Here are a couple pics of the inside of the canopy.




 
P

Perfectblue

New Member
Update: I finished the canopy and placed a piece of acrylic over the tank to prevent splashing water. I took some full tank shots with the canopy I built, and yes I know the right top board lifts up but hey this is my first DIY canopy.












I still need to pick up a black background to hide the wires.
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
If you can find some black weatherstripping you can use it to help hide the gap in the front.
It looks like its ready for corals and fish but add them slowly and allow the tanks biofilter to stabilize between additions. Keep us posted.
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
Nice start you got there .... i see some diatom bloom already... :???: and well any plans on the background of the tank are you gonna leave it as is or paint it in a near future.... your LR is really nice alot of coraline on it... NICE...

P.S: not sure if i say :welcome before but let me say: :welcome to NT and well keep the upgrades coming. :mrgreen:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
very nice aquascape! love all the sand! i think your right about starting with less rock so there is more room for corals....
3 ideas for you -
1) Canopy - nice build, i know its too late but for future DIY projects, painting the inside white would have allowed for some of the light that reflects back into the canopy from the water surface to be sent back into the tank
2) Skimmer - that aqua c is an awesome unit. you will likely get micro bubbles for a couple weeks but they'll let up. one thing though i would buy the overflow box and glue it to the back wall. this allows for good surface skimming (where the protien tends to accumulate) and you can bring your water level up just a bit. it does make the the water volume a bit tight though so you may have to add a ATO so the pump never runs dry
3) i would consider adding a simple HOB for mechanical filtration - nothing fancy - just something to remove detritus before it breaks down and to put some carbon in to remove yellowing compounds and allelopathic chemicals
just a few thoughts... very nice looking tank!
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
He said he was going to pick up a black background, it would be pretty hard to paint it now (especially with spraypaint which is my personal favorite).
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
:oops: :oops: I guess i have to read slowly so i dont miss parts and then ask stupid questions :lol: :lol: :pom
 
P

Perfectblue

New Member
Johnanddawn: I painted the whole canopy except the underside of the hood and the only paint I had on hand was blue so I decided to use it. It looks pretty good but yeah I agree white would have been a better choice. Well the skimmer is from my 55g tank and I have had the skimmer for around 8 months now. I have actually planned on adding a AquaClear HOB filter to the tank.

I forgot to paint the back of this tank so I will have to settle for a background but I'm sure it will look almost as good. I have painted the back of my 2.5g and 55g in the past and absolutely love the way it looks.

Thanks for all the comments everyone and I will be sure to keep you posted on the process of the tank. :cool1:
 
J

jay

New Member
Looking Good!

Keep us updated with pics.... it's always
nice to see the progression of every tank.

Jay :cool1:
 
P

Perfectblue

New Member
Update: The tank is doing good and I'm getting some good coralline algae growth. I have added a small Green Clown Goby which is doing well and is eating most of the foods I offer. I will be adding a few more snails to my tank and I should be adding my first coral to this tank soon. Here is a full tank shot and a few pictures of my Firefish

Full Tank Shot


Closeup Pics Of My Firefish






 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
Keep on taking it slow and things should progress nicely. The clown goby will perch on most corals when you add them which looks pretty neat IMO.
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
You're tank is looking really prestine clean.. Nice and well i guess somebody is loving his firefish :mrgreen: Nice shots of him...
 
P

Perfectblue

New Member
Thanks Jay. Update: Well over the last couple weeks I added a few new inhabitants:

2 Cerith Snails
1 Scarlet Reef Hermit
1 Small colony of Zoas (15-20 Polyps)
1 Small Mushroom

I will post pictures of the new coral soon.
 
T

tiny

New Member
hey Pblue i live in MN and i was wondering what shop you go to for your fish and supplies , my work carries next to nothing in SW supplies so i was just wondering where you get your stuff what shop you prefur

thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top