beginning a 20 gallon salt water aquarium?

Question

Im hoping to also have some coral, but where do I get started?
what fish are compatible with the cheepest clowns? what kind and how mutch gravel do I need? do I have the right light bulb/how do I know ? what kind of filter do I need? how mutch does coral cost ?
what do I need to do with the salt ?
and if there is anything elts I need to know.
See I have Koi in it right now and am going to upgrade them into a mutch larger tank and want to use this 20 for salt! It will be a new experience for me and dont know what im doing. I have also have had tropical freshwater fish so I want to try something comleetly different. Im also going to get lots of books from the librarry on marine fish. and I relly want to know what Im doing so nothing dies!!!!!!!!



thank you so mutch for any help. :-)

Answer 1

I know it sounds backwards, but bigger is better and easier. A 20 gallon salt water aquarium is quite small as far as SW goes. The recommended smallest size is 50 gallons.
SW is a lot more complexe that FW, and the fish are a lot more sensitive to water parameters. A SW tank is just way less forgiving of mistakes / neglect than FW is. By that I mean with FW, if you go a week without cleaning it, no big deal. Forget to feed one day, no big deal. The water level evaporates and you don't refill it for a few days, no big deal. If the heater breaks down for a day, no big deal.
A small SW tank, on the other hand, will crash, if you make a mistake. A 50+ gallon SW tank is much, much easier to maintain because it's bigger, so there's a larger margin for error and fluctuations. If the heater in your small SW tank fails and you don't notice it very quickly, a drop by a few degrees may well kill your fish. In a larger tank, everything is more stable.
That being said, if you can, do try to go with a large tank. Go as big as you can house / afford.

My second point would be regarding your comment of "cheapest fish" - SW is very, very expensive. Even a relatively small setup will cost you over 500$ and possibly more, before even adding the fish. You can't cut corners with SW, or the tank just won't work.

That being said, it's not impossible to succesfully keep a 20 gallon SW tank, but you have to be really diligent. You have to monitor the levels (salinity, temp, etc) at least once a day, top off any evaporated water every day, clean out uneaten food every day, etc.

I suggest you get some books. You can find some decent ones at the library, but I suggest you go to your local fish store and buy a couple books on starting a SW tank. You will be reading them over and over, so trust me, it'll be worth the expense. You have a lot to learn :)

The basic elements of your tank will be:
The water / water volume
The lighting
The filtration

If you can, try to set up a sump. A sump is basically a smaller tank that goes under your main tank and continually cycles through your main tank. So, if you have a 20 gallon tank and a 10 gallon sump, you have a total of 30 gallons of water, which keeps everything a bit more stable.

Filtration should be done primarily with live rock. Live rock is rock from the ocean that is covered with organisms and algae, and they eat the ammonia produced by the fish to keep your tank safe and clean. You'll need about 1-1.5lbs per gallon; for your tank I'd say maybe 25 lbs of it. It costs about 5-10$ per pound. This will be your primary filtration. You may also need a skimmer, which removes all the gunk / oil that accumulates at the top of the water.

The lighting depends on what you want to keep. Your basic tank lighting right now is sufficient; to keep corals alive, you should probably get a compact fluorescent actinic light, which'll cost you about 100$, more or less.

You'll also need a heater. Get a good, high end heater, one that is submersible.

You should also get a power head, which is a water pump, and it creates current in the water. Good for the fish.

As for the salt, I use Instant Ocean. It has all the good stuff that the water needs to be good for fish. You'll also need a salinity reader.

Once your tank is set up with salt water, live rock, and sand, you need to let it cycle for 4 weeks. During this time, the organisms on the live rock and in the sand will stabilize itself and multiply.
And you should be re-reading the books you bought, and looking up articles online to read, joining a forum to ask questions, etc.

Then you can look into getting fish. In your size tank, you should probably stick with a pair of clownfish, and nothing else. The last thing you want to do is make your tank crash :) If in the future you think you can handle it, you could look into getting something small like a goby or a blenny - but give it several months with the clowns, first.

But your tank won't be boring, because 2 weeks into the live rock cycling (before you get fish) you can get your cleanup crew. This is shrimp, snails, etc. They help keep the tank clean by eating uneaten food, algae, that sort of thing.
Anyway, there's a LOT to know. There's a lot of work involved and it won't be cheap. So read up and see if it's a commitment you're ready for :)

Answer 2

I've been a reef keeper for 8 yrs. now. While it's possible to keep saltwater fish in a 20 gallon, I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. The larger the tank, the more stable the conditions will be and if there's anything you want to provide for marine organisms, it's stability.

You seem to be concerned about the money you will be putting into the new set-up. Let me tell you a salt water system is not cheap! The smallest corals that you can get, called frags (fragments of established corals) will start at about $20 apiece. Mushrooms (not technically a coral, but similar and easy to keep) start at about $10 each. Larger sized corals will start about $30-$40 apiece. Many of these have photosynthetic bacteria which produce their food, so you will likely need stronger lighting than you have right now. At a minimum, you should use a compact fluorescent lighting system and these will start at over $100. You will also need to get a protein skimmer, something that is not used for freshwater systems (add about another $100 here). And yes, having a sump would be a good idea, or a wet/dry trickle filter. Corals require good water circulation, and something that alternates the water direction is best. You can do this with multiple powerheads and timers, a Powersweep powerhead, or a wavemaker system.

As far as fish, clownfish would best be described as semi-agressive to agressive, depending on the species (they're comparable to cichlids in freshwater fishkeeping). That's not to say that there aren't fish you can keep with them, because many saltwater fish have this personality. Smaller tangs, blennies, cardinalfish and hawkfish would be some good choices.

A library is a good place to start, but do your research before you commit to the set-up. Two good books I relied on when I first started were "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael S. Paletta. Microcosm Ltd. (SBN 1-890087-52-1) and "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert M. Fenner. Microcosm Ltd. (ISBN 1-890087-02-5). The first is shorter and has checklists for setting up and what you need to get, the second gives more in-depth info on the types of fish, but both have good basic info. If your library doen't have these, see if you can order them online or through a local pet store.

Also, so you can see what kind of costs you'll be looking at, here's a website to a pet store that does mail order and carries an extensive line of saltwater supplies: http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/index.web

Good luck!

Answer 3

Why does everybody assume he's keeping corals? As a begginer this shouldnt even be a thought in your mind... stick to a fish only or fish only with live rock set up untill you master SW a little more, corals and other invertibrates are much more delicate than fish. You'll need a hydrometer and some salt (at the VERY minimum) about $50 total It's VERY highly recommended that you use some sort of calcium based sand (aragonite, oolite, dolomite, crushed coral etc) over quartz or silica based sand (regular FW gravel) You should also have about a pound per gallon of good porous live rock You could start off with just a little, to get things going. You could mix it with base rock to cut some cost down Live rock is about $7-10 per pound Base from $2-4 don't use more than 50% base rock A couple of powerheads (say $20 each) and MAYBE a skimmer if you extra money (starting at $100, a good one would be around $150, aquaC remoras are good as are CPR bakpaks

Answer 4

Ok, ill try to optimistic for you, lol as everyones telling you its too small. Can you live without live corals? You can purchase immitation ones, resin and plastic ones that look pretty real. For live corals you need actinic and tritinic bulbs, which are a bit expensive. You'll need a protien skimmer, a powerhead to keep movement in the tank and the salt mixed. The tester for salt is a hydrometer. It measures speciffic gravity in the water. (amount of salt) If you want to try a 20 gallon with just a couple fish, go for it. Get salt, (instant ocean), a few bags of LIVE sand (this has the live bacteria already in it and works to filter your water). I recomend a wet/dry filter or a large sump filter with sand as your filter media, but seems a waste on a small tank. You could do it with just a plastic tote from walmart, and a large powerhead in the sump, (hard to explain in just a few paragraphs) ... If you want to just try an exteral filter.. just do a small water change every two weeks. (dont siphon the sand out!) add some dead corals or crushed shells to keep your ph at 8.2 or get some proper ph at pet store. If you were to do it right your looking at spending a few hundred dollars.. but then if it were me, and i was going to spend the money, Id get a 55 to try it in, lol ...but give it a try and see how it goes.. (note: not all clowns get along with all clowns.. Maroon clowns are more aggressive then say a percula, or tomato. Good luck

Answer 5

>20 gallon salt water aquarium?
To small, it will be difficult to keep your water quality stable, I suggest 50 as a good starting point.

>coral, but where do I get started?
SPS corals are some of the most challenging things you can keep in a saltwater tank. You will need excelent filtration, circulation, lighting, water quality, compatable fish, ect...

I suggest you start with some live rock, it will eventually become encrusted with purple pink and red coraline alge, looks great in the tank, and acts as a biofilter reducing nitrates and amonia

> what fish are compatible with the cheepest clowns?
Depends what kind of clowns you are talking about, Ocilarus Clowns are peacefull fish and should be kept with other peacefull fish. Tomato Clowns are highly agressive and territorial, they should only be kept with other agresive fish. BTW be carefull to select fish that wont eat your corals. In a reef tank you really only want a couple fish, usually ones that contribute to the systems overall health.

> what kind and how mutch gravel do I need?
How much depends on the type of fish, if you do not plan on keeping fish that burrow into the sand usually between 3/4 and 1 inch will do. A good rule of thumb is 1 pound per gallon. I suggest Argonite by CaribSea.

> do I have the right light bulb/how do I know ?
Corals require intense full spectrum lighting to be happy. I use dual temp compact florecents (a 6700k/10000k daylight bulb and a 420nm/460nm acintic bulb). A good rule of thumb is a min of 5 watts per gallon.

> what kind of filter do I need?
Here you have alot of choices, my personal preferance is to use live rock as the bio filter, a woven synthetic mechanical filter, and some activated carbon as a chemical filter, along with a protien skimmer. Whatever you decide just remember you need 3 types of filtration: Biological, Mechanical, and Chemical

> how mutch does coral cost ?
Depends where you buy it, and what you buy...
Check out: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=597 as a good starting point (they also sell live rock)

> what do I need to do with the salt ?
Get a good aquarium salt mix, you may need a premium brand to get all the trace elements that your corals will need, I recomend Reef Crystals. You premix it outside the tank (I use a 5 gallon bucket) and age it at least 24 hours, if not a full week with a powerhead and a heater. A general rule to get about 1.022 salinity is 2 cups per 5 gallons. Buy a refractometer to measure salintiy, it will make your life much easier...

> and if there is anything elts I need to know.
Yes there is, but dont get overwhelmed, saltwater aqariums are alot of fun and very rewarding. Take things slow, get a good book and ask lots of questions. An excelent starting point is "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael Paletta get it here:
http://www.amazon.com/New-Marine-Aquarium-Step-Step/dp/1890087521/sr=8-1/qid=1169236220/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7941614-0965411?ie=UTF8&s=books

Good Luck!

Answer 6

A 20 gallon tank is fairly small for a beginner saltwater tank. You will need a lot of things and I hate to give the answer that you need to do more research, but to undertake a new saltwater tank you really do. No one here can cover all the info you should have. Here are a few answers to yoru questions.

Clowns are fairly non-agressive fish in the community tank, you can keep almost any fish with clowns.

Gravel really depends on the type of tank you want to run, that is where the research comes in, in general you want an aragonite based sand. I personally would consider usig a "deep sand bed", in that case you will need 4-6 inches of sand in the tank of external sump.

To keep corals you will most likely need to upgrade your ligthing. Corals require stronger light then your normal florescent aquarium bulb. I good rule of thumb is to have at leat 3 watts per gallon of light. You will want, VHO, Power Compact, metal halide or a combination of the 3 for lighting.

The filter is again very dependant on the type of tank setup you use, research some different methods to see what you like best. In general your sand bed and live rock will take care of most of your filtration needs at first. You should have a way to run a carbon filter on the tank as well. If you have coral you will also want to look into a good protein skimmer. Outside of that you will need to do frequent water changes.

Coral ranges in a price a lot, you can get basic pieces for as little as 20 dollars, rare or exotic pieces can reach the hundreds of dollars range.

Check out http://www.strictlyfrags.com to see some really cool coral.

You need to buy a good aquarium salt and youmix it with water. You must never pour unmixed salt into your tank. You need to mix it for at least 24 hours before it goes into your tank. When you first set up the tank you can mix the salt in the tank, but never after that. I would recommend Instant Ocean brand salt.

The best thing you can do as read an many books and sites on the internet to gather information, unlike freshwater, there are many different concepts and techniques for running a saltwater tank. You need to decide what is best for you. Again 20 gallons is small tank for saltwater and the smaller your tank the more dedicated you must be, ie it is harder.

Don't be too intimated either, once you understand the basics you will really enjoy you tank and will find out it is a lot easier to run then most people think.

Answer 7

ummm well i dont have a saltwater myself but for a long time i have been thinking about getting one. I have read alot of stuff about them. and a great way to find instructions. this site is great if you want to set up a reef tank. http://www.tbsaltwater.com/ it depends on what kind of tank you want to get. a fish only, or a reef tank. fish only tanks can be a few pieces of live rock, maybe some corals, and alot of fish. a reef tank can include anenomes, corals, invertebrates, fish, and tons of other stuff. reef tanks are usually more expensive because you need more lighting, water flow, and of coarse you have to buy all the corals and stuff. i think the cheepest corals are around 30-40 doallars and then the price goes up for other ones. the filter you need also depends on what kind of tank you want. for a fish only one you will probably need a better filter than a reef tank because in reef tanks the corals and sponges and stuff filter some of the water for you. the kind of filter you need is a protein skimmer, but i think you might also need another filter for a fish only one. hopefully other people who answer this question will get the info i missed! good luck [=

Answer 8

salt h2o (water) is the must expensive, and must beutiful way to go. i did it once with a 55 gal. after i spent 2 years getting it biologigally sound ( good and bad bacterias )that sort of stuff right, so it would keep things alive, an area pet store bought my tank, fish and all, he wanted to carry these fish for his costomers and didnt have the time to wait. i used a BIG bucket in the bathtub to do h2o changes, you CANT just pour fresh h20 (water) into your established tank, you'll kill everything. you gotta mix the salt, and declorinator, and buffer up, theres a special instrument you use to test the salt level, and a test kit to make sure the ph is high enough,your area pet dealer can help you with these. i didnt use gravel i used crushed coral, this also helpes to keep ph high. this is why you shouldn't put sea shells into tropical fish tanks, the ph will go up and kill your tropical fish. you should use a wet and dry filter, or 2. I like alot of filtration in all my tanks fresh or marine. i'm telling you now save $money$ and put nothing but cheap damsel fish in that tank for at least the first month or two or three( at least ) corals are very delicate sea life, but oh so beutiful. yes they do take special lighting and special food, they sort of sift nutriants from the h2o(water) , like plants do the air. its been about 12 years now but i do remember some stuff. you kinda cry a little when you throw away a dead $200.00 lion fish, becouse you put him in a newly established tank and he got ick and died, i'll never forget, I got all excited and tried to cycle the tank with anemonies and corals. that first month i lost so much money, and pet stores just want your money.dont flush large fish ithey'll plug the toilet . if i ever did it again, i would buy a variety of damsels and watch them for at least 6 mo. while i bought some stuff a little at a time, like (lighting, live rock, sea shells etc...) you can be patient and do alot of decorating and do it perfect, and at the end dig out your damsels and trade them to the pet stores towards your more delicate, more expensive items. if your going to do corals, live rock is a must as a base to put your corals on, and they are usually loaded with feather dusters, and alot of other sea life. careful of the small wild anemonies that can grow on live rock, their not the kind that clown fish really like, and they'll just sting all other fish you put in there. you'll want to purposly keep your good large anemonies to one side of your tank so your other delicate fish like angels, etc, can avoid them and not get stung. I had a bunch of live rock in my tank but i only paid attention to the fish i bought and so the live stuff wasn't nurtured. the pet store that bought my tank, put in the right lighting, and food, and that tank took on a beutiful new life i never knew was there. the fish and corals aren't all, look deeper. theres alot of fish in the sea. and invertabrates and corals, and featherdusters, and......the kids were little then and i had a green wolf blenny eal and 2 huge lion fish, fed them gold fish the first time, you should see how big the kids eyes got, they never touched the tank, i did that on purpose, the loin fish spines are poisionous. scared the kids they never touchthe tank, afraid the fish would bite, after seeing them eat. BEAUTIFUL IDEA, HAVE FUN , but take it slow PATIENCE... key word here. for the future, the pet store after a while used the filter pads some of the live rock, water, and some of the gravel to, and started other tanks off the original, to expand their business quicker.helped establish new tanks quicker, but he still gave them some time with the damsels only.