Maintaining tank parameters etc.

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JohnLocke

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
7
Hello all, have enjoyed the advice you have given in the past.

I now have a 20g saltwater tank set up with 20 pounds of live rock and 4 ocellaris clownfish. I had planned for two, but the store happened to offer the other two free along with the first two because they are removing their saltwater section. A few questions:

1.) Four clowns in 20 gallons... will this be too much to sustain? I don't plan on adding any more livestock. I have two snails and a crab in there as well.

2.) What should I be testing and how often? Right now, I test everything occasionally just because I do not know how often. I use strips for ammonia and ph and test a few times a week when I think about it, but not sure how fast or slow these might change? I use a cheap plastic gauge for testing salinity.

Now that my tank is set up and seems fine (fish are eating, 0 ammonia, 2.21 salinity) please let me know tips for sustaining this. For a 20 gallon, how often should certain things be tested? How often (and how much) should water be changed? And how important would it be to now invest in a more accurate salinity reader?

Any advice about any of this (or anything I didn't mention) is welcomed... thanks!
 
Or how often to change filters? I have been a long-time freshwater cichlid tank owner, but new to saltwater and have heard about how much more "picky" saltwater tanks are comparatively.
 
Ok first off you will most likely have issues with 4 clowns in a 20g. They don't play well together. I had 4 in a 6 foot tank and after a month or so the one pair almost killed the other 2. It usually dosn't work in a big tank so your chances are worse in a tank that size.

Ok, as far as testing, ditch those test strips, pretty much useless. get an API liquid saltwater master kit for like $20. It is way more accurate and cheap too, you get all the tests that you need.

I would change out 4g-5g a week or so, it's quick enough to do and will keep your tank in good shape.
 
Thanks a lot!

By the way... the 4 clowns are getting along as of right now. Really no fighting, maybe that will change eventually? I certainly hope not.

Something I thought about - how often should I change a filter in a saltwater 20g? And I have heard people talk about "cleaning" filter instead of just changing them but have also heard that cleaning them kills the helpful bacteria built up in it. Any advice?
 
Right now, it's essentially a Harem environment. The biggest one is probably female, and the 3 others are likely male or indetermined. As they grow, the behavior will probably get rougher and more aggressive. At the very least, a pecking order will be established and the one on the bottom will be hard pressed to survive.
 
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