New Aquarist

[billydreamer]

>Repost from Wrong Section<

Hi everyone. I'm just starting my first SW aquarium. I have a 20L tank that used to house a Red Ear Slider turtle (I donated him to a local zoo because he didn't seem to happy alone in my tank ) So I found some room, for some new pets

Anyway, I'm just starting out. I've learned a lot from a book I bought about a month ago, and from several hours I've spent browsing this site. I just started my tank today. Filled it with water, and started my filter (Aquaclear 20) and added crushed coral. The water is still quite cloudy from the coral, but starting to clear up (I thought I gave it a good washing, but not quite enough ) Tomorrow, I'm going to add the heater, and when the water is at a good enough temp, I'll start adding live rock.

My long term plans: Once the tank is good and cycled, and my tests are comming out good, I'm going to get a few fish (most likely a clown, a goby, and a damsel) a cleaner shrimp (I think they are adorable, and from what I've read, they're a lot of fun.) and a hermit crab or two.

So a few small questions:
1) Does this amount of fish sound fair for 20L?
2) With a long tank like mine, would it be necessacry for a powerhead at one end, and the filter closer to the other, or would the filter be okay near the middle-ish?
3) The guy at the pet store near my house (LFS?) said I could add hermit crabs about a week after start-up, if I'm using LR. Does this sound right? Or shoud I wait until the tank is fully cycled?
4) What is the deal with the grocery-store bought cocktail shrimp? Even the guy at the pet store hadn't heard that one.

This turned out to be kind of a long introduction. But if anyone could give me any guidance, or answer my questions, it would be great. Thanks a lot!


P.S. sorry for putting all this in the intro page, I was a little confused, and a lot excited about my new tank, and got carried away.

 

[melosu58]

P.S. sorry for putting all this in the intro page, I was a little confused, and a lot excited about my new tank, and got carried away.

No problem. Welcome to AA. Your LFS guy is not very helpful or experienced. Read these


http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/stock-list-tips-maintaining-your-sw-tank-73477.html

Articles

 

[fijiwigi]

1. What do you think about a mated pair of clownfish. They like to pal around together and hang out like best buddies.
2. Place the filter wherever you want really. A powerhead for flow is a great idea. Hydor koralia are the favorite because of there flow pattern for many people. a koralia1 would do nicely for a 20L in my opinion Water Pumps & Wavemakers: Hydor Koralia Water Circulation Pumps
3. Dont be in a rush to add livestock until the cycle is complete. The Hermits are hardy and would do ok I am sure. But better to play it cool and wait maybe a month or so at least.
4. The cocktail shrimp is a way to add an ammonia source to get the bacteria to colonize jumpstarting the process. Without an ammonia source the tank really won't fully cycle and as soon as you add a fish that produces ammonia there won't be any mature bacteria to digest the ammonia from fish waste. Causing unstable conditions. And in a 20G with it being small things happen fast.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

>Repost from Wrong Section<

Hi everyone. I'm just starting my first SW aquarium. I have a 20L tank that used to house a Red Ear Slider turtle (I donated him to a local zoo because he didn't seem to happy alone in my tank ) So I found some room, for some new pets

Am I doing my math correct here? A 20 liter (or litre!) tank is like 5 US gallons... right? Do you really mean a 20 liter? Or did you mean 200 liter? 20 gallon?

If it's 20L, I can't really recommend much of anything in there. My quarantine tank is 10g and it looks packed with just a single fish in there! The only thing I'd put in there would maybe be a single goby, or firefish. But honestly, I wouldn't even start anything in that small of a tank if it was me.

 

[fijiwigi]

Maybe refering to 20 Long??? thats what I thought

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Maybe refering to 20 Long??? thats what I thought

Ok... I'm embarrassed! Yeah... that's probably what they meant!

If so, then the only couple comments I'd have would be ignore your LFS's advice about the hermits - wait until after the cycle. And I wouldn't put a damsel and a clown in a 20g. They're of the same family, and most damsels aren't known to be the most peaceful fish in the world. In a 20 gallon, I'm pretty sure the clown would get harassed like crazy.

 

[JoshsReef]

I would remove that crushed coral out now before you add anything and replace it with sand. the crushed coral will prob cause problems down the road

 

[ryshark]

I have read that a lot about crushed coral, however I have about 1.5" of crushed coral and my nitrates are still 0. Maybe because I have a very shallow sandbed, I don't know.

 

[melosu58]

I would remove that crushed coral out now before you add anything and replace it with sand. the crushed coral will prob cause problems down the road

I agree. What happens is that the CC will trap waste since it is heavier causing nitrates. It harder for your clean up crew to clean CC than sand which is much easier. It used to be that most folks used CC to help buffer the water but that can be accomplished just as easy with aragonite sand.

 

[billydreamer]

I did mean a 20 Long, I'm still kinda getting used to the lingo...

 

[billydreamer]

I suppose it would be a good idea to get the Crushed Coral out then, I'm just not looking forward to breaking down the tank and pulling all the water and Crushed Coral out...especially since i just started it!

 

[fijiwigi]

I suppose it would be a good idea to get the Crushed Coral out then, I'm just not looking forward to breaking down the tank and pulling all the water and Crushed Coral out...especially since i just started it!

I know that it is frustrating I put crushed coral in at first as well based on my LFS advice (They were probably just wanting to get rid of it) Glad I removed it. Its better now then later. One thing I learned quick was never listen to anyone at the LFS always post here it saves headaches and heartbreaks for sure.

 

[melosu58]

It will be much easier to take it out now. It`s still clean. If you had to remove with some maturity it would be pretty foul.

 

[roka64]

I had CC AND sand in my tank. I had to use a drainer. You don't have to break down your tank. All you need to do is switch out (and this is my experience) about 1/3rd of the coral at a time. Did 1/3 rd about a week apart. This will give enough time for the beneficial bacteria to colonize the new sand.

 

[ryshark]

Eventually I do want to remove my CC and replace it with deep argonite sand. However, is CC always bad no matter what? I have 20lbs of CC and 15lbs of live sand in a 75gallon. So this makes for a very shallow sand bed. I also have 10+ nassarius snails and stir as much as my sand bed as I can with the hose during PWC.
At one point I had a 3"tang, 2x 1"clowns, 2"damsel, 3x 1"chromis and my nitrates were still at 0 (after removing bio balls and glass cylinders and replacing them with live rock rubble, then doing a few 25% pwc) and continued to remain 0. So I decided to put the cc removal on the back burner and worry about it later since it is not causing any noticeable harm. Do you think I should I still remove it now anyway?
I don't mean to steal the thread, I just wonder if how much pounds of cc the original author of this thread actually has may make a difference. Then again he has a "20L" which I thinking means 10gallons?? so I'm sure the water could be fowled up much easier.

 

[roka64]

I agree about the CC, I had it and it looked nice at first, but then it got nasty and my clean up crew was limited....

 

[fijiwigi]

I have 20lbs of CC and 15lbs of live sand in a 75gallon. So this makes for a very shallow sand bed.nitrates were still at 0 continued to remain 0. I decided to put the cc removal on the back burner and worry about it later since it is not causing any noticeable harm. Do you think I should still remove it now anyway?

As long as the water quality is good and you like the way it looks I don't see any problem with leaving it how it is. I would test your paramaters before your PWC to see if any Nitrates are showing up toward the end of the week. Doing a PWC dilutes any problem that may have been there.