I am very new to Saltwater lifestyle and I have a 20 gallon standard tank. I have been doing a lot of reading and research about what it takes to make a good tank. I know a good supply of Live Rock and Live sand is a must to any tank big or small. I am needing to know about the Skimmer and the power heads I would need. My overall goal is to have a pair of Mandarin Dragonet. I am planning to have another tank just for raising Cope's for them. Let me know if you guys have any suggestions. Thanks.
Starting a Nano Type Tank
- Thread starter biggyal66
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spongebob lover
flea whisperer
Welcome to RF dood 
.
hmm powerheads, i'd buy some tunze nano ones or some 1200 mjs .
skimmers, if you're gonna have a sump i'd go with the asm g1 and mod it or if you're not, may be an aqua c Remora, may be an octopus hob something like that.
what type of lights are you gonna put in there dood ?
.hmm powerheads, i'd buy some tunze nano ones
or some 1200 mjs .skimmers, if you're gonna have a sump i'd go with the asm g1 and mod it
or if you're not, may be an aqua c Remora, may be an octopus hob something like that.what type of lights are you gonna put in there dood ?
Krish
RF STAFF
Welcome to RF!! Are you planning on adding in a sump or just incorporate everything on/in the tank? If you don't plan on adding in a sump then I'd probably go with something like an AquaC Remora like Gabby suggested to hang on the tank. Not expensive and will do the trick. As for powerheads, it all depends on if you plan to go with a reef setup how much flow you'll need. Maxijets as suggested as well as tunze nano streams and Seio's will make good powerheads for that sized tank.
Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions
Are you planning on adding in a sump or just incorporate everything on/in the tank? If you don't plan on adding in a sump then I'd probably go with something like an AquaC Remora like Gabby suggested to hang on the tank. Not expensive and will do the trick. As for powerheads, it all depends on if you plan to go with a reef setup how much flow you'll need. Maxijets as suggested as well as tunze nano streams and Seio's will make good powerheads for that sized tank. Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions
i would stick with a maxi jet 1200 or 2, depending on how much flow you need...they are cheap and dependable.. the Seio's are ok and they put out a wide flow, but they are freakin HUGE... i bought one.. on a small tank, they will take up a ton of room....as for a skimmer, i would try a CPR Bakpak skimmer... they are good for that size tank.. i have one on a 20g right now.. i think they run like $120 or so, but i could be wrong.. i have a Prizm skimmer too... i don't recommend them to people, but for a 20g tank, they work fine...they can be hard to tweak and get just where you want them though.
Thanks for the info I am going to get that Mazijet as you guys suggested and I found a guy that has a Bakpac 2 skimmer for alot cheaper than the pet stores. So that will be my skimmer. What kind of saltmix to use I know there is alot of choices and I dont know much about any of them. THanks
spongebob lover
flea whisperer
yeap i agree with Ronaldo
:lol: .there's also reef crystals but the only difference from what i've heard is that it has just a little bit more of calcium in it... i believe and it's a little bit more pricey
spongebob lover
flea whisperer
yeap i agree .
or if you get into the hard corals you can always start dosing kalk or 2 part solutions.
.or if you get into the hard corals you can always start dosing kalk or 2 part solutions.
Sounds good. I have a pet store right down teh street that sells the stuff. What is a good ratio of Live Rock / Live Sand is good for that tank. Should I use a hang on filter kinda like freshwater tanks or not. I heard they created alot of Nitrate in the system. I am maybe thinking about some small coral and maybe some small feather dusters, I think. What type of lighting should I use and what type of heater should I use. Thanks keep the info coming.
moortim
Mountain Goat
A HOB filter is fine, the nitrate problem comes when there is sponge filter media in the filter, once you remove that then you are fine. I use hob filters for carbon and they work great. Live sand is not a necessity, if you have live rock and a sand bed eventually the sand will be live anyway. A good rule of thumb is one pound of live rock per gallon in the tank but that is only a recommendation. If you like more, put more in, if you want to keep a mandarin than more rock is better. By the way, I assume you know that they will need lots of pods to be happy, what is your pod raising tank like?
roscoe
Well-known member
When you do get the bak pak skimmer use a maxi jet 1200 and mesh mod the impeller in it.
91YOTA
Well-known member
if it were my tank i would skip the hob filter... stick a maxijet12000 or 2 in there and a 100w heater... for lighting, it sounds like you are new to this so will probably be keeping soft corals for a while so i would recommend 2x65w power compacts for lighting... any soft corals and most lps corals should be fine with this lighting as well as some sps corals (montipora digitata and capricornis).... i would skip the mandarin dragonnettes and start with some more hardy fish like a pair of clowns and maybe a 6line wrasse or small goby of some sort.... instant ocean is a good salt and unless you get into stony corals you wont need to worry about calcium levels... also, with soft corals and regular water changes you can get away without a skimmer on a small tank... i like salifert test kits for their reliability... to start, i would get the basic tests such as alk, ph, nitrite, and nitrate... smaller pieces of live rock allow more surface area for beneficial bacteria and more aquascape options and i would say 20 to 30 pounds of sand.... a good cleanup crew would be several small hermits and a mix of snails... also, save yourself some time and frustration and buy an ro/di filter from the start... if you stay in the hobby it will pay for itself in no time and you wont have to go to the store and buy water... do not start out with tap water or use it to top off the tank, you will only turn your tank into an algae garden- speaking from experience i think that covers most everything, if you have any questions feel free to ask
i think that covers most everything, if you have any questions feel free to ask
Krish
RF STAFF
Best test kit to buy or most popular is the brand Salifert. It can get quite expensive when you add up all the different ones like nitrate, ammonia, nitrite, calcium, mag, alk etc, but when testing your water and relying on a good reading, you want to go with a brand that is good. As for the Emperor filter, for biological filtration purposes, I'd skip it as well...All the bilogical filtration and denitrification you will need should come from your live rock. If you want to use the filter as a source to run a bag of carbon or to increase surface aggitation, then I'd use it in that case. Just a few personal thoughts. Good luck with the setup
dailydriven911
sps addict
I would recommend against salifert test kits. They had some issues with many of there test kits lately giving false readings. I'd go with api for n02, no3, n04, ph. Elos for cal, alk, mg, etc...Good luck and happy reefing!
Best test kit to buy or most popular is the brand Salifert. It can get quite expensive when you add up all the different ones like nitrate, ammonia, nitrite, calcium, mag, alk etc, but when testing your water and relying on a good reading, you want to go with a brand that is good. As for the Emperor filter, for biological filtration purposes, I'd skip it as well...All the bilogical filtration and denitrification you will need should come from your live rock. If you want to use the filter as a source to run a bag of carbon or to increase surface aggitation, then I'd use it in that case. Just a few personal thoughts. Good luck with the setup
