need help bigging a tank

i have a 20 gollan tank that is 30x12x12 i want to know what would be a good lighting and a very good way to filter the tank.....well evrything to get me started in the right way please help me!!!!!

 

bloodiamond 72

what do you intend keeping in that tank?
as that makes a significant difference on suggestions about lighting and filtration

Steve

 

Most people go with a sump. For a small tank if it is a FOWLR(most people start with this as their first tank) you could go with a large HOB(hang on back) power filter.Will this be a FOWLR(fish only w/ live rock) or a reef?

You will need a protein skimmer, maybe a HOB filter(if not a sump), lights, powerheads & test kits(to test water parameters). For a FOWLR you will need to test for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, & pH. If it will be a reef then you should, additionally, test for magnesium, phosphates, & calcium. Those are the main thing you need. But there's more.

 

What he said^

Answer this and I'll speak more. lol

 

well i want to make it into a reef tank!!!! thanks for answering back!! i really dont want to drill the back of the tank bc i really dont know how to do that but i also dont want to have a skimmer just hanging on the back with the filter is ther anyway of having a sump without drilling the back of my tank?

 

haha. Do your research. But here it goes...I mentioned the test kits already. Some good brands for this are Salifert,Red Sea & API. I have API but some say the API are hard to tell b/w the different colors.

You will need a skimmer. For this I would recommend one that is rated for 1.5-2X the size of your tank(so that would be rated for about 40g). For biological filtration you will want rock. Buy mostly base, aka, dry rock, as eventually most of it will become 'live. Live just means there are living organisms((good)bacteria) in the tank. I would seed it with a few lbs of LR. Maybe 3 lbs is fine. the rest can be base rock. You could buy this(both of these) at your LFS(local fish store) or even online.

macrorocks.com & ReefCleaners.com | Reef Cleaners | Green Algae | Biodiesel Algae | Fish Aquariums both have good dry rock.

Glass Holes is a good company for overflow boxes. (Glass-Holes.com dope aquarium stuff) This box will be the overflow, aka drain line, to your sump. use 1" PVC from this box down to your sump. The sump can just be a 10g for you tank, or even another 20g long.

The OF will go against the glass. A bulkhead is drilled in the glass, using a diamond coated drill bit(comes with the Glass Holes kit).

Now we are down under the DT(display tank) and hangin' out in the sump. Here we travel through our refugium and some baffles, a skimmer section, and then back up to the main display tank, through the return pump. Some good brands for skimmers would be SWC, Coralife, CPR, Prizm, and the list goes on & on. You can search the threads on this forum for info on what people prefer for their skimmer. (Once again, remember the 1.5X - 2X tank volume rule)

Baffles in the sump will help keep down on the micro bubbles, l which are created by the skimmer.

The refugium(refuge, or fuge for short) is a place for biological filtration. Many people have DSB's(deep sand beds) in here where micro bacteria will break down those yucky proteins you don't want. Macro algeas such as cheato are also kept in this area. (Once again ReefCleaners.com | Reef Cleaners | Green Algae | Biodiesel Algae | Fish Aquariums for macro algae) Remember, in a fuge you want slow flow, to allow the bacteria to get to the proteins. Macro algaes will contain pods which feed on the bacteria.

Lastly we have our return section. Your pump will go here to bring water back up to the tank. The suggested flow rate for this would be about 10X the volume of your tank(including however much foot of head you have to pump up). You can ask others about this. There's too many brands to list.

Powerheads will be used for flow, which is much appreciated our happy corals. I have Hydor koralia Evolutions in my tank they are awesome. I've got 2 of the the 425's. This is about 29X flow.

Soft corals like low flow. LPS(large polyp stony corals) like medium & SPS(small polyp stony corals) like high flow rates.

Use a refractometer to test your SG level.

Oh one more thing...your cycle will take about 6-8 weeks. You will slowly see a rise & then a fall in nitrites, nitrates, & ammonia. When these all reach 0, you can add your first inverts & a fish or two. If I am correct they should all reach 0, in that order? I forget) When your nitrites reach 0(which will be before the others) & your ammonia is low you can add your CUC(aka, clean up crew) This should consist of mostly snails, but some hermit crabs too. Cleaner shrimp will be mostly ornamental, though sometimes you will see them picking up detritus from the sand bed. Guess where you can get your CUC. ReefCleaners! lol.

"Go slow, let it grow".

 

there is

you can buy overflow kits that hang on the side or back of the tank and water flows out of them and into the sump
but for a 20 gallon tank - it might not be required IME

corals - as a newbie into reef keeping, I would suggest starting with soft corals and LPS corals , before progressing into the more challenging species (SPS, Clams, Nems etc)

and for the soft corals, you could look at T5 lighting for your tank, with 4 tubes being ideal IME

Steve

 

what type of corals do you want? sps, lps or soft corals?


while you don't have to have a skimmer, it helps alot and allows you to have a decent amount of fish.

the only systems I wouldn't run a skimmer is coral only(even then it would be easier with one), or a small tank where you can change a large portion of the water very frequently(weekly)(also probably not good for most corals).

 

ok so once i have that i want to do water changes like every two weeks right and that would be like 3 gollans for my tank?i really would like a mixetuer of hard and soft corals in my tank but i will not rush it....if i go with a sump how meany gollans dous it need to be?and how much water movent do i need to have in my trank?

 

The tank needs to cycle for about 6-8 weeks. test your params in this time & top off with fresh water. No water changes.

Also test your SG, or salinity level with a refractoometer. One can be had at a LFS or many of our online sponsors.

P.S. Go back up. I wasn't done yet!