New to this obsession

Hey yall,

My name's Garrett. Live in Tallahassee, FL. Kind of funny how all this came together. I've always wanted a saltwater tank but I've never really put any effort into it. A couple months ago I had a friend who bought a green spotted puffer from Walmart (I know...) and was giving it away because she didn't want to keep it anymore. At the time it was in a 1.5 gallon tank (again I know...), I felt bad and took it. A couple days later I bought a 20 gallon tank for it. I did a little research on them and decided to acclimate to a brackish tank in the 20 gallon. I guess from there, it kind of took off and I eventually made it to a full saltwater tank. The GSP loves the full salt and is doing awesome! I'm kind of on a budget so I'm just buying one part at a time for the tank.

Setup: ~20 gallon vertical rectangular tank (14" x 14" x ?)
Penguin Biowheel 150
Cascade 80 power filter
Nova extreme 18" t5HO
~30 pounds of live sand
~25 pounds of rock (not sure if they are live yet)

*I want to get some kind of LED moon lighting/shimmer's in there also. Maybe a stunner strip or Current USA Powerbright. If anybody has any has any advice or opinions on what to get that would be great!

*Protein skimmer in the near future (just doing 10% water changes each week for now)

1 Green Spotted Puffer
1 Yellow-tailed damsel
1 Blue damsel
1 horseshoe crab
1 scarlet red legged hermit crab
1 blue legged hermit crab
1 emerald crab
2 snails

The GSP is actually pretty timid, if anything it is scared of everything in the tank. The damsels are more "aggressive" than the GSP.

The horseshoe crab is kind of funny. It'll disappear in the sand for a day or 2 and come out. It likes to swim around the tank on its back. Sometimes it gets stuck on its back and I feel like it have to help it out a little bit. I just don't want to find it dead stuck on its back when I come home

Comments and suggestions are welcome (aquascaping, equipment, livestock, etc.) ! Kind of new to this so bare with me.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to 3reef! Any pics? Just a heads up, that horseshoe might seem fine now, but they get to be over a foot in size and can ofter starve in small tanks.

 

YouTube - Horseshoe crab mowing my sand bed

^Horseshoe crab

 

You I know lol....I've seen some in the ocean over a foot long. I'll prob. transfer it into a bigger tank once it gets bigger or give it to a give with a bigger tank.

Trying to figure out how to upload pics...attachments aren't working for some reason

 

how is the horseshoe crab doing??

i am setting up a 120 gallon tank and i've ALWAYS wanted one but i was afriad it wouldnt have enough to eat or it would bury itself and i'd never see it.

you dont have many other fish but does anything pick on it or vise versa???

 

Welcome to 3reef!

The easiest way to post pics is copy and paste from a site like photobucket. This way ppl don't have to hassle with clicking on the thumbnails to see your pics too. ;D

 

Matter of fact i have some Kenya Tree that you can have for sure right now...and i can propogate you some pulsating Xenia too

 

I like the idea of a horseshoe crab. What about a small male in a 55g?

 

I don't know why my jpegs aren't uploading but I'm taking your route lol...making an account now, pics up soon hopefully

anpgp: meant to say "yea" instead of "you I know"

tangaholic: I haven't had the horseshoe crab that long, just under a week. I thought the puffer or the damsels would pick on him if he's on his back but they don't. He just does his own thing. The only thing I'm kind of scared of is that he likes to swim on his back and when he does he usually gets stuck on his back in weird places. My tank isn't that big so that might be the problem. I'm sure yours will do fine, he just needs alot of sand to crawl under. I don't have coral yet so I don't know if he will affect it.

Kevin: Appreciate bud! That would be awesome! I might have to take up your offer in a couple weeks. lol....I don't think I have the right lighting system right now for corals do I? Its an 18" nova extreme t5HO (one 10k 18w and 18w actinic). I live off high and tharpe. Ditto on the help, I got a truck so if you need help moving things just let me know. Also its kind of a new tank, would they be "hardy" enough lol...(still learning the ropes)