Some newbie-ish questions

I have a 20 gallon & a 50 (maybe 55, I can't remember for sure) tanks...both have been set up for about a year or so. I had some help getting them setup, but now I want to start learning how to do all of the maintenance stuff & upkeeping of them on my own.

In both of them I have a MarineLand canister filter, heater & just one regular aquarium light (I'll have to double check on the wattage & stuff). In my 20 gallon, I just switched from having gravel to sand. In the 50 gallon, I still have the gravel.

What else do I need for them? I've read that protein skimmers are good, but I'm not sure if its needed for the 20 gal or just for the bigger one. And also a powerhead??? Also, is my lighting sufficient? Anything else that I should add? And what brands do you recommend?

Here's a pic of my 20 gallon:


In it, I have: 2 clown fish, a blue damsel, a mandarin goby and a yellow fish (I'm guessing a damsel of some kind). The blue damsel has been aggressive towards the yellow fish, so I'm considering putting him in the bigger tank...thoughts?

In my 50 gallon, I have 2 black damsels (I believe that is what they by what I've read), a domino damsel, a blue damsel and a Coral Beauty. Oh, and also a skunk cleaner shrimp.

Here's a not-so-great pic of it:


Sorry for all of the questions!

 

Wow no powerhead at all? you have virtually no flow then... yeah you will definately want to change that and your lighting ASAP!

Tip on the marineland can filters.. clean them weekly.. I just lost a lot of livestock due to not properly cleaning. The can filter was full of ammonia...

 

yes you will want a powerhead for sure. as for lighting, if your not gonna keep corals, i dont think you need much if any upgrade on your lighting

 

My husband just reminded me....apparently I do have a powerhead in the 50 gallon...at least I think that's what it is! It sits at the bottom, near the middle of the tank & spins....would that be a powerhead? (I didn't really have much to do at all with setting everything up, a friend did it all for me & I obviously didn't ask many questions at the time! )

But I do need one for the 20 gal as well, right?

Also, what testing kits do you use? I bought some of those strips that you dip in the water, but I'm not feeling all that impressed with them...they don't really give me any numbers, so I still don't feel like I understand what is going on with it. I also bought one of those things that sticks to the inside of the tank to constantly monitor the ammonia....so far it said it has been "safe", but are those things even accurate?

 

Well true if your not keeping corals.. lighting should be okay.. but a set of t5s would be better.

Powerheads usually magnet to the side or suction cup and can be moved. They pretty much just force water around like a big water fan.

Strips are not so great.. I bought a full kit for $29.99 at my LFS that are drops. More accurate but harder to do. It comes with your basics: ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, Ph

 

If it has been up for a year and she has had no problems is there a need to go out and buy a lot of new equipment?

better lighting would make the color of the fish 'pop' more but it does not sound like what is being used has been detrimental to date nor has what i would normally consider to be a lack of water movement.

I do agree, a better test kit should be invested in. I hate the test strips but that is just me.

have you had a lot of fish die in the past year?

The more i am in this hobby the more i wonder how much of this equipment is really needed and how much is hype by manufacturers to get us to spend rediculous amounts of money on equipment because we "need" it. There are so many varying opinions on what is needed and what is not that it can make your head spin and your wallet empty very quick.

IMO, if it is working, why mess with it.

 

if you want to just keep the fish you have then all you need to do are water change and filter cleaning your whole system is prob run by the canister filter as a bio filter , if you clean them you would get a huge cycle spike so change water lots after cleaning filters.
invest in a salinity meter and do some water changes with new saltwater/mix. as far as light its for you,fish dont need light. if your filters are flowing lots back into the tank then ok if not then wash the contents in a bucket full of tank water not tap water, and re-assemble. ph and salinity important ,filter should deal with the rest.

 

My last fish that died was a few months ago. It was one of the original damsels that I got. Prior to that, I had a starfish die (one from each tank). Otherwise, it has been some time since I have had any fish die.

I just recently put the heater in the 20 gal & switched to sand just the other day. Since I've done those 2 things, the fish in there seem to be much happier.

I wondered if anything else is necessary since they have been up & going for a year, but wasn't sure if I've just been "lucky" & if things will start going bad soon or something LOL Although they've been set up for a while, I'm still learning everything as though I've never had them set up.

Thanks for all of the replies so far, by the way

 

I would go buy a drip test pronto, use the strip tests only when you are super bored and are lazy, haha. And I would go get a small powerhead for the 20g, they are super cheap anyways. The stars prolly died because there was no sand in the tank, not sure on that tho. You could prolly put one in the 20g now, but don't get the chocolate chip star cuz your damsels will eat him.

I am not sure what kinda canister filter that is, but regular cleaning maintance is required with most filters. Look up the manual for it online if you don't still have it. And you DON'T need new lights unless you plan on keeping corals and I really wouldn't keep anything but certain fish if you are a newbie. Study, study, study is all I can say for any new additions or just in general. The more knowledge you have the better you understand how the saltwater life goes.

And good luck catching that damsel, they are quick lil guys but I agree with you that he would be better in the big tank.

PS Looks like you needa do a 1/3 water change on the big tank, the water looks a lil cloudy. Please go buy a drop test and list your parameters here so we can help you out. And if you need any info on water changes let us know! Welcome!!!!

 

Thanks for all of the help!!

The big tank looks better now...I think I had just cleaned it when I took the picture of it. I'm sure it does need a water change though. I'll go grab a test kit tomorrow & test all of it.

I assume I want to test the water before doing the water change, right? How often should the water be changed? I've seen lots of varied answers to that. To be honest, I don't know that the water has ever been changed in it...I add water when it evaporates out, but that's about it. I had been told it wasn't really necessary unless it was getting really dirty or something. ???

Oh and thanks for the tip on the choc chip starfish! I had one small one in the 20 gal, and one big that I ended up putting in the 50 gal (I was convinced it was killing my little fish ) I can't remember what the other starfish was that I had in the 50 gal. But I guess the damsel thing could explain why neither of choc chip ones survived!