New Tank Specs/Photos. Comments?

[beast]

Ok, I've had this Berlin-style tank running for almost 3 months now. What I have in there are:

20 Gallon
40 lbs of Live Sand
Live Rock
Prizm Skimmer

Yellow Tailed Damsel
Clarkii Clown
Lawnmower Blenny

Cleaner Shrimp
Bubble Coral
Frogspawn Coral
Anemone(pink tipped, I think)
Caleurpa Prolifera

2 hermit crabs
15 snails

The rest of em are here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/44534692viVuWZ

There's some algae growth I haven't cleaned up yet, but this keeps it real . What do you guys think? Overloading this small tank? Keeping fish I am not supposed to be keeping?

 

[kanapino]

beast,

It looks pretty good for 3 months. But I would definitely add more live rock. It looks a bit empty in there even though you have enough live sand. Especially with a 20 gallon the toxic concentrations will spike up real fast without enough lr and ls in combination.

At the moment I would definitely wait at least a month before adding anything new in there. For such a small tank and at only three months old you moved really fast on adding your fish and corals.

Watch your parameters and be prepared to react quickly.

The algae is normal with new tanks and takes time to go away. If you use only RO/DI water evaporation loss and water changes it will go away a bit faster. Actuallly in such a small tank I would only recommend the use of an RO unit.

lol,
Brian

 

[beast]

What would you guess is the number of lbs of LR I have in there right now?

I never figured out the amount of LR I have in the tank. The recommendation is a lb of LR per gallon of water, right?

 

[kanapino]

beast,

Honestly it looks like about 10lbs. The rule of 1lb per gallon is a rough estimate used the price calculation. But this is a rough estimate and depends on the porousity of the rock. A better rule is "enough rock to occupy 1/3 of the tank volume." And on a tank of your size this is cutting it close. Every rock whether limestone, dolomite or tufa has a different density and this is why the general rule is often not enough. Just think more on the concentration of toxins in the tank. 1 drop of ammonium in your tank will be 5 times more concentrated then in a tank of 100gallons.

Also, compared to the price a few more stones won't cost you so much more as it would if you needed more in a 100gallon. The live sand helps alot in the nitrogen cycle but a few more stones will add alot more comfortable sleep at night. Especially, if you power goes out.

What are your param. right now or recently?

By the way, when you get more stones and they are cured then add them slowly and prepare to do a water change the next day. If they are not cured then put them in a rubbermaid for at least two weeks. Do not add them directly. As this will lead to an instant spike.

lol,
Brian

 

[beast]

My parameters are 78 degress, 1.023 specific gravity. Everything else checks out based on the Tetra test kit that I have(as of 2 weeks ago). I have noticed that it does not check for nitrates, only nitrites, ammonia, hardness...I'm about to check it again.

Isn't live rock already cured when at the LFS, if they pull it out of one of their tanks? Will there be a nitrate spike regardless?

Thanks for the help.

 

[liquid]

Beast: if no one's said it yet, welcome to the board and reefs.org.

Tank looks like it's doing OK so far. The algae (probably diatoms or cyano) is normal for a tank as young as yours. Expect different algal blooms to pop up for about the first year of your tank before it stabilizes out. Some snails will take care of the algae if it's diatoms.

Liverock: depends on the LFS whether or not it's completely cured. Some get it from their supplier completely cured or get it in raw and cure it in their store. Typically the recommendation is approx 1 lb/gal to 2 lbs/gal. I'm not 100% certain that figure is accurate now that deep sand beds (DSB's) are being used. I believe there was a thread just last week on this topic. You might want to do a search for it using the Search function at the top of the forum page.

hth

Shane

 

[aquarist=broke]

beast...

I was looking at your other pictures of your 20. I looks as if the top of the tank is closed. I've always heard that it is better open, but I only noticed that the top on my tank only raised the temperature, and the raised temp brought nasty brown algae bloom and with the bubble problem i had it was even worse. Don't know if that is just me or others here though. :roll:

 

[beast]

Aren't most aquariums closed off at the top with canopies and such?

 

[aquarist=broke]

This is how my canopy is set up.....
See the prism skimmer.

There is also a fan that blows from this corner to exit the skimmer side.....

Anybody else have this kind of deal set up?

 

[liquid]

You can do it any number of ways. Some people choose to put a canopy on their tank and others choose to have an open top.

Canopy (my tank):

Open top (Richard Durso's 180):

Personally, I like the open top look now that I've been reefing for a while as I like to look down into the tank on my livestock as much as looking thru the glass. Tridacnid clams look soooo much prettier when viewed from the top.

Shane