Getting Started again

motomusicfreak · 10-30-2003, 01:05 PM

Hello everyone. I have been out of the reef tank scene for a few years and I'm starting up a new reef tank. I want to make sure I do it right this time. I have a 20 gal tank with an integrated protein skimmer and a hood containing I believe one flourescent and one actinic light. I want to add a refugium to help the reef grow. What size refugium is appropriate for this size tank? Can the refugium be too large? Are the two tanks typically level with each other i.e. sitting next to each other? With this size tank I cannot have more than say 5 or 6 fish correct? The number of corals is limited as well? Any information and help would be appreciated. -=Donnie.

Geoff · 10-30-2003, 01:47 PM

Welcome to TRT!!!!

i moved it here so that you would get more traffic.

in a 20 you should realistically only look at getting 1or 2 fish. a 20 does not have the room or biological capacity to handle any more fish without running into water quality problems. this is especially true if you are also thinking of putting corals in there. as for the amount of corals it is based on the amount of room in the tank. it is a good idea to figure out what kind of corals you would like to keep first, so that you can figure out what kind of lighting you will need.

as far as refugiums, they can be any size you want. the bigger it is the better though. more water volume, more pods, all kinds of goodstuff. there are some people with refugiums bigger than their display, but most people like to have the display bigger than the refugium.

G~

motomusicfreak · 10-30-2003, 02:10 PM

Thx for the info. WHen it was running at its peak, I had probably 10 lbs of LR and 3-4 fish. There were probably 4 Turbo Snails two anemonies, a sponge (which didn't survive very well), a sea fan, song plants and beyond that I cannot remember. It was fairly stable as well. After reading your post I'm thinking of getting a bigger tank and piggy backing a protein skimmer. I'm probably going to move to a 60 gal min tank size for stability. I want a good stable reef with plants, anenomies, soft corals and fish. I'm leaning towards exotics (mandarins, caribean lobsters etc which is why i want a refugium). Can you reccomend lighting and protein skimmers with the little info I have provided? Thx again. The more knowledge i gain the better

. My email is dk@706sys.com.

-=Donnie.

Reefdude5 · 10-30-2003, 04:12 PM

Donnie, Welcome to TRT!!!

I'm not sure what kind of lighting or skimmer would be good, but I'm sure someone does!

As far as the refugium, If I had a chance to do mine again I would attempt to put it above the display so that pods can float back down into the display ALIVE. THe bigger tank the better!

CAT · 10-30-2003, 08:20 PM

Donnie, big is always better

More stable and you don't run out of room. The mandarin would require a good sized tank plus a refugium as they tend to starve without live pods. And you'd need to run the tank for a few months to get enough pods for it to do well.

Not sure about the lobster 'cause I don't know what kind you mean, but I've always thought they were pretty good predators, your fish could be in trouble.

If you buy a reef-ready tank, the overflow is already built in to supply a refugium or sump below. If not, you'll need an overflow box to do the same thing.

Oh yeah, your lights are adequate for many easy to keep soft corals but the bulbs would need replacing - most bulbs only last 6-9 months before the spectrum changes and they become less usefull.

Good luck