20 gal Reef Tank

Mario1403 · Jan 3, 2020

spyder813 said:
Oh wow. An ATO is very important on a reef tank cuz it keep the salinity stable. Maybe you know that the water evaporates but not the salt so the salinity will go up and that can kill all the livestock on your fish tank. I did a top of manually at the beginning but once I did my gravity ATO my system became more stable.

Good tip, spyder813.
Unfortunately, as my tank is set up right now, a gravity ATO is not an option. I only top off with RO/DI, not salt water and my levels only vary in 0.5 ppt. I will definitely look more into an ATO solution or top off daily to keep the salinity constant. When the time comes to upgrade, I will definitely plan for an ATO.

LiveWire · Jan 3, 2020

Welcome to the REEF!!

Triple.T · Jan 3, 2020

I'm curious if you had an ammonia spike that killed everything. 3 weeks without a water change on a tank that small with the little bit of filtration you have I'd suspect you had an ammonia spike that killed everything and once you did the WC you're now noticing smaller amounts of ammonia in your tank.

lapin · Jan 3, 2020

Howdy

dbl · Jan 3, 2020

Welcome to R2R.

rodney · Jan 3, 2020

Welcome to R2R!

SPR1968 · Jan 4, 2020

Welcome to R2R!!!

Retro Reefer · Jan 4, 2020

reef lover · Jan 4, 2020

Welcome to r2r!

NatD · Jan 4, 2020

Welcome!
So sorry to hear about your fish. That’s so hard.

Zach W · Jan 4, 2020

Welcome!! 20gal is a great starter size imo but the fluctuations do happen quicker. I second the ATO recommendation, made a huge difference for me when I got mine running on my IM20

BeejReef · Jan 4, 2020

Welcome

Mario1403 · Jan 4, 2020

Hello all,
after reading all the good advises on here and talking to my local aquatics store, I have decided to upgrade my tank instead of waiting 76 days. The 20 gal will become a sump underneath the new 65 gallon tank I just got.
Thank you all for the warm welcome, the quick replies and all the tips!
-M

Murica · Jan 4, 2020

Welcome!!!

Samina · Jan 5, 2020

Welcome to R2R!!

RobberyinCSharp1824 · Jan 5, 2020

spyder813 said:
Oh wow. An ATO is very important on a reef tank cuz it keep the salinity stable. Maybe you know that the water evaporates but not the salt so the salinity will go up and that can kill all the livestock on your fish tank. I did top of manually at the beginning but once I did my gravity ATO my system became more stable.

Agreed. I never used an ATO when I started in the hobby and I lost a *lot* of fish/corals. For a 20 gal, an IM ATO system is more that sufficient; I use it on my 20 and I've never looked back. One of the best investments I've ever made.