Planning my first reef tank (20 long)

FishDude25 · Nov 10, 2018

Hi everyone!

A little about me: I'm a long-time lurker here on R2R, and have been wanting a reef tank for years. I was born and raised in MN, and I recently moved to the East coast for a 2-year biology research training program. I had a 75 gallon FW tank for 6 years back in MN.

My landlord just gave me the go-ahead to get a 20 gallon tank! I'm super excited.

Below is my plan so far.

Livestock:
1 clownfish
Another fish that would get along with a clownfish and inverts?
A few snails and shrimp (not sure what kind yet)
Starfish?
Coral a few months down the road: Euphyllia (I LOVE torches, frogspawn, and hammers) and perhaps others with similar lighting requirements.

Hardware:

Tank/filtration: 20 gallon long, with this AIO box: https://www.amazon.com/Fiji-Cube-AIO-ALL-ONE/dp/B07C2NSP81
Inside the box I think I'll put a filter sock, bio-balls, and a bag of activated carbon.

Heater: cobalt aquatics neo-therm (I heard these are very reliable).

Water: BRS RO/DI
Salt: not sure yet, maybe Instant Ocean

Rock: BRS dry rock
Sand: thinking about picking up some live sand to help speed along the cycle

Calc/Alk: kalkwasser

Controller: Apex EL

ATO: Tunze osmolator nano

Salinity measurement: refractometer

Parameter testing: something accurate and relatively easy to read (trying to match the colors with the API FW test kits drove me crazy)

Lighting: I really like the idea of LEDs, am leaning toward Radions.

Quarantine: 10 gallon tank

A few questions:
--Any recommendations for a HOB skimmer for a 20 gallon?

--Would the 50W neo-therm heater be a good size for a 20?

--Would an AquaClear 70 be adequate filtration for a 10 gallon quarantine?

--The AIO box comes with a 250 GPH pump. Should I get any powerheads for additional flow?

--Which model of the Radion LEDs would provide enough lighting for Euphyllias in a 20 long? How would I mount them? Hanging from the ceiling isn't an option for me.

--Any recommendations for accurate and easy to read tests for ammonia/nitrate/calcium/alkalinity/magnesium?

I'm open to suggestions! If any of these questions would be better suited to one of the other forums here on R2R, please let me know.

Thanks so much! I'm very excited to dive in to reefing!
-FishDude25

Fudsey · Nov 10, 2018

Welcome to R2R ! ! !

#welcometor2r

--Any recommendations for a HOB skimmer for a 20 gallon?

--Would the 50W neo-therm heater be a good size for a 20? I would believe so

--Would an AquaClear 70 be adequate filtration for a 10 gallon quarantine? Yes

--The AIO box comes with a 250 GPH pump. Should I get any powerheads for additional flow? It would be a good idea to get a small one

--Which model of the Radion LEDs would provide enough lighting for Euphyllias in a 20 long? How would I mount them? Hanging from the ceiling isn't an option for me. An AI Prime or HD26 would be plenty of light for a 20g and you could use a flex arm stand to mount it. I do believe you can get some sort of support arm for the Radions as well

--Any recommendations for accurate and easy to read tests for ammonia/nitrate/calcium/alkalinity/magnesium? Red Sea or Salifert

Crabs McJones · Nov 10, 2018

Welcome to R2R!!

--Any recommendations for a HOB skimmer for a 20 gallon? Take a look at Reef Octopus, they make great skimmers and have a couple of hang on back versions

--Would the 50W neo-therm heater be a good size for a 20? Should be

--Would an AquaClear 70 be adequate filtration for a 10 gallon quarantine? Yup

--The AIO box comes with a 250 GPH pump. Should I get any powerheads for additional flow? Yes, you'll want to add about another 200 gallons per hour to be at 20x turnover which is what most soft coral and lps corals prefer

--Which model of the Radion LEDs would provide enough lighting for Euphyllias in a 20 long? How would I mount them? Hanging from the ceiling isn't an option for me. A single radion xr15 should cover that tank fine, and they have a mounting arm that you attach right to the tank.

--Any recommendations for accurate and easy to read tests for ammonia/nitrate/calcium/alkalinity/magnesium? Salifert test kits. They're 10-15 bucks a piece and are very accurate and easy to test

sfin52 · Nov 10, 2018

I would suggest that you add some lr. You can't beat the biodiversity that comes in with the lr. Also it speeds up the cyle.

For tests I use API. There are other but no experience with them.

Starfish wait till the tank it a bit older. Several are really good. Brittle star fish is a good addition and eat detritus that other critters can't reach.

Salt- I use what ever is on sale.

Fish- royal gramma, chaulk bass, green clown goby, yellow clown goby, fire fish.

Oscaror · Nov 10, 2018

FishDude25 said:
Hi everyone!

A little about me: I'm a long-time lurker here on R2R, and have been wanting a reef tank for years. I was born and raised in MN, and I recently moved to the East coast for a 2-year biology research training program. I had a 75 gallon FW tank for 6 years back in MN.

My landlord just gave me the go-ahead to get a 20 gallon tank! I'm super excited.

Below is my plan so far.

Livestock:
1 clownfish
Another fish that would get along with a clownfish and inverts?
A few snails and shrimp (not sure what kind yet)
Starfish?
Coral a few months down the road: Euphyllia (I LOVE torches, frogspawn, and hammers) and perhaps others with similar lighting requirements.

Hardware:

Tank/filtration: 20 gallon long, with this AIO box: https://www.amazon.com/Fiji-Cube-AIO-ALL-ONE/dp/B07C2NSP81
Inside the box I think I'll put a filter sock, bio-balls, and a bag of activated carbon.

Heater: cobalt aquatics neo-therm (I heard these are very reliable).

Water: BRS RO/DI
Salt: not sure yet, maybe Instant Ocean

Rock: BRS dry rock
Sand: thinking about picking up some live sand to help speed along the cycle

Calc/Alk: kalkwasser

Controller: Apex EL

ATO: Tunze osmolator nano

Salinity measurement: refractometer

Parameter testing: something accurate and relatively easy to read (trying to match the colors with the API FW test kits drove me crazy)

Lighting: I really like the idea of LEDs, am leaning toward Radions.

Quarantine: 10 gallon tank

A few questions:
--Any recommendations for a HOB skimmer for a 20 gallon?

--Would the 50W neo-therm heater be a good size for a 20?

--Would an AquaClear 70 be adequate filtration for a 10 gallon quarantine?

--The AIO box comes with a 250 GPH pump. Should I get any powerheads for additional flow?

--Which model of the Radion LEDs would provide enough lighting for Euphyllias in a 20 long? How would I mount them? Hanging from the ceiling isn't an option for me.

--Any recommendations for accurate and easy to read tests for ammonia/nitrate/calcium/alkalinity/magnesium?

I'm open to suggestions! If any of these questions would be better suited to one of the other forums here on R2R, please let me know.

Thanks so much! I'm very excited to dive in to reefing!
-FishDude25

Welcome to R2R

I can't really answer any of these questions better than they've been answered above, good luck with your first tank!

Alexreefer · Nov 10, 2018

I believe that everything listed above by Crabs Mcjones is good enough for you. good idea for a quarantine as well as many hobbyists make mistakes just throwing their fish in the tank. Good luck and make sure to keep us posted!

James M · Nov 10, 2018

Welcome to reef2reef!!

FishDude25 · Nov 10, 2018

Crabs Mcjones said:
--Any recommendations for a HOB skimmer for a 20 gallon? Take a look at Reef Octopus, they make great skimmers and have a couple of hang on back versions

--Would the 50W neo-therm heater be a good size for a 20? Should be

--Would an AquaClear 70 be adequate filtration for a 10 gallon quarantine? Yup

--The AIO box comes with a 250 GPH pump. Should I get any powerheads for additional flow? Yes, you'll want to add about another 200 gallons per hour to be at 20x turnover which is what most soft coral and lps corals prefer

--Which model of the Radion LEDs would provide enough lighting for Euphyllias in a 20 long? How would I mount them? Hanging from the ceiling isn't an option for me. A single radion xr15 should cover that tank fine, and they have a mounting arm that you attach right to the tank.

--Any recommendations for accurate and easy to read tests for ammonia/nitrate/calcium/alkalinity/magnesium? Salifert test kits. They're 10-15 bucks a piece and are very accurate and easy to test

OK, thanks, I'll check out the Reef Octopus HOB skimmers, xr15 light, and the Salifert test kits!

FishDude25 · Nov 10, 2018

sfin52 said:
I would suggest that you add some lr. You can't beat the biodiversity that comes in with the lr. Also it speeds up the cyle.

For tests I use API. There are other but no experience with them.

Starfish wait till the tank it a bit older. Several are really good. Brittle star fish is a good addition and eat detritus that other critters can't reach.

Salt- I use what ever is on sale.

Fish- royal gramma, chaulk bass, green clown goby, yellow clown goby, fire fish.

I throught about LR, but am concerned about the potential pests that could hitchhike.
I'll check out those fish you listed

FishDude25 · Nov 10, 2018

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Would a koralia nano powerhead provide enough flow? https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/koralia-nano-425.html

James M · Nov 10, 2018

FishDude25 said:
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Would a koralia nano powerhead provide enough flow? https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/koralia-nano-425.html

Yes they would

FishDude25 · Nov 12, 2018

Got the tank and stand! I'm ordering the rest of the equipment, should be here over the course of the next week. I'm so excited!

For substrate, I'm going to get 20 lbs of the CaribSea Hawaiian black live sand.

For rock I am going to get BRS reef saver dry rock. How many lbs should I get? Would 20 lbs be enough?

What kind of biological filter media do y'all recommend for my AIO box?

Thanks in advance!

sfin52 · Nov 12, 2018

Becareful with the black sand. It can have traces of metal. This would leech into the tank. @Robin Haselden @Brew12. Robin his sand tested by brew and metals were leeching into his tank from the sand.

James M · Nov 12, 2018

Where did you get your stand?
20 lbs of rock would be enough.

sfin52 · Nov 12, 2018

Looks like petsmart

FishDude25 · Nov 12, 2018

James M said:
Where did you get your stand?
20 lbs of rock would be enough.

I got the stand from Petco.
Okay, great, 20 lbs it is.

FishDude25 · Nov 12, 2018

sfin52 said:
Becareful with the black sand. It can have traces of metal. This would leech into the tank. @Robin Haselden @Brew12. Robin his sand tested by brew and metals were leeching into his tank from the sand.

Do you know if it was the same kind/brand of sand? If that's the case then I'll go with the the regular aragonite live sand instead.

sfin52 · Nov 12, 2018

That I can't remember. If you run a magnet over it and it sticks I would chance it. Black sand usally comes from lava. Lava can have different types of metal in it.