20 g Nano reef

Keeper5221 · Aug 14, 2023

This will be my first reef tank and the plan is to be updating this thread for a long time. Im still in the researching stage and the only thing i really have right now is a the tank itself and a heater. Also im from australia so ill be going between litres and gallons , cm and inches alot hopefully i remember to add what measurements im using when i write them out everytime.

Build will be :

Tank : 20 gallon ( 60cm long 32cm wide 37 cm high)
filter: tidal 75 HOB
heater: 100w heater
light: AI blade grow 21 inch (52 cm)
Wavemaker: Jebao slw 20

The plan is to keep things simple have a CUC and a pair of clown fish in the tank then as many soft corals as i can. If anyone has any suggestions on the equipment feel free to suggest things. It has been hard finding recommended items in stock here in Aus the blade grow actually the "cheapest" of the higher end lights i could even find in stock and im talking $300-400 cheaper. Having a freshwater planted tank ive learnt light is the most important thing so im guessing its the same with coral and saltwater which is why i dont mind spending abit more on a light thats from a reputable maker. Ill probably just get any random wavemaker i can find since i wont need anything too strong in a tank this size , thats if i even need anything at all after i set the filter to the highest setting. Im also probably just going to source sand and rock from a local fish store unless there's specific kinds people think i should be getting.

Any advice from people keeping nano tanks , anything you wish you spent more on spent less on from the get go would be appreciated. Next time i post i should have all the equipment and hopefully the tank filled with water and the rocks/substrate.

kevgib67 · Aug 14, 2023

Watch on YouTube BRS 52 weeks of reefing, great info on setting up a reef tank for beginners. Hygger makes a great nano wave maker. I have a larger one and love it. Best of luck with your new addiction.

Gumbies R Us · Aug 14, 2023

Best of luck with the tank!

Keeper5221 · Aug 20, 2023

Small update on the build i decided to grab a tidal 75 instead of the 55 for a filter, i read most companies over exaggerate the flow on their filters and decided to just grab the bigger one and turn it down if needed. Also purchased a jebao slw 20 for the wave maker so between the two i should have enough flow in the tank. I have been looking into a HOB skimmer aswell but decided against it for now and maybe looking back into one if i cant keep my water in check with just water changes. Ive read conflicting things about them for a tank this size so i guess we will see in the future.

DeniseAndy · Aug 20, 2023

Good luck and have fun. 20g can have some really cool creatures in them.

Keeper5221 · Aug 29, 2023

Update on the tank , its been up and running for about a week. I put 10 kilos of argonite sand and about 6-7 kilos of live rock from a local fish store. Ive tested ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at the fish store and all looks good also bought my own testing kit to do at home from now on. Ph was around 7.8-7.9 and kh was at 9-10 which is alittle lower than i would like but its still acceptable range for fish and i know chasing perfect numbers can get expensive and has a higher risk of something going wrong. Hopefully those numbers stabilize to somewhere alittle higher when i start doing regular water changes as i have yet to do any on the tank, i plan to do my first water change next week or the week after. Going to be adding a pair or clowns and see how things go from there, dont plan on adding any coral for atleast 3-4 months till the tank has had time to mature and stabilize.

Now for some bad news , ive noticed that some of the rock has come with aiptasia attached. Im honestly not too worried since i dont have any other coral in the tank and the original plan was to add peppermint shrimp into the tank anyways. Worse case secenario is i add a file fish and then see how he does with any coral i deliberately add and get him out of the tank if he does pick at any of the softies i have growing. Speaking of softies i love toxic gsp i might have gsp on all three of the smaller isolated rocks and just have it take over then just leave the larger one for other coral. Anyways next update hopefully everything will still be going well in about 2-3 weeks when i add my 3rd and 4th fish.

Keeper5221 · Sep 25, 2023

figured its time for another update, ive added more than a couple fish over the last month 4 clowns were my first fish and then 2 more about 2 weeks after that being a bangai cardinal and a foxface rabbitfish. Now before any remarks about the fish yes i know its not a good idea to be keeping 4 clowns together so 2 will be moved on to another tank soon but the home breeder i found had these 4 as her last unsold clowns and basically gave me 4 for the price of 2 , them only being 3 months old i took them and they have been happy together this past month. The bangai is probably my favourite fish from the shape to his color in the blue light i love it, he puffs out his bottom jaw and makes a knocking sound that i had no idea he could make. All the research i did about these guys and no one mentioned that little fact till i saw him doing it , it was driving me crazy not know where the sound was coming from i thought my filter was acting up. Now about the foxface, i know he will definitely outgrow this tank but for now he seems happy, he picks at the rock all day keeping much of the algae short so im grateful for that cause the tank really is going through some ugly times. He will be moved to a bigger tank when i think he's outgrown this tank but for now i think its fine.

That being said the tank itself i think is coming along nicely , finally got the new light in and i gotta say i really like the look if the color and design of the blade grows, now i just need to get some coral and adjust the intensity of the light. Im just using the default soft coral setting at 50% intensity , if anyone has any suggestions on the light id love to hear it. Im in the process of deciding on the last fish i want to get , with me moving on 2 of the clowns id be sitting at 5 fish in total for this tank which i think is a good number to stop at . Im leaning towards a hawkfish of some kind most likely a longnose if i can find one or a goby/blenny of some kind not sure but definitely want something that sits on the bottom of the tank. I wanted a mandarin dragonet but feeding requirements probably not a good idea for my tank so ill save that one for if i decide to get a bigger tank going in the future.

I did have a acrylic lid on the tank but that had to go because of how low the light is sitting on the lid it was getting really hot, so im going to be building a netted tank lid with some window framing and a clear plastic fish netting that i found but thats about all that new for now i think by the time i do another update i would have put in my first bits of coral which will probably be some gsp and a leather of some kind, hopefully everything continues to go well.

2020 Worst Year · Oct 9, 2023

Keeper5221 said:
figured its time for another update, ive added more than a couple fish over the last month 4 clowns were my first fish and then 2 more about 2 weeks after that being a bangai cardinal and a foxface rabbitfish. Now before any remarks about the fish yes i know its not a good idea to be keeping 4 clowns together so 2 will be moved on to another tank soon but the home breeder i found had these 4 as her last unsold clowns and basically gave me 4 for the price of 2 , them only being 3 months old i took them and they have been happy together this past month. The bangai is probably my favourite fish from the shape to his color in the blue light i love it, he puffs out his bottom jaw and makes a knocking sound that i had no idea he could make. All the research i did about these guys and no one mentioned that little fact till i saw him doing it , it was driving me crazy not know where the sound was coming from i thought my filter was acting up. Now about the foxface, i know he will definitely outgrow this tank but for now he seems happy, he picks at the rock all day keeping much of the algae short so im grateful for that cause the tank really is going through some ugly times. He will be moved to a bigger tank when i think he's outgrown this tank but for now i think its fine.

That being said the tank itself i think is coming along nicely , finally got the new light in and i gotta say i really like the look if the color and design of the blade grows, now i just need to get some coral and adjust the intensity of the light. Im just using the default soft coral setting at 50% intensity , if anyone has any suggestions on the light id love to hear it. Im in the process of deciding on the last fish i want to get , with me moving on 2 of the clowns id be sitting at 5 fish in total for this tank which i think is a good number to stop at . Im leaning towards a hawkfish of some kind most likely a longnose if i can find one or a goby/blenny of some kind not sure but definitely want something that sits on the bottom of the tank. I wanted a mandarin dragonet but feeding requirements probably not a good idea for my tank so ill save that one for if i decide to get a bigger tank going in the future.

I did have a acrylic lid on the tank but that had to go because of how low the light is sitting on the lid it was getting really hot, so im going to be building a netted tank lid with some window framing and a clear plastic fish netting that i found but thats about all that new for now i think by the time i do another update i would have put in my first bits of coral which will probably be some gsp and a leather of some kind, hopefully everything continues to go well.

foxface's need 75 gallons + not a 20 gallon

Keeper5221 · Oct 20, 2023

Update

Its been close to 2 months since i setup the tank and things have gone smoothly so far mostly. My fish had a minor case of flukes so i treated them for that with praziquantel they have gone through 2 treatments and its been a week since the last treatment and im not seeing any scratching or yawning which is what clued me into the flukes so i think i can say we got rid of them all. Ive also recently moved on 2 of the clowns and the foxface to a new tank thats better suited to them , they were always temporary fish so when a chance to move them on came i took it.

Right now my stocking list is 2 clowns , 1 bangai cardinal, 1 sixline wrasse, 1 longnose hawkfish, 5 trochus snails and 1 stomb snail. Im really happy with this level of stocking and ive been testing the water twice a week to make sure the tank can handle the bioload and its all been very stable so i wont be adding anymore livestock to the tank. The snails were a really good addition to the tank they cleaned the rock and sand right up. The stromb snail is really cool to watch he hops around the sand bed with his eyes staring at you. I removed one of the rocks in the middle to give him more room to move around, eat and have more room to bury himself. I think the tank looks better this way so i didnt mind the change, i also managed to get rid of all the aptasia in the tank atleast all i could see. I decided to deal with it before i started adding coral by removing the rocks from the water and using a syringe with hotwater to just blast the aptasia. It worked really well and i havnt seen any regrowing in a month since i did it.

Im worried the snails are working alittle too well so i decided to not clean the sides and back of the tank glass anymore and just to let the snails handle any algae that grows there, its probably not necessary but better safe than sorry. They are doing a good job at it anyways so i dont mind the sides being alittle dirty. Its been about 2 weeks since ive added any fish to the tank so i think next week i might add my first 2-3 corals. Its looking like i didnt have much of a ugly phase the tanks algae growth has gone down a ton and the snails are taking care of whatever is still growing so i think its safe to start adding some coral. Probably going to add a kenya tree, some gsp and another leather coral of some kind so hopefully next update ill have coral in and growing. The tank will be mostly soft coral with maybe a hammer and a frogspawn on the left island seperated from the rest so i wont have to worry about sweeping tentacles for a long while.

Keeper5221 · Dec 3, 2023

3 month update

So a bunch of good and bad happened this month. It feels like something bad was happening every week, i added coral as i said i was going to but right after that i had massive algae outbreak everything was covered even the snails wernt safe they looked like fur balls it was really bad all the coral closed and i thought everything was going to die if im being honest. So i added gfo with the carbon i was already running and took out the purigen to try and balance my nitrate to phos ratio cause when i did a test my phos was crazy high above 0.7 but my nitrates where only 4 and all my other parameters where in line for coral. I dont know why only my phos was so high but i started doing manual removal of the algae daily , kept up with weekly water changes and started adding copepods and after about 3 weeks things have gotten so much better than they were even from before the algae outbreak.

Im past the algae outbreak but im still dealing with abit of diatoms on the sand but thats probably normal for a tank at this age. The best piece of equipment ive ever gotten for this tank has got to be a turkey baster. Its helped me so much with keeping things clean and getting the inside of rocks "flushed" out since two of my fish sleep within the rock. I also had my first fish death this month it was just before the algae outbreak my longnose hawkfish somehow managed to jump out of the tank even though it has a netted top, honestly it was a blow to wake up and find the fish dried up. I decided to replace him with a lawnmower blenny and he helped alot with the algae problem. Thankfully none of the coral died and all the fish look healthy.

Coral : sinularia, finger leather, toadstool leather, gsp , reverse hammer, frogspawn.
Fish: clown pair, sixline wrasse, bangai cardinal, lawnmower blenny.

Keeper5221 · Dec 24, 2023

well looks like im not going to be updating this thread anymore , i ended up getting a bigger tank. I got the reef bug and decided i just needed a bigger tank. I found one for really good price with everything included so i went for it. Guess i wont be able to have a nano thread anymore but will probably make a new thread for the new tank to keep track of things. ive only lost fish to stupid mistakes on my part like jumping out the tank and no coral death so far. Hopefully things keep going smooth for me even after the transfer