Just a thought, have you considered adding another fish? This will give you a lot more movement and it will open up a million more coral options!
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I don't really understand the media reactors, I can't tell if it would be necessary for me I've got a 20g long with a protein skimmer, powerhead, and a large filter; my main reason for being hesitant is I've got a lot hanging off of the back already and I'm on my last plug in my power strip lol. I was thinking a hammer coral and maybe one other? That would give me two zoas and one frog spawn with the addition to the hammer and another coral. I'd like something to put up on my rocks though!
The cat, goni and alveopora will need target feeding and once you get a bit more experience keeping coral they should be relatively easy to keep the goniopora can be tricky to keep, but ORA grow ones that are supposed to be pretty easy. Alveopora are pretty easy too. They both need similar light to your frogspawn and just enough flow to gently wave the tentacles.
Catallaphylia are known to be very hard to keep, but if you find an aussie specimen and keep up your maintainance routine they can be done. A little extra light than our frogspawn and similar flow. Again you'll need a bit more experience before trying this one, but it will add quite a lot of colour and movement to your tank.
Hammers and torches are pretty much the same care as your frogspawn too. Also they're easy to keep, cheap and very nice corals! Lots of different colour varieties and the corals I would personally recommend for movement.
You won't need any reactors or dosing equipment for a 20gal. Water changes will be more than enough
You can keep hammers and frogspawns up on the rock. Zoas too, but they will grow over the rock in time.
Cool thread on a smaller tank. And the rock form, I like. Your transform is looking good..
Media reactors serve a multitude of purposes. Imho, they are the best thing besides protein skimmers for this hobby add far as filtration. But you can run/use some of anything in a media reactor. There are (as far as I know and have experienced), two main types we as Hobbyist use in our systems which are the single pass and recirc reactor. I will let you look them up and each had its benefits.
But primarily, media reactors can be said to "be used to force a solution or be a more effective solution" to a great many things: phosphate problem(in the tank) - gfo in a media reactor, nitrate problem - well, this one isn't as easy to clarify as this isn't the only option but you can run sulfur media, ionic media such as purigen, etc, just want to clear up your water - carbon(quality) in a media reactor fir a few days, etc.. Pellets in a media reactor, imho deserve a bit of investigation(and understanding) , as your dealing with carbon dosing, separate cycles, and a bit going on that's more advanced.
But the reactor in itself is simply, most of the time, a tube that maximize contact with the media, versus just being in a mesh bag that gets uneven distribution. Then, putting it simply, you control the flow for the type of media your using to maximize that media. Some media is tumbled hard, some soft. They are very versatile though..
And lol, following your thread!
What do you mean exactly by target feeding, getting the prongs and feeding them by the hand? I may wait to get a little more experience before getting any of those three really do my research before purchasing one because I want them to be able to thrive in my tank! Awesome I'm thinking about picking up a hammer or a torch today or tomorrow! Okay awesome I was really not trying to buy a media reactor but if it was necessary I'd be willing to. I have thought about adding another fish, any advice to the ones I've already got? I have 2 clowns one black, one regular and a red striped angel along with 3 hermits and 3 snails. Not sure where to go from here with fish but I'd like something with some color and swims around but not like my clowns who just swim by the front and sides all day.
Everyone target feeds a bit different, but it's essentially focussing on a specific coral, coral polyp or fish while feeding. I use a turkey baster when I target feed. I turn off all my pumps and wait for the water to stop moving around. I feed my fish (other wise the fish steal the corals food) and while the fish are being fed, it triggers a feeding response from my coral and all the little feeder tentacles come out. I use the turkey baster to gently drop a piece of mysis or finely chopped squid onto the tentacles and the coral will feed itself. It's really fun watching them eat. There are packaged foods out there specifically designed for corals and some sound like they work really well. Each coral is different in what it will eat, most will accept mysis, but some have mouths which are too small and need a finer food.
That's a good desicion to hold out a bit longer for those other corals. I'd hate for you to buy an expensive coral and have it not thriving because I told you to. The gonipora and alveopora are both corals which require special sized foods to feed on. The goni generally needs the additional food to survive. The alveopora usually doesn't need it, but will benefit from it.
Because you have a 20 gal, you can do larger water changes if necessary, so a lot of equipment larger tanks can use isn't needed on smaller tanks. Thing like the reactors and dosing pumps and stuff. You can do a 50% water change if you need to, but if you had a 400 gallon tank you couldn't really do it lol.
Fish wise, gobies and blennies are really cool. Most gobies would be happy in your tank, but some blennies need a bit more space. Cardinals, dartfish, Talbots damsel (most would people say I'm crazy to recommend a damsel, but the talbot is really peaceful. I had one in a 5 gal with a goby and no one attacked anything), I believe possum wrasses can be kept in a 20 gallon too.
Check out the live aquaria website to see some more fish that are available and each fish they have posted has a bit of info posted about it too. That way you'll have a bit more of an idea of what you would like to add it'll also give you a rough guide on pricing.
Gobies are awesome! You'll have a lot of fun with them. They normally have a lot of personality depending on the species.
Have to decided on what goby you like?
I know the fish, but would have to look through my reference books for the name as I don't remember it. It's a dottyback of some sort I in not mistaken. Looks very nice!!
The first coral is a Duncan.
The second and third are candy canes.
The fourth is a bit hard to see. Maybe a mushroom of some sort?
All pretty easy corals to look after and they all look incredible as large colonies. Goodluck! You'll know if they're happy as they'll stay puffed up and fat and you may notice new growth relatively quickly.
Too bad about the zoa. It looks stressed, but not terminal. Just keep an eye on it and try not to move it around. Time will be the best healing tool for now
Some dottybacks can get quite aggressive, but some don't. That's all I can really say at the moment lol. I'll try to get a bit more info once I get home and have a flick through my books.
Yea, the teal button would be the candy cane. Candy cane is one of the most commonly used names for the species and the scientific name is caulestrea. A lot of different species are given the common name "button coral" or "button polyp" from zoas to cynarinas to candy canes
You've got some great corals there, they're a lot of fun to watch eating!
Okay awesome no worries! As of right now he's made a little cave between the rock and sand that he'll go to. Nice I was going to go pick up some tongs and pellet seaweed is that a good call or should I go a different route?
Do you mean like feeding tongs?
I don't have a lot of experience with pellet foods as I prefer fresh seafood and nori, but there's some high quality pellets out there. New Life Spectrum and New Era are two names that come to mind, but there's plenty more. I imagine Hikari would make a good marine pellet, I know their freshwater pellets are good