Hello!
I've kept several types of freshwater setups (some medium sized schooling indoor tanks, freshwater angels, and a koi pond mostly) but my only experience with a reef tank has been as kid staring at my uncle's 80 gal tank when we'd go over to visit, so I have next to zero knowledge about care for one.
I'm most likely a couple years away from starting my own tank, currently in an rental that limits fish tanks to 20 gallons.
Just wanted to start building up a knowledge base as early and extensive as I can!
Welcome!! A 20 gallon is the perfect size to learn. :) thats what I started on!
I was planning on doing a 30 before as my first before I found about my restriction.
How is your 20 stability wise? My work can send me away for a couple days at a time randomly, so I may not be able to get someone in to check parameters/water change.
Also, I'm not looking forward to taking a tank down and transporting it/livestock when I end up moving. Do you have any experience with that?
Unfortunately i DO have experience breaking it down and moving lol
Did a 2 hour move a few months ago. Plan ahead by keeping containers, bags, etc that you need for live stock. I actually used a couple 1 gallon water jugs for the fish and i felt safer with that since it had some stability. Not sure if thats typical, but it worked for me and i felt safer. I also used the tank water to transport them in to minimize the already stressful situation they found themselves in. All fish made it safe to the new home!
Empty out all the water that you can and just leave the rock in the tank unless you're trip from its stand to the vehicle is longer (i had to go down a set of stairs so i removed the rock). Or if you just want to take extra trips then remove the rock.
I only had a couple corals at the time. They found themselves in travel mugs or jars because they werent glued to the rockwork. The one coral that was firmly attached to the rock was just a "well i hope you make it" kind of thing and stayed on the rock. It in fact did not make it after a couple months went by, but i think its mostly because in the new setup the rock was at the bottom of the tank rather than the top. Moral of the story: keep your expensive/favorite corals in a container and it has a good chance of making it.
Have all the saltwater that you need on hand already. Whether its waiting for you at the new place or in your moving truck with you. Priority is to get the animals back into their homes ASAP. It took a few hours to set it all up and settled before i put the fish back in (minus actual moving times), but they took it like champs. :)
Stability is pretty good with mine, but ive also got a semi-loose lid on it. Evaporation is kind of a problem with the tank i have (Waterbox EDEN 20) and will probably get an ATO at some point, but every couple weeks i just refill it with RODI and its fine. Regular water changes are super important for a tank this size if you dont have any macro algae (like me) to eat up that excess nutrients in the water column.
Get you a good CUC, a blenny, and maybe a couple shrimp and you'll have a pretty clean tank.
Sorry about the long read, but I hope it was informative!
