Low-medium bioload stocking of 20g

[blub_blub]

Hi all!

Starting my first tank and trying to design it to be light-moderate bioload for easier maintenance and less worry on vacation. Maybe I got too excited tho and have drifted into moderate-high? Lmk what you think.

20gal JBJ rimless AIO
AI prime reef
tunze 3155 ato
(currently not planning on a skimmer)
tank came with charcoal, ceramic media, and filter sponge
going to try to add filter floss

Current plan (in order):
1 Yellow watchman goby + 1 randall shrimp
1 Royal gramma (will this be ok in a 20g??)
1 Green clown goby
1 clownfish

Not sure when to put these in relative to others:
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
3-5 sexy shrimp
snails
maybe some hermit crabs

Once the tank is more mature:
Lots of soft corals and LPS (hammers, etc)

Will these all get along peacefully?

I travel every few months, hoping with an auto feeder it can occasionally survive without me for some time. What is a reasonble occasional upper bound for water changes? 2 weeks? 3 weeks? While home, I'm planning on 1x/week water change.

Any other things you recommend adding?

Opinions on other potential issues are welcome as well!

Excited to get this tank going! Please send speedy cycling wishes hehe

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO your fish list should work, , I've had this fish together, although every fish has his own personality. I would call that a fully stocked tank IMO. The RG is fine in that size tank, I've had one in my 15 for years. I do weekly water changes on my tanks, some do it more infrequently, everyone has their own personal way of doing things.

Ornamental inverts like sexy shrimp can be added any time, I add snails as I see algae growing. I don't keep hermits due to their tendency to pick at corals, but they are fine otherwise.

IMO any aquarium should be able to easily go a few weeks without our intervention, the only limiting factor is the size of the ATO reservoir, the bigger the better. I use eheim auto feeders on my tanks.

I would run the filter and the carbon and leave the sponge and media out, its not needed IMO, that is more for freshwater tanks.

Suggestions: start up a build thread so people can follow along and give suggestions as needed. And post a pic when you got it set up, we like pics! Good luck

 

[blub_blub]

Thank you so much! I will be using all this advice! I was looking into the ehiem feeder so this gives me another vote of confidence on getting that one. Im not super crazy about the hermits so I might just pass on them then if they can cause coral isuses. And dropping the carbon and sponge will give me more space in the rear chambers so not opposed to that either.

Just figured out how to make the build thread and moved it over there with pic added

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/first-saltwater-tank-build-20g.1166733/