Must have equipment!

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Good morning everybody, i am running a 20 gallon reef tank. I was just wondering if you guys could help me out by letting me know, what equipment i must have. I currently just run a 50 gallon HOB filter, a power head, heater and a led light. I do weekly water changes and my tank has been running for a little over a year. The thing is my tank is never clean , there is detritus on the sand and live rock all the time. Am i missing important equipment?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

You may need to adjust flow more or rearrange your rockwork to prevent dead zones with little to no flow. Certain clean-up crew members, such as hermit crabs and shrimp, will also dig through detritus and keep it suspended in the water so the filter can pick it up. You may also need to upgrade your filter. I know a lot of folks run the Aquaclear 120 filter on tanks as little as yours, it essentially becomes a HOB sump.

 

[mitch91175]

How long has the tank been setup since you say that it is never clean? One of your issues could be that your powerhead and/or HOB filter just isn't doing a good enough job. Powerhead would be the issue if you have dead spots and where those deadspots are it's not generating enough flow. I have always shied away from using HOB filters because they are nitrate factories. I personally like having a sump/refugium for many reasons: more water volume, great place for macro algae, place for more equipment, increased biological filtration, etc.

You system is only 20g so the HOB may be fine for you (I never had a DT that small; always went for the largest that I could fit in my space).

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

I only have a pair of clownfishes and i feel like they fight the current i have right now. They do have spots in the tank that they can relax. So maybe by adding a stronger powerhead, my issue could be resolved. There are deadspots with the current power head, i have stronger powerhead at home, when i get home from work i will switch them and see how it goes

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Also about how many snails and hermits should i add to this size tank? I only have 6 hermits and about 3 snails

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Also about how many snails and hermits should i add to this size tank? I only have 6 hermits and about 3 snails

I also have a 20 gallon and I started with 10 hermits, 10 cerith snails, 10 astrea snails, and 5 nassarius snails. I also had a sand sifting star but my pistol shrimp recently ate him :rolleyes: Get smaller hermits and snails, the hermits will be less likely to kill each other over shells or go after the snails to try and get their shell (it may also be a good idea to ask for a couple of empty shells at the LFS).

 

[hotashes]

Good morning everybody, i am running a 20 gallon reef tank. I was just wondering if you guys could help me out by letting me know, what equipment i must have. I currently just run a 50 gallon HOB filter, a power head, heater and a led light. I do weekly water changes and my tank has been running for a little over a year. The thing is my tank is never clean , there is detritus on the sand and live rock all the time. Am i missing important equipment?

Hey and welcome, rather than teach you how to suck eggs maybe it's best I link my thread to 6/7 weeks of reefing from beginner with a 14G/54L nano. That way you can make decision for yourself ;)

Otherwise my ways may not work right for you if I tell you word for word lol.

If you have a tank thread, be good to tag along for updates.

Many ways to skin a reef, this is mine. (54 Litre/14 Gallon)

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php...f,-this-is-mine.-(54-Litre-14-Gallon).376872/

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Get a turkey baster and before you do a water change, cut the pumps and blow all the detrius off the rock work and into the water column. Then suck as much of it out when you siphon water out of the tank.

 

[hotashes]

Get a turkey baster and before you do a water change, cut the pumps and blow all the detrius off the rock work and into the water column. Then suck as much of it out when you siphon water out of the tank.

+1 something I do prior to WC and it settles on sand and I siphon :)