Noah's 20 gallon marine "nature aquarium"

NoahLikesFish

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Hello! Currently, I have been inspired by people who have been taking the nature aquarium concept & doing it in saltwater aquariums, they replicate the enviroment where fish live & look pleasing to the eye, using techniques like the rule of thirds & the golden ratio. one thing ive noticed, is contrary to the nature aquariums of freshwater, these tanks are WAY more naturalistic than their freshwater counterparts. almost all these tanks use live rock & look like natural reefs. now that i have explained my idea, time to explain the thread. This will be the build thread where i document the planning, production, & the final product of my 20 gallon high reef tank. currently, Im in phase 1. I need to come up with a set of equipment that will create a sucessful tank. the dimensions are 24x12x16H, (60x45x30 for you metric lovers), I have a pretty good budget for the starting assembly. here is my equipment plan;

*unsure if i will get all this specific peice of equipment

H A R D S C A P E
  • Aqueon 20 gallon high (owned)
  • 17 lbs nano special from gulf live rock ($115 with shipping)
  • 20 lbs Fiji pink sand from caribsea & 20 lbs of florida aragonite crushed coral ($15 because i own the aragonite)
L I F E S U P P O R T
  • Digiten ATO ($45)
  • FREESEA 1600 or 1050 GPH pump ($25-29)
  • Fluval mini protein skimmer* (50$)
L I G H T I N G (very open to other options)
  • Ai prime, good quality but cons are that i do not know how well this would light a 20 gallon high & i gotta buy a mount
 
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NoahLikesFish

NoahLikesFish

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Stocking idea:
  • breeding pair of fish
  • a small basslet or wrasse
  • 2 small benthic fish (blennies, gobies, etc.)
do like pair or just 2 somethings, small basslet or wrasse 2 blennies or gobies 2 other fish i.e plectranthias
 
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NoahLikesFish

NoahLikesFish

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Stocking ideas, i included the common names incase you dont know them, all of these fish could be of different species but same genus if circumstance dosent allow for the exact species. *if i dont do sps **alternitaves to sps eaters ****i gotta do a lot of research on these or they are rare
  • Belonepterygion fasciolatum (banded longfin basslet)
  • Emblemaria pandionis (atlantic sailfin blenny) or any other oddball goby/blenny
  • Gobiodon or Prioleps goby
  • Oxymonacanthus longirostris (harlequin filefish)* ****
  • Koumansetta hectori (Hector's goby)
  • plectranthias inermis (geometric pygmy hawkfish)
  • Serranocirrhitus latus (fathead sunburst anthias)
  • Cirrhilabrus rubeus (Social wrasse) **
  • im considering getting another of a kind i.e 2 hectors gobies so i can try captive breeding.
Constructive comments appreciated :)
 
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NoahLikesFish

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Arthropod Terrestrial animal Insect Electric blue Fin different fishes for my tank
Something Fishy :: Aquarium Livestock :: Fish :: Atlantic Sailfin Blenny

Green Clown Goby

or

prioleps goby (but they are rare)



Hector's Goby

Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish

Fathead Sunburst Anthias

Ruby Longfin Fairy Wrasse


plugging my friends :) https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-sea-max-nano-build.856836/page-6

 
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NoahLikesFish

NoahLikesFish

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what corals should i get? i need to come up with a plan for the cycle. i plan to use the lasse method, purchasing a starting fish or 2 and a bit of coral. i plan to contrast this with my original tank, using euphillias, frogspawns, galaxeas & gorgonians. any suggestions on specific species & scaping
 

i cant think

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what corals should i get? i need to come up with a plan for the cycle. i plan to use the lasse method, purchasing a starting fish or 2 and a bit of coral. i plan to contrast this with my original tank, using euphillias, frogspawns, galaxeas & gorgonians. any suggestions on specific species & scaping
I don’t know if it’s just me really wanting to watch the natural behaviour (Both non-breeding and breeding) of a certain fish in my tank however I’d try get a few fast growing SPS in there for both the Clown Goby and the Filefish. I don’t know if I have told you already but I’m pretty set on pairing my BCG and that is my biggest reason to get Staghorns in the nano.

As for gorgs, I quite like a lot of the photosynthetic species from the Caribbean. Just to name a few, Purple Whip, Groebes, Purple Ribbon ect.
 
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NoahLikesFish

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I don’t know if it’s just me really wanting to watch the natural behaviour (Both non-breeding and breeding) of a certain fish in my tank however I’d try get a few fast growing SPS in there for both the Clown Goby and the Filefish. I don’t know if I have told you already but I’m pretty set on pairing my BCG and that is my biggest reason to get Staghorns in the nano.

As for gorgs, I quite like a lot of the photosynthetic species from the Caribbean. Just to name a few, Purple Whip, Groebes, Purple Ribbon ect.
i know the spawning behaviour is intresting, my main concern is they will just kill the coral. do they only kill acropora? (the clown gobies) im not doing the filefish due to their diet requirements. i dont think i can grow enough coral. i really want some other colors in the tank so i may change out the sunburst and the social wrasses for different species. i think solon wrasse looks better than the socail wrasse
 

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Following along! I would personally go with a higher quality ato, as if that piece of equipment fails then the whole tank is dead and your floor is flooded, but I am also a bit freaked out about that stuff.

I like the idea of using gorgonians, as I think they add a natural look to any reef tank.

And as far as lighting goes, AI prime should be plenty for that tank as long as you aren't looking for high light sps. ( the coverage listed is 24x24 and a 20g high is 24x12 )
 
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NoahLikesFish

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Following along! I would personally go with a higher quality ato, as if that piece of equipment fails then the whole tank is dead and your floor is flooded, but I am also a bit freaked out about that stuff.

I like the idea of using gorgonians, as I think they add a natural look to any reef tank.

And as far as lighting goes, AI prime should be plenty for that tank as long as you aren't looking for high light sps. ( the coverage listed is 24x24 and a 20g high is 24x12 )
if i run it like 100% whites 70% blues will that work? i am planning some sps like seirotapora, some acro. but its going to be at the top. im going for a white light dominant tank. thanks for the support
 

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Personally I like the ATO it is just a standard dual float ATO that in my experience works great. Without a sump it can be harder to find a dark area to place these though so making sure algae(pest or coralline) and things like that do not impede the floats is a neverending task.
 
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NoahLikesFish

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Personally I like the ATO it is just a standard dual float ATO that in my experience works great. Without a sump it can be harder to find a dark area to place these though so making sure algae(pest or coralline) and things like that do not impede the floats is a neverending task.
ive never had this problem personally, i wrap them in seran wrap so algae cannot grow
 

i cant think

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i know the spawning behaviour is intresting, my main concern is they will just kill the coral. do they only kill acropora? (the clown gobies) im not doing the filefish due to their diet requirements. i dont think i can grow enough coral. i really want some other colors in the tank so i may change out the sunburst and the social wrasses for different species. i think solon wrasse looks better than the socail wrasse
Clown gobies don’t kill the whole coral, they just irritate the bottom of its branches when nesting. I feel like if you had a fast enough growing SPS (Staghorn is the fastest grower that I know of) then it should be able to cope. They only irritate SOS from what I know of but will use LPS and Mushrooms/Softies to perch on.
 

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if i run it like 100% whites 70% blues will that work? i am planning some sps like seirotapora, some acro. but its going to be at the top. im going for a white light dominant tank. thanks for the support
I personally do not use an AI Prime, so I think it would be a bit trial and error as far as this goes, but I would start with a lower intensity and then slowly rise it to see how your coral react.
 

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