Starting a new 20 gal. reef

[scoot]

As my first saltwater tank i started out with a 6 gal. eclipse. a year and a half later i started gettin bored and i wanted bigger. i already have a 20 gal. with freshwater in it. In a couple months i plan to put 20 lbs of live rock 15 pounds of live sand, som mushrooms, 1 yellowtail damsel (very skidish so wont bother other fish), the damsel is in my 6 gal and he stays away from the other fish. 1 or a pair of perculas, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 bicolor blenny, i also want a cleaner shrimp and the usual clean up crew. The tank is a 20 gal. tall so i might have problems with the light since its vey tall should i get a retrofit kit or buy those screw in bulbs that can be used with corals? i have indacescnt lights in it now. would this be overstocking? and also if i could add any more fish what kind of small fish could i add. (i figure this is probably cuttin the line for overstocking but hey!). i am still in highschool so i dont have the money for a bigger tank. also should i get a filter skilter or one of those small air powered skimmers. thats all i need to know. thanks for the answers everyone

[Penguin]

Hey,

I would eliminate the lawnmower blenny from your list. It will get a little too large for the 20g and won't have enough algae to eat in that size tank. The other 3 fish (damsel, perc, bicolor) should get along fine. Putting more than those 3 fish in a 20 might be pushing it, IMO.

Do upgrade your lighting if you want to keep mushrooms or other corals.

Adding a skimmer is always a good idea, IMO.

[SteveP]

I just hope you truly understand the leap that saltwater can represent

Saltwater aquariums are a jump in complexity and cost from freshwater - not just in the equipment, but in the livestock itself. At a rough estimate, 20# of rock, 15# of sand, a bag of salt, some shrooms and a pair of percula's will set you back close to $250. Add in $100 for a used light setup, another $100 for the skimmer, and so on and so on. It is far FAR better to take a few months saving up for the RIGHT equipment early on, rather than buying the wrong things and replacing them later, especially when you move up to the larger and larger tanks ;)

20lbs of rock and 15lbs of sand might be a little light. These things have a habit of become mini-reefs, so you might want to plan on a bit more sand, and a little more rock just to cover yourself if you go the whole way a few months down the line. Infact, you already talk about lights for corals, shrooms, though it concerns me that you refer to them as "incandescent". Incandescent bulbs are like normal light bulbs - they get very hot, and are subject to implosion should they get splashed -

I would probably recommend something like Power Compact or VHO lighting, but neither is going to be particularly cheap to install. A good ballast for PC or VHO will set you back about $100, and then probably the same for the bulbs and fitting. Metal Halide would be overkill, but a 150W single bulb would also work very nicely, probably $100 for a prepackaged balast, $50 for the bulb, $50 for the pendant/fixture. I would dig around on the forums and look to see what others have setup on their mini-reefs and I'd also look around on Ebay to see what is available used or cheap that would work for your setup, you may save a considerable amount.

I would definitely invest in a skimmer of some description - for a small tank, I would assume there is no overflow and sump setup, so a hang-on-tank model like the Prizm from Red Sea or the Bakpak from CPR. I would avoid the Skilters or SeaClones personally. It seems the CPR BakPaks are generally considered worth the money - I have a Red Sea Prizm that works reasonably well hooked on my undertank sump and it seems to work nicely enough.

I hope I haven't discouraged you too much - this is a great hobby with an immense potential for education and learning. This forum is a wonderful resource, I hope you find it useful in answering all your questions going into this very rewarding hobby !

Steve