20 gallon reef tank

Impala67 · Jun 19, 2021

Just started a 20 reef tank I have 20 pounds of live rock/live sand a 20 filter and three Dalmatian Molly’s to cycle the tank on of the mollies gave birth do I leave them in there or take them out and what do I need to buy next to have a full coral reef tank.

anthonygf · Sep 6, 2021

SchrutesReefs said:
Longest sentence ever (Besides the thread of course). How long has the tank been up?

Yeah a mouthful, I would have to take a breather halfway through.

Impala67 · Sep 13, 2021

Thought I’d update all you guys on how it’s doing my 20 gallon long tank has got two clown fish, a toadstool coral, a Duncan coral, a hair mushroom coral, Pandora zoa coral, mushroom coral, a BTA, and last but not least a RFA! I have a USA orbit current marine light Bluetooth with two power heads and has two colbolt heaters. I appreciate your help with this tank as my last ones sucked this one has turned out very nice

Danroo · Sep 13, 2021

coralreefdefender said:
Thought I’d update all you guys on how it’s doing my 20 gallon long tank has got two clown fish, a toadstool coral, a Duncan coral, a hair mushroom coral, Pandora zoa coral, mushroom coral, a BTA, and last but not least a RFA! I have a USA orbit current marine light Bluetooth with two power heads and has two colbolt heaters. I appreciate your help with this tank as my last ones sucked this one has turned out very nice

I wanna know how the BTA is doing with that many corals and those lights. I wanna get one for my 20 gallon tank. I upgraded my lights recently from the strip to the R24.

Impala67 · Sep 13, 2021

It’s doing fantastic all I did was added it to the tank I made sure to put him in a crevasse between the rock he moved around for about a day or two then he found his spot also as he moved I moved my coral out of his way

Danroo · Sep 13, 2021

coralreefdefender said:
It’s doing fantastic all I did was added it to the tank I made sure to put him in a crevasse between the rock he moved around for about a day or two then he found his spot also as he moved I moved my coral out of his way

My toadstool is the only one that uses the rock to get grip. I just hate ripping it out from the place. How are the lights are they sufficient enough for the bta. Cause when I got them I saw no growth on my softies or it was too slow to notice.

Impala67 · Sep 13, 2021

I’ve had him for a month and he’s doing just fine under it actually he kind of his under the rock at first because there was two much light

Danroo · Sep 13, 2021

Hmm they do like lots of light unless being fed. I just don’t have to worry about feeding it with these lights.

Impala67 · Sep 13, 2021

I only feed mine once every two weeks

NoahLikesFish · Sep 13, 2021

coralreefdefender said:
Just started a 20 reef tank I have 20 pounds of live rock/live sand a 20 filter and three Dalmatian Molly’s to cycle the tank on of the mollies gave birth do I leave them in there or take them out and what do I need to buy next to have a full coral reef tank.

buy coral

Sharkbait19 · Sep 13, 2021

NoahLikesFish said:
buy coral

Tanks need much stability until they’re ready for coral, and that requires weeks of waste and nutrients. I’d recommend adding more crustaceans and a few fish before even considering corals.

NoahLikesFish · Sep 13, 2021

Sharkbait19 said:
Tanks need much stability until they’re ready for coral, and that requires weeks of waste and nutrients. I’d recommend adding more crustaceans and a few fish before even considering corals.

they wanted a full reef tank so i was telling them the logical next step. their tank should be established by now.

Bribo12 · Sep 13, 2021

So I think what you think is coraline looks a lot like cyano in those pics to me. Do you have a fts? Good test kits for magnesium, calcium, alkalinity and phosphates? You'll need to know all those numbers for the corals you have. How long have you had the bubble tip? I read through this whole thread and I'm a little confused as to what has actually been implemented. Are you using a reef salt? Did your pH come up? Rodi water? What light do you have? What powerheads?