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View Full Version : 20 gallon clown/rbta,gbta reef


brandon7491
11/27/2007, 06:59 PM
hey guys well i am getting pretty sad of looking at my 20long in the garage empty so i think i will make a gbta/rbta tank with a pair of clowns. i will have the tank lit by an oceanic aquamedic 150watt mh with probably a 10k xm instead of a 14k phoneix. for flow i will probably do 2 tunze 6025 nano streams. it will have a 2" live sand bed and as much live rock as it needs for me to say it looks good. i dont know if i will drill it. i will have an aqua c remora protien skimmer and a modded hob filter with activated carbon,cheato,and lr. a pair of true percs or picasso clowns will be put in the tank. any thoughts or suggestions would be awsome!!!! plz share all of them

thxs a lot

Slakker
11/27/2007, 07:26 PM
If you're going with the 10k for the extra par, i think you'd have more than adequate light with the 14k on that size tank.

I don't want to ruin any hopes or anything, but I just don't think a 20long is really the optimal tank to house an anemone. They can get pretty big, and there's not a lot of width on that tank for the anemone to expand. You'd have a wall-to-wall BTA in no time.

brandon7491
11/27/2007, 07:45 PM
we have had this discussion before on the largness and OOOO i forgot to take pictures shoot... my friend has a 1400gallon sps tank like 100% sps but he has 2 nems which are a gbta and a rbta. the rbta is about 3ft and the gbta is 2ft. the maroon clowns that host them are about 7" long and fatter than ever. so yes your right the tank is not optiomal for an aneome but is it going to die? NO its not,will it get bigger u betcha it will it will get huge thats y its going to be just a clown and nem tank. if the time comes where it gets to be the whole tank then its bye bye nem to a bigger home.

garygb
11/27/2007, 11:15 PM
Are you planning on using oolitic aragonite? Supposedly you get denitrification in as little as a few inches with that size grain, so 2 inches might work fine for you; otherwise (if you are using grain size larger than oolitic) 2 inches is not an ideal depth--a better choice is either deep sand bed (4 or more inches) or shallow, <1 inch for larger grain aragonite. Also, if I were you, I wouldn't use a 150 watt MH on a 20 long. I'd go for t-5 or pc myself with BTA's. As you probably already know, ideally you will let the tank stabilize for at least several months before adding an anemone. With good husbandry (proper water conditions and regular partial water changes) a 20g long will be fine for a BTA. Yes, it will dominate the tank, but it will likely be a very satisfying aquarium for you--a big, fat BTA and a pair of clowns and NO other cnidaria, my idea of a satisfying display.
Gary

brandon7491
11/28/2007, 08:27 AM
yea man i am planning on going with fiji pink sand very fine grain not large grain of sand. in my 29gallon sps tank i have a rbta who is getting very big and the tank is packed with sps so he needs to come out of it . the only reason i am doing a oceanic aquamedic 150watt hanging mh is because i have one on my 29gallon sps tank. the tank the rbta and gbta will be going in will be well stabalized for 6mths to a year before any nems go in it. it will only be a pair of picasso clowns or true perc clowns and nems i will be going with now that u mention it a 3-4" ls bed. one other question for flow i want to have 2 tunze 6025's which generate 600gph of flow. do u think that is too much flow for the nem. in my sps tank i have 1180gph of flow with the nem in it. yes this is going to be an awsome tank cant wait to get started

garygb
11/28/2007, 10:08 AM
Sounds like you have thought this through and have a good plan. As far as too much flow, 20 to 30 times turnover should be plenty with a BTA. So estimate your actual gallons and go from there. I suppose you could use one of the 6025's if two is too many. A large piece of live rock just out from the pump can help buffer the current. I have a couple of BTA's that live where the current is fairly strong and their tentacles move a considerable amount and they don't move, so I assume they like it.

Since you're going with the MH, is there any way to start off with the anemone far away from the light and then slowly decrease the distance? What kind of light is over the anemone right now?

Danny07204
11/28/2007, 11:12 AM
I have a 20 long with anemone and crab hosting it. So far so good. I'm using 4x24w T5. Good luck.

brandon7491
11/28/2007, 02:12 PM
in my 29gallon sps t

brandon7491
11/28/2007, 02:14 PM
in my 29gallon sps tank i have an oceanic aquamedic 150watt mh . in that tank it has 1180gph of flow and the sps and nem are thriving. the nem is huge in that tank probably 6" fully spread and i have a powerhead aimed right at it and he loves it so ur right i will get the 6025's ill post pics later today of my sps tank and then make a diary of the nem tank

garygb
11/28/2007, 02:15 PM
Pleanty of light there Danny, assuming you have lights of the preferred Kelvin temp. (daylight).

Danny07204
11/28/2007, 02:35 PM
I have 2x10000k and 2x460mm actinic.

garygb
11/28/2007, 03:16 PM
The 10000K are fine, the actinic are not helpful for shallow water photosynthetic animals like your anemone; however, you might get by with two T-5's that are at the preferred range. I personally would replace the actinics with daylights, but then I like the look of more shallow (daylight) waters.

Danny, you said you had an anemone, but you didn't mention the species. Some species would definitely prefer 4 daylights, others (e.g. BTA) might be just fine with only two daylights.

Danny07204
11/28/2007, 10:24 PM
I have RBTA. This is a split clone from my main tank. He is about 6" across. Thanks Gary, for your info.