February
2000 Reef Tank of the Month
Dana's 20 Gallon
Reef
Click on
the images to enlarge
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This is my girlfriend's
20 gallon reef tank. It's a standard 20g tall and has been up
and running since April of 1999. Back then, she was just a newbie
reefer so we wanted to make things as simple as possible. After
lots of research (books, magazines, internet and message boards),
we decided to go with a more natural system and keep the gadgets
and costs to a minimum. Initially, we decided to skip the skimmer
because the tank was going to be in her bedroom and she did not
think sleeping would be possible with the skimmer running, plus
it was too expensive. We were, however, willing to purchase a
skimmer if it ever became necessary: I have a skimmer on my 65g
reef and would HIGHLY recommend a skimmer to any beginner.
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The tank progress
very well through the months, so the protein skimmer never became necessary.
Because the tank need time to mature, no fish were added in the first
3 months. I think a great part of her success is due to her patience,
the awesome liverock that was bought from a local MO (J&L Aquatics,
thanks John) and the refugium. Having a VERY LOW bio-load (1 or 2 small
fish) allowed us to not have to buy a skimmer. At this point, I don't
think a skimmer would benefit her tank at all. However on a more heavily
stocked tank, I would definitely use a skimmer.
Lighting
(click for more info and pics- updated Feb. 4)
6 NO fluorescent
bulbs (4 Sylvania Daylights and 2 Philips Actinic 03's)
Filtration
About 25lbs of
Fiji liverock, 7lbs of livesand mixed with crushed gravel and a 5.5gallon
refugium filled with a couple pieces of liverock, some livesand and various
species of caulerpa. No protein skimmer is used.
Refugium
pics: 1
, 2
, 3
, 4
Corals
Soft:
mushrooms (red,
blue,
purple
Tonga, orange, green stripe, green
with red speckles, green
frilly), gold-crowned
toadstool, brown toadstool, yellow toadstool, tree
coral, colt
coral, devil's
hand, green-star
polyps, yellow
polyps, xenias,
anthelia(Feb.4),
green
finger, clove
polyps(Feb.4), various button
polyps.
LPS:
bubble, hammer,
frogspawn, fox,
trumpet,
red
open brain, short-tentacle
plate(Feb.4).
Gorgonian:
Porous
sea rod (pseudoplexaura sp.)
Clam: 3" derasa clam (it mysteriously
died after 2 week in the tank, think it was an acclimatization problem)
Fish:
2 pink skunk clowns (both got sucked into the intake of
a powerhead while we were on vacation)
dwarf
lion
(was given to her by a friend after the clowns died. he's now the only
fish in there)
Inverts:
2 feather
dusters, pink and black cucumber, coral-banded
shrimp, 15 hermit crabs, 15 astrea snails, 3 turbo snails,
10 nassarius snails
What do you think
of her tank? Email you comments and questions directly to Dana.
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