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umphlettm

Reefing newb
hello everone. im new to the salt water aquarium world and have a few questions about getting started. i have a 20l tank with crushed coral and an undergravel filter. i dont have any fish yet nor have i added any salt. so far my biggest concern is the cloudlyness from the crushed coral. any time i try to smooth it out it gets cloudy again. is there anything i can add to it to help it clear up or should i switch to sand? if i switch to sand what type of filter should i use? which is better crushed coral or sand? also how much and how do i add the salt? any help would be awsome.
thanks,
umphlettm
 
Use aragonite base sand....better and longer buffering capacity.
Ditch the undergravel.There are so many filters out there.What is in your budget?
 
I second getting rid of the undergravel filter. In saltwater this will lead to nothing but problems, and big problems. I'd use aragonite sand instead of the crushed coral substrate but it's okay to use the crushed coral if you want to. It may take a couple days for the cloudiness to go away, and that's normal.

Instead of the undergravel filter, I'd buy a protein skimmer. If you have live rock and a protein skimmer you probably won't need any additional filtration systems.

To measure how much salt to add, you will need to buy a hydrometer or refractometer to measure the salinity of your water. Then follow the directions on the bag of salt for your tank size, wait a few hours, then measure your salinity. Add more salt or freshwater as necessary to get your salinity between 1.022 and 1.026.

Hope this helps, keep us updated.
 
Agree with the above. Both cc and under gravle filters trap the bad stuff in the tank and can effect your water quality.
 
Bifferwine said:
Instead of the undergravel filter, I'd buy a protein skimmer. If you have live rock and a protein skimmer you probably won't need any additional filtration systems.

I agree just add 1 or 2 powerheads for water movement
Click to expand...
 
Hey welcome to the reefs if you have any questions or concerns dont hesitate to ask and as you can tell you will have a little bit of reading materials :D
 
its me again. this may sound a little crazy but exactly what is a live rock?
also im kinda limited money wise right now so what would be a good protein skimmer to start with? i would like to get my tank set up right the first time so its gonna take me a while. any more info on what i might need will be very much appreciated.
 
Live Rock is rock/dead coral depending on where you get it that has be inhabited by living organisms wether it is coral or plant or other forms of live some comes cured ready for placement in the tank and some is not which means you have to cure it, which is great if you have to cycle a new tank. There are many different types of life forms that can come on the rock ranging from starfish, crabs, shrimps, on into macroalgae, coralline algae and corals there are some bad things that can come on the rock as well such as aptaisa, certain types of anemones and The Dreaded Terror The Mantis Shrimp. As for your skimmer goes I cant help you there you I can only suggest what I have read and there not cheap but in my oppinion being where your at I would just save up and buy a good one or try ebaying one sometimes you can find good deals there. if your not ready to turn it into a reef tank just get your rock let it cycle in the tank and save up for your skimmer careful I noticed you have a 20 gal this hobby is addictive and your going to want to get a bigger tank. Hope this helps you :D
 
thanks for the info. even though i dont have this tank up to where i want it im already thinking about the next tank (size,etc) but thats still a ways off
 
lol I started with a ten gal 6 yrs ago since then Ive had a 2 tens 1 20 3 30s 4 55s and tonight I pick up my first 125. So I know where your coming from.
 
You can get by without a skimmer on small tanks. I would just keep up with weekly water changes and you should be fine, unless you have a very large bioload.
 
yes that is true it is your call I would get one though not only will you have better quality with less frequent water changes but you will also have increased oxygen due to increased surface agitation. There again just my oppinion.
 

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