stephen Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 I am thinking about getting a 20 gallon long tank for my dining room. Any ideas on livestock and lighting choices? I prefer to use pc lighting, and I dont want one long bulb. The tank is 30" long, and I dont even know if I want to go for it yet... ??? Link to comment
glazer Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 dude, you have all kinds of options... a 20L is an awesome tank, makes for some really cool aquascaping and since it is shallow you get good light penetration even with lower wattage bulbs. You could even just go with NO tubes and keep lots of shrooms and other low light lovin' softies... One of the most killer setups I saw though was a 20L with a pair of 70watt HQI's over it... was filled with a fantastic assortment of SPS. Link to comment
Kapelakin Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 I'm a 20L owner, and really like the tank, though I'll probably go up to 29 when I move. I have it set up with 2x55 watt PC's and it works great. I don't have many corals so far, but for fish I have a percula clown and a Bangaii cardinal. The corals I have so far (anthelia polyps and lime green leather) are doing great with this setup and are growing rapidly. Link to comment
stephen Posted July 20, 2002 Author Share Posted July 20, 2002 Hey Kapelakin Have you got any pics? I'd like to see the aquascaping on your tank. I dont plan on keeping any extremely light-loving stuff. Your 2x55 watt pc sounds great... What kind of bulbs do you use, and how are they setup (-- or ||)? Link to comment
Kapelakin Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 I'm at work so I don't have access to pics right now, but I posted a pic in this Reef Central thread. That pic's about a month old, but things look about the same with the exception of more coralline and feather caulerpa now. The PC's are by Jalli. They're setup like II inside an ABS hood. The 55 watt PC's are about 22" long. I just changed out my old Hamilton bulbs for a 10,000 K and 03 actinic from Hello Lights. Link to comment
stephen Posted July 20, 2002 Author Share Posted July 20, 2002 Would I need a skimmer if I did religious water changes on it? Link to comment
mattdog Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 Absolutely not! Get a good 30-40 lbs of lr....same for sand...and you should be fine....I change my water 10% once a week and everything is fine. My digicam is broken and I am itchin to get some photos up. But really, with a 20L, the sky's the limit. Have fun! Matt Link to comment
Kapelakin Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 I've gone four months with no skimmer except for while curing my rock. It seems fine except that the tank's taking longer to get out of the algae stage. I won't add more fish unless I get a skimmer. Link to comment
stephen Posted July 22, 2002 Author Share Posted July 22, 2002 Since the tank is so shallow, can I just get a 65w smartlamp? Link to comment
realhiphop Posted July 22, 2002 Share Posted July 22, 2002 I was hoping anyone who does have a 20L can post their pics, as I'm also looking to start a 20L, but I'm thinking either 15 gallon or 20L or 20H. Link to comment
TooFar2Sea Posted July 22, 2002 Share Posted July 22, 2002 I have kept a 20L for several years. The lighting is simply 2x20w NO 50/50 bulbs. Green and pink star polyps, green button polyps, various mushrooms and a red open brain have all thrived. I recently added a 13w PC actinic bulb for more blue but you don't need a lot of light if you are careful about what corals you put in. Even though this is a thread on lighting I will add that the best things I ever did to my 20 were to add a DSB to the main tank and add an 18G refugium to the existing 10g sump. Link to comment
Mr_Spam Posted July 22, 2002 Share Posted July 22, 2002 If i was setting up a 20L i'd get a 250 watt MH and grow SPS and clams in that tank. its perfect dimentions for that type of enviorment. Link to comment
kwyjibo Posted July 23, 2002 Share Posted July 23, 2002 I agree on the MH. I thought that PCs would be enough for me, but everytime I goto a quality fish store with some nice SPS I get a hankering for some more light. Although since you sound alot like I did about 10 months ago, I would just go slowly and get PCs. No amount of commentary from others is going to make you want to spend that extra money on MH and there's also the inexperience with MH that will make you kinda wary. Ah, if I only knew then what I know now. I will say this though, a 70W MH will pump out much more light than a PC and that makes all the difference for those hard to grow corals. I have a 10 gallon now and it's okay, but it's totally crowded. I also wish I had more space for one of those HOT refugiums since my grape caulerpa is growing out of control and slowly taking over the tank. Like you, I am moving onto the 20L, but I am getting an AB 250W light. This time, I'm gonna do things right. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 23, 2002 Share Posted July 23, 2002 thing is with sps, acropora specifically, will grow out of the 20L in a few months. i'm assuming a 3"~4" dsb. you can keep pruning and pass them around free, of course. we'll all be happy to help you out there! Link to comment
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