New to the hobby!

[Don E]

As a fellow newbie (my 20 gallon has been up for 8 weeks, and I had a 20G a couple years ago too), I might suggest you think of your tank as a "nano" (very small reef, generally 20 G or less) and read up on how to maintain a nano reef.

You may not have to worry about refugia, calcium reactors or even a protein skimmer. If you keep your bio load relatively low (IE very few fish), and do water changes weekly, you can keep a healthy reef without the above items. 20 gallons is a pretty good size for a nano- much more stable than, say, 6 gallons, and if you go slowly, (and read lots and lots and lots) you'll have no trouble.

At eight weeks, my tank is starting to look good. I'm going through algae blooms but that's normal and nothing the old turkey baster and a filter can't handle. I have a few soft corals and they look great. I have no fish at all and I'm going to keep it that way for a while.

Good luck