Setting up an invert tank?

10g sounds great. You should get it fully cycled first before anything. You will be glad you did. If you can't wait to get some inverts, I'd get a few ghost shrimp and Amquel+ to detoxify harmful compunds. It'll take longer to cycle though.

Well, I'd say a good sponge heather or a prefilter on the intake of a HOB are essential to an invert tank. Depending on where you live a heater (though FL is showing us it's never a bad idea to have one) As far as substate, I've become a big fan of sand, but either way you'll want a darker substrate if you'll be keeping Red Cherrys or similar shrimp that will pale up on light substate. I use play sand, but I have a lot of dark slate and other dark pebbles and my RCS are a nice dark red. Plants are always good for invert tanks, no shrimp should be without moss. I'd agree to make sure your tank is good and cycled before adding them. And don't use a tank that has been treated with copper meds, they can get absorbed into the silicone and then leach out.

Put an oak leaf in there.

Trigger1985 said:

As far as substate, I've become a big fan of sand, but either way you'll want a darker substrate if you'll be keeping Red Cherrys or similar shrimp that will pale up on light substate. I use play sand, but I have a lot of dark slate and other dark pebbles and my RCS are a nice dark red.

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Is it really true cherry shrimp are redder with dark substrate? I have a bunch of them, but only the largest one is really red, but it's still spotty-red like freckles. The color of my gravel is a mix of different light browns like the color of beach sand.