10 gal

[FishStick]

Hi all

Im about to set up a 10 gallon tank, and make it into a small SW tank. Im planning on putting two A. Ocellaris, two Blue Leg Hermit Crabs, two Zebra Hermit Crabs, an Emerald Crab, and a Cleaner Shrimp...for filtration, im going to get about 10-20lbs of live rock, and about 5-7lbs of live sand...im then going to stick a small power head on it to stir up the water...

What do you all think? :)

ah, and I was wondering if I could put some gozz or cheese cloth over the filter intake tube, so the fish don't get sucked in....is this one of thoes good ideas im always hearing other people have, or will doing so kill everything in a matter of moments? Thanks in advance :D

oh yeah, and one more thing. What kind of lighting do you think I should use?
thanks again,
-FS :)

[Boogiechillin]

Hi Fishstick, welcome to the salty forums! :)

I'll give you this link as someone else recently asked about setting up a 10g tank. There are a couple potential stumbling points that you might want to consider:
http://64.191.28.50/forums/showthread.php?threadid=514

As for your livestock idea, two clownfish is too much for a 10g tank. It might work while they are tiny and sexually undifferentiated (eg, under 1-1.25" each), but as adults they will fight to establish dominance and get too large. The invert list sounds just fine, as does the LR and LS.

See if you can find a sponge fitting for your powerhead...I would be real hesitant to use cheesecloth. :D

As for lighting, it depends on whether or not you plan to keep any simple corals in this tank. If not, a regular fluorescent strip light is fine.

[FishStick]

Much thanks Boogiechillin :D I had my doubts about being able to keep two in a ten gallon...all's well though :)

thanks again,
-FS

[badpacket]

Hey All,

On a related topic, someone mentioned some way of using an AquaClear in a reef tank, w/out media, and using the box to hold a heater?

Can anyone expand on that, or give some examples of equipment they use to do so?

thanks

[badpacket]

Originally posted by Boogiechillin
Hi Fishstick, welcome to the salty forums! :)


As for lighting, it depends on whether or not you plan to keep any simple corals in this tank. If not, a regular fluorescent strip light is fine.

Check out Hello Lights, they have a great little free DIY example link to how to make your own hood and use a nice retro kit: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4742/55hood/55hood.html

[FishStick]

Thanks for the link badpacket, I think I'll give that a whirl when i have some time on my hands :D

oh, and as for the AC thing, depending on what size filter and what size heater you have, you can place the heater into the area that normally has the filter media. Doing so will heat the water that gets pulled though the filter, so not only will the filter mix the salt with the water, it will get heated. Though, some heaters are pretty big, so you would need to have a pretty big AC power filter to hold the heater...

hope that helped :)

[Satchmo]

Temperature stability is a big issue with little tanks. On a 10g I wouldn't go with any heater under 75w. Squeezing one in an AC would be tough. If you want to hide it, place it on the back glass behind your rockscape.

[latazyo]

Originally posted by Boogiechillin
As for your livestock idea, two clownfish is too much for a 10g tank.

what about 2 blue damsels?

[MonoSebaelover]

Two Damsels would be even worse. They would fight non-stop because there is not enough area for them to dominate. You will eventually end up with only 1 Damsel. With Clowns, they will eventually become partners and become male and female, but rarely will damsels. It will be too crowded as well with two adult damsels.

[Fishiebusiness]

One clownfish is about right. Be sure to have a good top off system so the SG stays stable, very important in small tanks.

[badpacket]

Thanks for the info. Thought it was a better solution though. Maybe I will try that Tetratec integrated heater though.

[latazyo]

do you buy top off systems or are they something that can be built?

[Satchmo]

You build 'em. Head over to www.nano-reef.com and do a search for it. There's lots of info and plans for these things there. They're not a neccessity though, unless you're too forgetful to top off manually each morning.