Saltwater time...scared

Y

y0bailey

AC Members
Jan 17, 2005
9
0
0
Alright so I'm a poor college student and I already dumped enough money into my cichilid tank, but I want to learn a little about saltwater and get my extra 10gal up and running. I know 10gallons is going to be difficult to start with, but I want a little nemo sitting on my desk.

So here I go, I'm sure you get asked this way too often, and I have tried to do as much research as a can (not enough).

Tell me what you guys would do if you had an extra 10gal tank sitting around and were looking to start a FOWLR setup. (and save the comments about not doing it at all due to 10gal being too small).

I was thinking of just going with some home depot sand substrate, a hang on power filter, plain jane flourescent lighting (maybe upgrade a month or so down the road when I'm all cycled), and some live rock to top it all off. A small submersable heater of course, and a powerhead (depending on how large of a powerfilter i get...i love the biowheels in my freshwater setups).

Is there a decent test kit I can pick up at petsmart down the road? Seems liek this one has it all. http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...<>ast_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1125070052765

If you were going to start a 10 gal tank with just one little clownfish and maybe some other random goodies that startup what would you buy. The only two stores I want to visit are Home Depot and petsmart.

I really appreciate any help.
 
Last edited:
You should be fine if you do enough water changes, dont overstock, and get a little luck. My friends dad has a 12 gallon FOWLR. He has a clown fish, scooter blenny, and a 6w line wrasse (I think). I would say he is overstocked, but he does just fine, and this is his first fish tank ever, he has never even had a freshwater. Just do you research, plan it out, and ask questions, and you should be fine.
 
Hmmm. An aquaclear powerfilter/ make it a small refugium by dividing the filter compartment with a baffle, creating a kind of sump.
Ummm, a nice piece or 2 of live rock. aragonite sand, and let it cycle.
After its cycled:
1 small percual clown and one striped cleaner shrimp (maybe a fake coral? until the lights come in?) One or 2 astrea snails and a few hermits?
Check out Blinky's 14gallon nano...althought this is a bit $$$$ more costly.
 
To start with, I would consider seriously how much time you have to devote to this tank. 10 gallons require much more attention, and you MUST be patient enough to let the tank stabilize and establish maintenance prior to adding the fish. This means several months of nothing but water, rock and hitch hikers.

Here's how I would set it up. 10 gallon tank, a good cover. One power head for water movement, 10 pounds of good live rock, about 1 inch of sand. A double incandescent hood with screw in compact fluorescent bulbs. No other power filters are needed, and while bio-wheels are great in FW, they are not good for SW setups--the splashing increases evaporation and causes salinity swings that are lethal in small tanks. Cycle the tank with about half a raw, cocktail shrimp. An automatic topoff for FW will be very helpful.

Setup the tank with water and sand, plus a few small pieces of base rock, let cycle with the shrimp. Once ammonia and nitrites hit 0, add cured live rock. Spend a month or so appreciating the really cool hitch hikers, adding snails, monitoring salinity and temperature. Address needs as they arise.

Add clown fish. Just one. No anenome. Ever. Clowns are fine without them, and will adopt just about anything--a shell, a mushroom, a powerhead, as a host. Feed sparingly. A few additional inverts--shrimp, crabs, snails, etc, will be fine to add down the line.
 
OrionGirl said:
Here's how I would set it up. 10 gallon tank, a good cover. One power head for water movement, 10 pounds of good live rock, about 1 inch of sand. A double incandescent hood with screw in compact fluorescent bulbs.
Can you give me a link to an example of a good hood I should look for?

An automatic topoff for FW will be very helpful.
I haven't seen one of these....linky please?

Setup the tank with water and sand, plus a few small pieces of base rock
such as dead coral? any other suggestions for a good base rock?
Click to expand...

And also like swimfins said how would an aquaclear filter do in there? If I had one that was slightly overpowered could that replace the powerhead? (i have this strange need to have a filter...I'm not sure why i guess the FW just sticks it in me).

And also did anyone check out that link for the test kit? did that have everything I need in it?
 
Hood: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...ll&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1 Not sure if this is a double or not, but basically, if you see 2, and one is a lot more expensive, the cheap one is the incandescent.

Most auto topoffs are DIY--but here's a kit option, gives you a good idea what it does and how you may build one yourself. http://www.aquabuys.com/miva/mercha...Code=jbj_ato&Category_Code=u2&Product_Count=2

Dead coral isn't good. Look for lace rock, or lava rock--you want something porous and lightweight for it's volume.
 
y0bailey said:
And also like swimfins said how would an aquaclear filter do in there? If I had one that was slightly overpowered could that replace the powerhead? (i have this strange need to have a filter...I'm not sure why i guess the FW just sticks it in me).

And also did anyone check out that link for the test kit? did that have everything I need in it?
Click to expand...

It works, but isn't needed, and can increase the evaporation, reduces your ability to cover the tank. You wouldn't want media in there anyway--it's not benficial to the system, and a bigger pain to maintain. The only other piece of equipment I would consider would be a skimmer.

Great test kit. Didn't notice if it had a nitrate kit, but if not, you can pick those up individually for about $7.
 
alright so i scratch the filter and go with a powerhead. I did some research for skimmers and they all seem to be for larger tanks. What type would I want for a tiny 10 gal setup? And they also seem quite pricey, what is a decent one for a decent price?

and for the hood you would go with a dual incandescent hood, then replace the bulbs with something like this? http://www.topbulb.com/find/prod_list.asp_Q_intSubCategory_E_704
The flourescent light bulbs? What wattage?

I think I get what you are going for.

Any other tips would be appreciated!

EDIT: i was looking around and came across a few cheap skimmers. THe skilter filter and the visijet skimmer.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3641&N=2004+113771+22734
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4427&N=2004+113771+22734

They both seem way cheap so i don't really expect them to be worth adding. But maybe they aren't too good to be true?
 
Last edited:
I'd go with something like this: http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=28903;category_id=1845;pcid1=1843;pcid2= It's built to fit inside this style canopy (the ones for home replacement often will not), and you can pick a better spectrum. 2 of these bulbs gives you 40 watts, decent for a small tank, with minimal heating concerns, and will readily support some soft, low light corals like polyps and mushrooms.

That's the style protien skimmer you'll want. In a small setup, they will help control organics. Not required--just the only other thing I would add if I were setting it up myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom