10 gallon tips

R

Riona

Member
Hi, just joined. I've always wanted a salt water tank, just never knew where to begin. At the moment, I've got an old 10 gal that has nothing going on with it that I'd like to convert. I know, I know, no one reccomends a small tank for a beginner, but I'd still like to try. Right now all I have is the tank itself, an aquaclear 30 filter, an aquaclear 20 and a glass hood.

I know I want pc lights, and a sand bed. I will get the live rock from a place out of FL that aquacultures it. I'll be likely to skip using a skimmer, since I have 2 power filters equalling a 250% water turnover rate and frequent water changes wouldn't be so hard on a small tank like that. I'd probably go for one or two 10% changes a week. Other than having a good test kit, salt(I'm assuming that was a given :) ) hydrometer and heater, what should I get? Also, what salts should I stay away from(since everyone has a preference for which is "best" I figure I should ask for which seem to not be good quality instead) Would I need an additional powerhead, or would the 2 filters do okay?

I'm also thinking about turning an old one gallon "tank" into a fuge. Does anyone know of any way to do that without getting the tank(s) drilled? What would I need to have/do to make it work? I'd likely use some LR. some argonite and some macro in it. Not sure what sort of macro just yet.

Lessee. My livestock "plans" are vauge. For fish/motile inverts I want a scarlet reef hermit or two, a few snails(a couple of cerith/nassarius for the sand, and a couple of nerites or turbans) perhaps also a peppermint shrimp. For my fish, I'd likely go with a clown goby and a firefish(since the tank has a cover)

I know I'd be keeping soft corals. Zoos(which I love) a pretty blue ricordea I've found online... I don't really like any of the sps or lps varieties too much. They just don't catch my eye. Definately nothing that requires a ton of light, that's for sure.

I'm sure I missed something here, but I'll post this, and if I think of something I missed I can always ask later. Thanks :)

Edit: oh, btw, do I have to do argonite sand, or would another kind work? I've got some silica that I used in my 20 gal. freshwater tank leftover, and while it wouldn't make a good depth sand bed it Would be a start and I could always just add some more later. Or is the argo used for other reasons?
 
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To me it seems like you have everything figured out. In my opinion you would not need a powerhead with the two filters. I always have used "Instant Ocean" for my salt, it works really great. I hae also heard that alot of people love "Red Sea Salt". I cant really recommend the red sea salt because I have never used it, but I bet it would work great. As for the sand, any sand would work, regular old playsand that is put in a sand box works as long as it is rinsed. The inverts you can put alot more hermit crabs in there if you wanted. I am also working on a ten gallon aquarium right now. And I am going to put in the same fish. Not much I can really say, it seems as you have done your research :). OH make sure to mix the salt with water before you add it to the aquarium when you do water changes. I dont know if it applies when you are adding water/salt for the first time to an empty aquarium, but I still would it anyways. And if you want after you set the tank up, pretty much as soon as you want you can add Live Rock to help the tank cycle. Other things that help the tank cycle are: Putting a raw shrimp (the kind you eat) to the tank and letting it sit, and you could add some fish food too.
Hope this helps!

edit: Sorry one more thing if you put playsand in the tank, and then add Live Rock, due to all teh organisms in the Live Rock it will turn the sand alive too, so if you are at the fish store and you see a bag that says "LIVE SAND!" you dont have to buy it, the live rock will take care of it.
 
Re: 10 gallon tips

Hi, just joined. I've always wanted a salt water tank, just never knew where to begin. At the moment, I've got an old 10 gal that has nothing going on with it that I'd like to convert. I know, I know, no one reccomends a small tank for a beginner, but I'd still like to try. Right now all I have is the tank itself, an aquaclear 30 filter, an aquaclear 20 and a glass hood.
Click to expand...

a 10 i belive is fine for a beginer.....just be careful in all that you do...i statted my first saltwater tank when i was a jr in highschool and it was a 10 which moved to a 20 and now i am setting the 10 back up

I know I want pc lights, and a sand bed. I will get the live rock from a place out of FL that aquacultures it. I'll be likely to skip using a skimmer, since I have 2 power filters equalling a 250% water turnover rate and frequent water changes wouldn't be so hard on a small tank like that. I'd probably go for one or two 10% changes a week. Other than having a good test kit, salt(I'm assuming that was a given :) ) hydrometer and heater, what should I get? Also, what salts should I stay away from(since everyone has a preference for which is "best" I figure I should ask for which seem to not be good quality instead) Would I need an additional powerhead, or would the 2 filters do okay?]
Click to expand...
as for your filters i personally would use the 30 if it has an adjustable flow rate along with a powerhead (horazontle flow as opposed to verticle) if it does not have an adjustable i would use the 20 and run carbon in it......no skimmer is absolutly needed but if you get one down the road that will be good too.......10% a week will be good...i also am currently using instand ocean but will be switching to Kent...i have come to love all Kent products

I'm also thinking about turning an old one gallon "tank" into a fuge. Does anyone know of any way to do that without getting the tank(s) drilled? What would I need to have/do to make it work? I'd likely use some LR. some argonite and some macro in it. Not sure what sort of macro just yet.
Click to expand...

scrap the 1 gallon thing....you would be better off suing one of the HOB(hang on back) filters with sand and rock in it with a light over it

Lessee. My livestock "plans" are vauge. For fish/motile inverts I want a scarlet reef hermit or two, a few snails(a couple of cerith/nassarius for the sand, and a couple of nerites or turbans) perhaps also a peppermint shrimp. For my fish, I'd likely go with a clown goby and a firefish(since the tank has a cover)
Click to expand...

just one thing to add on a shrimp...your choice will not be a very friendly shrimp in my expirence. mine always hid until lights out...i recoment a blood red fire shrimp or a skunk cleaner shrimp. you may do as many snails and hermits that you want but i wouldnd do more then say 7-10 of each...your snails will lay eggs and you will eventually see tones of baby snails....if you have hermits make sure you have spare shells for them or they will kill your snails and steel their shells

I know I'd be keeping soft corals. Zoos(which I love) a pretty blue ricordea I've found online... I don't really like any of the sps or lps varieties too much. They just don't catch my eye. Definately nothing that requires a ton of light, that's for sure.
Click to expand...

well if you have PC lights you cant keep SPS any way so yea i think as you get in to it you will start to like the hammers and torches and such......what kind of lights will you have over your tank? may i recomend the coralife 96 power quad...for 100 bucks you will be able to keep any thing you want.

Edit: oh, btw, do I have to do argonite sand, or would another kind work? I've got some silica that I used in my 20 gal. freshwater tank leftover, and while it wouldn't make a good depth sand bed it Would be a start and I could always just add some more later. Or is the argo used for other reasons?
Click to expand...

if you used it in your fresh water tank i would not use it...it may contain copper and copper kills inverts (shrimp, snails ETC.) i would find some nice sugar fine sand live or not it is all up to you. dont use to much sand if you excede say 3 inches then you will incounter some annoying alge issues......i think you are good with the live rock and other stuff too any more questions let me know.

-Nick
 
Nice^_^ Thanks. I've been looking to start the thing for a while, so I've been reading up whenever I can.

How much sand needs to be in the tank? I just emptied out the rest of my silica into the tank and there isn't too much of it. 3/4 inch over most of the bottom. And my oscar is having a trip investigating the new gravel in his tank that I took out of the 10 gallon, heh. I'm assuming I could use a bit more sand than that, but will probably keep it that way.. Also, what will I need to do to prepare it for the saltwater? Besides get the snails out and put them into my 20(blasted things... They keep hiding in the filter sponge and I can't get them all out :P ) I'll definately change the filter media after a while. I figure I can get the rest of the sand, make sure that it is not clouding the water anymore and then put fresh media in that hasn't had any sort of water going through it.

I figure next paycheck I get I can get a couple of small things like the heater and the salt, or the hydrometer. Then I can go for the lights and the rock(perhaps) then after a few months with only the rock in I can get a couple of the corals or other inverts. I'll probably add the fish last...

Also, I had always thought that "live sand" in bags on a shelf at a petstore was a bunch of crock>_> Kinda like cycle for the freshwater tanks. Take a bunch of live bacteria, let sit on a shelf in a store with no food for months at a time and unless it is some kind of iron man live sand wouldn't it all be dead sand by then?

edit: was making this as you were posting... I just had some leftover sand from when I put sand in my 20. It hadn't been in the water yet. Plus I don't use any medications in my tanks, I just put a bit of extra salt in them(hmm.) until the fish are doing better.

I'll skip the extra fuge then and use one of the filters. And go with a different shrimp. I was planning on going for the plain one strip coralife fixture. By blue zoo aquatics's standard it would be a 'moderate' light. Also, I'd heard that those sorts of corals are more agressive, that I'd have to make doubly sure that they don't get anywhere near my others. I am somewhat fond of candy canes, but even after months of looking around online(and originally planning a 60 gallon tank) that is really about it...
 
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Sometimes it depends on how much sand, like right now I am wanting to get some different types of crabs, and some burrow, so I am using a few inches in my tank. But most of the time I think maybe 1 or 2 inches, to be honest I am not that sure :(.

I have changed a freshwater to a saltwater. What I did was make sure all the fish are out transfer them somewhere else, Then I will suck all of the water out, if you dont have one of those devices that will suck the water up for you then just use a cup or something and dump the water out. After that I took all of the rocks out. Then I rinsed out the tank to make sure I got all of the extra little thing out of the bottom,so there is nothing left in there what so ever. Then it dry, dry it with a towel. Then add the sand. After that you can add the saltwater. Hope all that made sense.

I really could not tell you if all the organisms in the bag would be dead or not. I have seen some bags of it, and the companies keep some water in there, I am sure it has to be to keep it living some how, but not totally sure.
 
you dont need live sand but i deff would not use any sand from the FW tank.....u use tap water in FW and that runs through copper lines at least i know it does here in CO....so yea get a 20lb bag and use say 10-15 lbas of it
 
lighting.. I spent 25$

I bought a hood off ebay (the one that houses 2 bulbs)
bought 2 20w 6500k bubls from walmart for 8$

Im having no problems with my zoas, they are always opena dn swaying in the current and one of my newer colonies just grew a new polyp in about 2 weeks, awesome :D

But you will have to change the bulbs very often (every month or two) unlike other fixtures and such
 
[quote ]And my oscar is having a trip investigating the new gravel in his tank that I took out of the 10 gallon, heh. [/quote]An Oscar in a 10 gallon??
 
*ahem* no>_> The oscar is in a 60 gallon. I took the gravel from the 10 gallon and put it in his tank :)

Equipment question: There's a heater that I've found that is pre-set to 78 degrees F. I know that's the low end for what to keep the water temp at, should I skip that sort and get one of the ones that you adjust yourself, or would that be an okay investment?

Also, what should I do for water then? I'd always heard to just use dechlorinated water, that the RO systems weren't manditory. Guess that isn't right then? Would one of the personal ones(like a Brita) work? I was thinking about getting one of those for myself since the water in town makes me sick>_> It wouldn't be too much extra work for it after the tank was cycled and all.

edit: Hm. Figure I'll post this since I keep seeing different opinions on it. I'd originally had my eye on getting a Rainford's goby, but decided against it since some places say they need a huge tank, yet other people say that they are great for nanos. What's the deal with them? If they are as easy as most sites say they are I'd really prefer one of them to a firefish, yet if they're NOT good for a really small tank I'll definately go for a firefish instead...
 
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I'm not too worried about that one. His(the oscar's) tank has a ton of filtration and gets cleaned regularly. Besides that the gravel isn't too deep. Unless you read my post wrong. I'd had gravel in my old 10 gal. I took it out to put it in the 60 gal that my oscar is in. I had some silica that I did not use when I converted my other freshwater tank into a sand bottom and dumped that into the 10 gallon to rinse the dust out of it(figured it wouldn't hurt since nothing living was in there. Though I guess I'll need to scrap it since there's a good chance that I introduced copper into it...)

Is there any way to test for copper in the water?
 
I've drained the tank, gotten new sand and some rock today. I'll take some pictures later. I got some dried out live rock from one of the stores in town. Still set me back $40 for 10 lbs, but it'll look nice once I get the money to do the rest of the setup. I'll just wait until after I get the lights, salt, heater, hydrometer etc before I get the actual live rock for the tank.

I'll see if I can get a couple of pictures of the rock in the tank, it looks nice and I've left an area on the side of the tank for a nice sized shelf of live rock to seed the rest of it :)

Btw, the petco in GJ, CO is terrible about fish info... Today I watched a lady walk out of the place with a one gallon bowl, 2 danios and some other stuff, another time I saw one of the people there sell a kid 2 plecos(commons, grow from 12-24" depending on the "common" variety) for a 20 gallon tank as algae eaters and I was told today that the temp. in a saltwater tank should never get above the low 70s. . . Wow. I'm glad I don't shop there for my information ^^'
 
ok so how much LR will you have total....i would put 13-15 max in a 10 gal and you now have 10 lbs of base rock.....i have a randordi goby in my 20 and he is fine.......i dunno y he would need a big tank he is only like 1.5 inches long......he sifts tthe sand and never eats what i put in the tank....personally if you used the sand in a fresh tank then i would not use it and i also would not use tap water in a 10 gal it is cheap enough to buy distilled water at City Market (i belive that is what you have up there) you can buy 2.5 gallons for like a buck 60....78 will be ok but i would look for a heater on petsmart.com by marineland...it is plastic so it wont shatter and it has adjustable heat setting then you print it off and take it in to petsmart and have them price match it......since it is way cheaper online
 
I've been doing that price matching with my bigger purchases already. Love how they do that. I got my canister filter for about $90 from them(half price) I'll go with the water from one of the supermarkets(safeway or city market). I'll do the same with the heater.

I don't really know why the rainfordi's would need a large tank either. I'd just seen a couple of online sellers saying that they need at least a 30 gallon tank that has been established for a long time while others say that a 10 gallon tank is fine for one of them. So I figured I'd ask to make sure.

The base rock I got takes up most of the tank. Or at least most of what I'd like for my rock space. All I really need is a good piece of LR to "fill" the other side, another 2-3 lbs should be plenty. As I mentioned, it looks really nice. The couple of pieces almost look like they make an arch with a few big holes for smaller fish to swim through. I really need to figure out how to work my digi cam so I can get a good picture or two...
 
i guess i can see how they need an established tank since they do eat alge out of the sand....any way i hope you add fish very slow...seeing as you will have about 3 lbs of live rock doing all of your filtering....that is not much so you need to add fish real slow.
 
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