a few questions..

term

New member
hello rc! first post!

my tank setup:
10g aga, emporer 280 power filter, power head with flow for i think a 40g tank or something like that, stock hood with just 2 small florecent bulbs which i turn on/off at 7am/pm, 10lbs LS/10lbs LR no skimmer but plan to do like 15-20% water change/week. tank only been going for a couple weeks but all levels seem to be normal and 0 amn/nitrite
livestock:
right now just a snail (i can't really identify it because it's not 'cone shaped' it's more round which doesn't look like any of the pictures i've seen of nasssarius or turbo snails) 2 hermits 1 is scarlet the other is i'm not sure exactly looks sort of like a blue leg and my only fish is a small blue damsel (she rocks will hate to see her go when i swap her at the lfs for a pair of small perculas) so now that that's out of the way on to my questions:

1. the temperature in my house seems to keep the tank at a steady 80 now and then at night dropping slightly maybe 1.5 degrees max down to 78.5 but mostly it sits perfectly steady at 80, is this too hot? i hate to think my fish/inverts are slowly cooking to death? and if so is there any kind of solution that will let me keep my hood on? i can purchase a tiny fan and i'm sure that will lower the temp but is ambient/daylight/florescent lighting from the ceiling enough? and isn't having no hood going to have me doing constant top offs?.

2. i read a ton before getting the power filter but if i had just had a little more patience i would have got that bak pak skimmer/filter combo but i really don't want to tell my wife oh yeah babe that thing i bought well i don't want it anymore let's go spend some more money she's already on my about what i've spent so far, anyway my question is should i take out the stock filter/biowheel and stuff the little resevoir with some other type of bio media? and if so what kind?

p.s. this place rocks and marine aquarium stuff in general is awesome, i originally wanted to have a salt water tank for an octopus and figured i'd never have a big enough tank then later read about smaller species that can thrive in a 50g or so and i got excited again then read their lifespan is only 1-2 years tops that sucks so i got out of the idea of a marine tank then randomly i stumbled on to some comment on the internet about reefs and here i am taking baby steps but i'll get there, thanks in advance for any help :)
 
i DO HOPE SOMEONE CHIMES IN TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS IN DETAIL.

No you do not want any type of biological filter media in there. That is what the rocks are for. Any type of filter floss, or bio media will just produce excess nitrates. I run a very small whisper filter on my tank and I change the pad out weekly or more often if it appears dirty. It is not there for flow and I often do not even have it running on the tank. I keep it for those moments when the Detritus gets stirred up a bit and gets cloudy.
 
<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

75-82 are acceptable temps

I do not like the hang on filter systems, liverock (in correct amount should do the job) If anything you might use the thing for carbon

Flow wise, you could use around 200Gph. You lighting is ok for fish but probably not going to cut it for much in the way of coral.
A 96W PC bulb would probalby work really well and you could keep a few different corals under that

(flow should be 20X to 50X depending on corals)
 
78-80 is a fine temp. No worries. And make sure to watch your water parameters closely in such a small new tank. Two clowns are going to be alot for that tank. The lid needs to stay on. Maybe upgrade the bulbs if your going to have any inverts or corals. Good luck! And make sure you watch your filter pads and do the water changes every week or every other week, depending on conditions
 
ok thanks a lot guys i feel a lot better about the temperature issue,

2 more questions hehe ..

1. pipedream/randall do you think i should just take out the power filter and replace it with another powerhead, i already snapped off the piece on the back of the hood that was for the filter and now there will be a decent sized hole there, wish i hadn't done that just a couple silent powerheads instead of that big loud filter would be awesome..

2. any room for more inverts? i see a lot of people suggesting a many more than i have but i'll just ask again in a 10g with 2 hermits and a snail is there room for 1 more preferably a crab it will be 1 (or a combination if i get some good feedback) of these: cleaner shrimp (which i wouldn't add until much later probably) or a sally lightfoot or an emerald crab.. any opinions please?

3. 6 months or so down the road when my tank is fully matured i'd like to add an anenome for the clowns, does this sound feasible and do they make bulbs bright enough in the size hood i have (they are pretty small bulbs 2 of them) where i could just upgrade the bulbs without having to buy a completely new hood or etc .. ?

thanks again for all your help
 
I would ditch the filter IMO. I use skimmer, and flow only. I also have tons and I mean tons of various types of snails. All of my hermits are in my fuge now since they steal shells whether they have them available or not. I do not know anything about the lights for your setup as I have a standard 29 gallon with a 150 halide and two 65 watt pc's running.
 
that's awesome, any advice on cleaner shrimp or sally lightfoot or emerald crab or any combination?
 
i dont like shrimp for many reasons or crabs for that matter. haha. i am sorry but i have no advice really on them for you. i can tell you camelback shrimp are mean turds. i prefer peppermint shrimp myself. emerald crabs eat bubble algae but i have never had one.
 
Crabs can be predatory, so I avoid them. Cleaner shrimp are fun to watch, and very likely won't do any harm. A pair will provide live food for the tank as well.

The hood will need to be replaced to keep an anemone, most likely.
 
I do not feel an Anemone in such a small tank is really practical (or all that ethical). They are hard enough to keep alive for long periods (tens of years) in larger stable tanks, I think you are just condemning them to death in smaller tanks( could take a year or 2, but they live to be 100+ in the wild).

My invert count is like 1 snail per 5 gal of tank volume. But I also practice careful feeding practices and 25% water changes each week. Have never had to deal with any algae issues either.

I also dislike most crabs (predatory by nature) I really like my skunk cleaner shrimp however, they are really trusting little guys
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8898663#post8898663 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xxpipedreamxx
my nem is very healthy. i did not post here to be flamed.
What has this got to do with you? I stated that putting an Anemone in a 10G tank was not a good idea... whats your problem about?
 
randall: thanks a lot for your advice, i guess i'll change my goal from getting an anemone in 6 months to just upgrading to a bigger tank around the end of the year (as big as my wife will possibly let me spend) which was the plan anyway and moving my clowns into the bigger tank and getting an anemone later on when that tank matures

so last question about a skunk cleaner shimp my tank is only about a month old now but doing great, how much longer should i let it mature before bringing in the shrimp?

thanks in advance
 
Shrimp IME are pretty forgiving of tank maturity. They do not do well with salinity changes however, acclimation is pretty important so follow the directions from whom ever you purchase from.

I would probably wait at least another 30 days before adding one (at $20+ each you hate to loose one)
 
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