First 10G Build. First Post.

[Whysoserious]

Hey Forum.

First post. First build. My younger brother had convinced me to start a saltwater tank and as a bonus he gave me a few live rock. After doing research and quite a bit of reading, I feel I'm on a good start. Posted pictures below of the start and will update throughout. Also posted a list below of what I plan to do with it. Feel free to comment and leave suggestions. It's been a week that the tank has been cycled.

Rock - Haitian
Fish - 2 Clown fish & Goby (Soon)
Coral - Soon to be updated (Soon)
Plan to do more coral than anything.

Equipment
Marine land 10G
Bio filter without wheel and Carbon Filter, Using housing frame with polishing sheet
Odyessa Lighting (Soon to install)
240GPH Power head (Soon To Install)


Questions:
What will be an ideal time to add a CUC, Clown fish & Coral? Keep in mind that I had semi matured Haitian rock, live sand and saltwater of course. For the past week I've had 0 on all levels of testing.

I plan to do top off daily, and right now I am not using any kind of carbon. Instead I use the cartridge housing and added a polishing filter sheet to trap micro particles. I wash that daily and its gotten less dirty now. So do I still need to get some type of carbon? If so what kind? Marineland has white carbon and I get a media bag for it.

Is there any type of way I can test to see if the cycle is complete or starting? Like what can do to test it?

Thank you.

 

[killakam]

Very nice setup, happy reefing!
Ps. Your little brother did a good job lol

 

[muffe]

Good job! I would add clean up crew straight away maybe some Astrea snails (love to eat diatoms). I just started a 10g. I would say carbon is not necessary if you keep up on water changes. It's preference if you want to run carbon or not. If you have a small heater you can throw it in the filter area if you have room, instead of the display. I don't use the cartridges or floss. The live rock is your biological filter, and the water passes over the rocks with flow.

here's a shot of mine

 

[Whysoserious]

Thank you! Yes, Im ordering a CUC crew as we speak and have that in by next week. Im doing this slowly and learning as well, because I intend to buy a 90+ gallon within this year to put in the living room area. But im liking the setup on your tank. Very clean and simple. Plan to add any additional coral to it?

 

[muffe]

Yes I plan to get some soft corals (Green Star Polyps, Zoanthids/Palythoa, Mushrooms) when my new light comes. I don't feel like hand feeding or dosing anything. I rather just keep it as simple as possible.

 

[Whysoserious]

Thanks for the link. Def saw the progress on your end. Im liking the background of yours, but I thought of it last minute. Instead looks like Im going to use a tint film. Got my power-head today just as the one you have, and def helped clean the tank even more with all the debris moving around.

 

[Whysoserious]

Just wanted to update it, still have the 10G. Planning to transfer all live stock to the JBj 28G.

JBJ

Any tips or advice, feel free to tell. Thanks!