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Hello!

I've been keeping freshwater fish, including discus, for over 3 years now and have always been interested in marine tanks but wanted to wait until i was able to get a really large tank to begin with marine.

that is, however, until recently...! a member of my local aquatic hobbyist club has a simple 10G marine setup that he claims was inexpensive to begin and easy to maintain. in it he has three yellow-bellied blue damsels and an orange soft-coral.

this inspired me to consider starting my own smaller marine tank, possibly containing 2 skunk clowns and an anenome of some type.

i was thinking about getting live sand and some live rock, and using a power filter and powerhead(s) for filtration/circulation. does this sound feasible? what should i be careful of? any advice, etc...?

i am just starting out in the marine hobby, but have done some research already, so i'm not clueless... just a beginner ; )

any words of advice would be appreciated!

In such a small tank, you have to watch the bioload, oxygen is not as rich in Saltwater as it is in fresh.

another thing that you must watch out for is you water parameters, such as specific gravity. In such a small tank there is going to be alot of water evaporation, and when the water evaporates the salt stays behind, so the problem is, when some water evaporates out of such a small tank, you could end up with a huge SG swing if you dont stay on top of you top offs.

The small size of the tank doesn't led itself to a great stocking list either.

Personal opinion, for the clownfish's sake, I would got with a little bit larger tank if possible, even a 20 g would be a little more roomy for the clowns and the anemone.

nick

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

niggit-

Last year I started out in the saltwater world with a small tank and, frankly, wish I would have just spent the money to start bigger. I, now, have a 29 gallon saltwater and wish I was even going bigger. It's just so much easier and a much more nice selection of fish when you go bigger. I know that a lot of people, including myself, have restraints on how big of an aquarium they can have (for instance I can't have bigger then a 29 in my apt). If you can't go bigger than that I wouldn't suggest it. I've been down that road and would not go there again

-Josh

Dont do it unless you can go bigger.

A 10 gallon is most likely going to end up frustrating you so much that you wont want to stay in the hobby. Saltwater will have a dissapointing appeal to you if you start off with a little tank with big problems.

In the end, when you think about it, you're going to spend equal amounts of money buying a small set up, and paying for your mistakes, as you will just buying a larger set up, and making much fewer mistakes.

Bigger is better. I promise.


-Ferret [img src='/images/forums/halo.gif' border=0]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Well setting up a 10 is almost the same as any other one.

All that's different is the water changes quicker and less fish can be kept.

When I first started I had a simple 10 gallon. Still up and easy to maintain.

I would recommend starting bigger though. I can 100 percent absolutely guarantee you that your going to want a bigger tank in 6 months after setting it up.In smaller tanks you are very limited to what you can keep and it's frustrating.

Go for a 30 if you can, it'll be a better start to the hobby.

i understand the bigger is better mantre... the freshwater hobby is much the same. i have been holding off on marine thusfar because i did want to wait until i could get an 80G or something to create a reef tank in. however, space and finances won't allow that for quite some time.

that's why a smaller tank appealed to me. plus, i already have three freshwater tanks (a 55, a 33 and a 29), so i'm running out of places to put them!

being diligent about water changes/topups wouldn't be a problem for me (as i mentioned, i keep discus, so i know all about the importance of constant conditions). and, i'd be sure to not tempt myself to overcrowd the tank.

there is a possibility that i could set up an 18 or 20G, so i will consider that. but, unfortunately, i don't think i will be going any larger than that for the time being.

am i setting myself up for certain failure, or could i view it as the next challenge to master in the hobby?

It doens't have to be a failure...you could def. do it, I just wouldn't recommend it. Better to save money to go bigger IMO.

The 12 and 24 gallon nano cubes are kinda cute though.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

i didnt find anything overly difficult with my 11g, i didnt like doing daily water changes so i canned it. only thing i liked it for was teaching baby lions to take frozebn food and get use to people.
with daily water changes i found my water chemistry was always spot on....
If it your taste try it. im just one of them people that likes to check water quailty not have have to do something about it every day