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I'm thinking of going SW in a 10g...I know small tanks aren't the greatest idea, but I tend to not follow the rules and I'm doing a lot of research before I decide. So of course I have a bunch of questions

1. live rock-if I go with live rock does the entire tank have to be filled with it, or can I just do a portion? Is some sort of substrate used with the rock, and if so what? Does live rock require any sort of special lighting?

2. substrate-if I choose not to use live rock, what type of substrate is generally used?

3. stock-being only a 10g I was thinking of one (two?) small fish, easy to keep, does well on its own, and maybe some sort of shrimp and or crab. Any suggestions?

4. protein skimmer-necessary?

5. heater-is there anything in particular I should look for when purchasing a heater for a SW tank?

6. changeover-the tank is currently a brackish setup. After removing the substrate is there anything special I would need to do to clean the tank before going salt?

Thanks for any information

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

1. You don't need to literally fill the tank with live rock, but at least a fourth to a third of the water should be filled, I think. At least a pound of rock per gallon of water.
You can add a little live rock with some base (dead) rock, that will lower your costs. The stuff from the live rock will eventually spread where it wants to, and it cuts down on death amongst the live rock organisms. If you only add the live rock to the outside of your rock pile, you won't have to worry about stuff on the inside dying.

2. Sand (carbonate-based) works fine, and crushed coral, crushed shells, and other carbonate-based substances are good.

3. Two small fish? You could keep a pair of percula or false percula clownfish in there, though that'd be the max for fish. Can't help much with the shrimp/crab.

4. A skimmer isn't necessary, but it is extremely helpful. [link=http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Reef%20Keeping/59000.html?200505152346]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Reef%20Keeping/59000.html?200505152346" style="COLOR: #808080[/link] I definitely recommend one, especially if you go with live rock and forego an external filter.

5. For a heater, just go with a regular (but high-quality) heater. You want something that won't shatter of course, and that will do a good job of regulating heat.

6. That I don't know enough about to help you with. Sorry.

That should aid you a little bit, maybe someone with more salty knowledge will come along and elaborate.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Thanks, that's a lot of help already.

As far as the clowns, I assume you mean a M/F pair? Are they easy to sex or would one be happy by itself?

I do like clowns...any thoughts on gobies?

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Percula clowns I believe depending on which fish is the dominant will changes it's sex. So any pair would probably do. I've never had a prob w/ pairs. And for gobies my fav. is the yellow watchman. Doesn't swim alot and acts like a watch dog, keeping an eye on everything moving around. Another idea and another fav. is the bi color blenny. Very nice looking and literally disease resistant.


Just my thoughts.

Did you read my article?

EDIT: I'm going to get cut off because I'm waiting for my ride to get here, but I'd like to offer some advice.

First off, IMO a ten gallon is too small for a pair of clowns. I think they need at least a 20. Ten gallons are hard to stock...I dont like putting anything other than neon gobies in them. Why not do a little nano reef? Afterall, we keep saltwater for the corals not the fish, right Nate?

You dont need a skimmer, but IMO you do. Let me explain; skimmers aren't necessary, but the benefits are endless, especially if you're going to have live rock.

RIDES HERE...more later

EDIT #2:

Okay lets start this over.

1. live rock-if I go with live rock does the entire tank have to be filled with it, or can I just do a portion? Is some sort of substrate used with the rock, and if so what? Does live rock require any sort of special lighting?

Live rock doesn't require a certain type of lighting, but you will need at least a couple of watts a gallon for substantial growth and health. You can just do a portion if you'd like, but effective filtration is considered 1 pound of porous rock per gallon of water. Different types of rock have different porosities? I think I made up that word. Live rock will be okay with whatever substrate you want; there's only so much to choose from though. Personally I like the look of sand.

2. substrate-if I choose not to use live rock, what type of substrate is generally used?

Hold up...let me get this straight. You're planning on going BB if you get live rock, and substrate if you aren't? *confused* Well the two most common substrates to choose from would be sand (aragonite based, usually white and from the carribbean, as opposed to silicate based which is tan-ish) and crushed coral.

3. stock-being only a 10g I was thinking of one (two?) small fish, easy to keep, does well on its own, and maybe some sort of shrimp and or crab. Any suggestions?

Sorta touched on this before, but IMO a ten gallon is too small for a pair of clowns. I'd keep *maybe* just one, or maybe some type of goby instead. You should read up on the nano tank stocking list I made a couple of days ago; it basically covers the top hundred most common nano sized fish in the trade.

4. protein skimmer-necessary?

No...but if you ask me yes. Again, I touched on this above. I'm a strong believer in aggressive protein skimming. (Thanks Calfo and Nate) Although, in a ten gallon system (w/o a sump I'm assuming?) I cannot suggest one small enough off the top of my head. *pushing for a bigger tank* You're only going to want bigger once you start anyway...why waste the money?

5. heater-is there anything in particular I should look for when purchasing a heater for a SW tank?

Pretty similar to freshwater except accuracy is more important since fluctuations are a no no. Make sure there's nothing corrosive, and that's just about it. I'd reccomend Ebo's and Tronics. I use both, but only Ebo in my marine. I wouldn't do anything without an exact temperature dial---that's why I like Ebos. Accurate down to .5 I think. I've got two 250 watts in my 100 gallon system, and a couple of extras for mixing bins.

6. changeover-the tank is currently a brackish setup. After removing the substrate is there anything special I would need to do to clean the tank before going salt?

I think this depends. If it's a healthy tank I wouldn't think that there's much you need to do, but are you using freshwater aquarium salt in it or saltwater aquarium salt? And the fish in it now, are they marine fish when full grown, or are you completely restocking? I remember Shannen telling me how he and Jamie are going to end up going marine because of certain fish they are keeping brackish now, so if you could clarify that might help. Since you were looking for stocking suggestions though, it sounds like we're starting over.

Do you use/have RO/DI water?

Make sure when you hit up the pet store that you get a hydrometer, and see if you can have a friend or maybe employee from a store callibrate it for you with a refractomter. (I doubt you want to purchase one of these because they tend to be pricey)

And as probably mentioned, are you going to be doing a nano reef or FOWLR? (or FO?) Because there's more we need to talk about in that case.

Make sure you get a high range pH kit too.

And thoughts about a refugium or sump? What about circulation? You need some movement in there.

If you haven't already, I suggest reading the articles stickied around the marine forums. A lot of the questions you asked were talked about in some of them.

I'm done rambling now. I hope this helped a bit. Keep posting questions, there's so much to learn in this hobby.

And Theresa? Welcome to the dark side. :88)

-Ferret

Last edited by Ferretfish at 04-Jun-2005 09:39

EDIT #3!!!

Just for spelling and grammar.

Last edited by Ferretfish at 04-Jun-2005 09:42

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I will try to help a little if I can...

1. You should aim for about a pound per gallon at least though most reefkeepers prefer to go with around 1.5, but you only need enough to suit your liking. With a 10 gallon it is almost essential to have live rock and I would not even dream of doing a tank that small without the filtering properties of live rock. Unlike popular belief live rock does not need any special form of lighting, but it does need light. A regular normal output flourescent light will be all you need, but to BOOST coralline growth(it will grow with NO light) a better light would help.

2. You will probably want a sandbed, though crused corals and bare bottoms are also used.

3. You can stock it with a few small fish and maybe a peppermint or coral banded shrimp. The problem with small tanks is that you can't add to much stuff so stocking is a bit limited.

4. With the ease of doing a water change on such a small tank I would say that a protein skimmer is not really needed though it will help.

5. Just get a regular heater with a themermostat to keep the temperature the same.

I don't know about 6 though it would be best to clean the tank out before starting over.

Good luck with the change over.

i think you could get away with a pair of skunk clowns in a 10g.

r u going for a fish only tank, or a reef tank? if your going for a reef tank what type of corals do u plan on keeping lps, sps, polyps etc? and what lighting setup are you considering?

Last edited by Eric Wong at 04-Jun-2005 00:22

Theresa, in a tank that small it is really going to limit your fish to 1 small fish. You could however bump up your inverts and keep shrimp also. I would suggest Zebra hermits (aka left handed hermits), nassarius vibex snails (sand dwellers that eat detrius), and a couple astrea snails. As for the shrimp, it depends on what kind you like. Skunk cleaner shrimp, and blood red shrimp (aka fire shrimp) are both attractive and fairly easy to maintain.

2. substrate-if I choose not to use live rock, what type of substrate is generally used?

As Liana stated, aragonite based is the sand that you want. Not only does it look better, but it will also help to buffer the tank water.

You can also use crushed coral, but IMO crushed coral is too much work. With crushed coral you will have to do gravel vacs, where with a sugar fine (oolitic) sized sand you just have to have decent flow and a good clean up crew..no gravel vacs necessary.

4. protein skimmer-necessary?

On that small of a tank, weekly water changes of a couple gallons would be plenty, especially considering the low stocking because of the tank size. It all depends on if you tend to over feed or not though. Your water parameters will tell you if you need a water change or not.

As for protein skimmers that are for a small tank like a 10 gallon, there are quite a few that are available. Coralife makes one that is getting great reviews, and Aqua-C also makes one that is for a bigger tank, but works great on smaller tanks also.

5. heater-is there anything in particular I should look for when purchasing a heater for a SW tank?

Once again, I agree with Liana..all I use on my marine tanks are Ebo's. They are great and I have never had a problem with them in the time that I have had marine tanks.

6. changeover-the tank is currently a brackish setup. After removing the substrate is there anything special I would need to do to clean the tank before going salt?

If you are doing a complete tear down on the tank then no there isnt anything else you really need to do before switching over to SW.

I do caution however that if there were medications used in the tank that you scrap the tank and buy another one. With 10 gallons being as cheap as they are, its not that much of an investment considering what some medications can to do inverts.

Afterall, we keep saltwater for the corals not the fish, right Nate?

Thats my girl! I totally agree with it though. I keep saltwater for the corals/inverts, not the fish. The fish are just waste producers which in turn feed the corals and the critters in the sand an on the rock..keeps my feeding routine simple

With a 10 gallon tank that is exactly what I would do is to keep one fish and mostly corals/inverts. There are some really easy to keep soft corals out there and the bonus is that they dont need much light at all to be happy.

[hr width='20%']

Theresa, the main thing is to take your time to soak up information. Dont let all the information and you not being familiar with it overwhelm you. Its really not that hard once you get things figured out. Its just a little more complicated to understand. If you need any help at all, you know where to post



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