10 Gallon?

[synergyz]

Hey, I'm going to have a spair 10 gallon around after my freshwater fish move to a bigger tank. I've decided to use it as a saltwater tank. I have an external whisper filter and a heater, what other equipment will I need to get this ready? Do I need a protein skimmer or a powerhead?
Does anyone have a small saltwater tank going now? I'm thinking it could have a shrimp and a clownfish.
Thanks!

 

[rickt4du]

I have a 10 gal mini reef, for a year now. No skimmer...I do water changes very infrequently...no powerhead, the penguin filter moves the water enough...2 18watt lights....The reef has nice rock with good coraline, few crabs, 2 perc clowns, red serpent star and lots of mushrooms. Only problem I had was bumping the cheap heater I had on it and just about boiling everything...lost 2 cleaner shrimp and assorted inverts. Lots of fun with the mini's.

 

[synergyz]

Do you use live sand or coral? Also, can I use an airstone to help water movement just like I would in freshwater?

 

[danielle]

I too am going to set up a mini reef soon because that's what we can afford.
I've been reading up on this for month's now. The best thing I can tell you is to go to yahoo and type in the search bar "nano reefs" you will get a ton of answer's to your question's.
Also the people on this board are very helpful and alot of them have mini reefs.
Some of the people on this board will tell you not to set one up if your a beginer, and I agree, but if that's all you can afford GO FOR IT!
Just make sure you don't get any "spur of the moment" purchases from your lfs. Reasearch what you want in your tank, and stick to it.
The best recipe for success is being informed and knowing what you have, and how to take care of it.
Danielle
Ps, good luck!
[ July 03, 2001: Message edited by: Danielle ]

 

[rickt4du]

Dont go elsewhere looking for info, lots of mini reefers in here. I use live sand...actually it was just Figi Pink sand a year ago but has since become live.

 

[andymi]

I would probably not use an airstone as it creates quite a bit of bubbles and some micro bubbles. From what I understand they can irritate the corals and fish. ALTHOUGH...I have some microbubbles in my tank that I cannot track down yet (where they are coming from) and everything seems fine. I would think that your whisper filter or whatever you are using would probably be sufficient. If you wanted more current maybe you could pickup a small Rio 100 or 150 Power head to get some more circulation in there.
HTH
--Andy

 

[b_ball12_99]

I have a 5 gallon with the eclipse filter set up and that all I use for filtering, well the LR acts as a filter too.