10g Tanks

[dlauber]

its a bit early to be thinking about fish, but I figured I better ask while your on a role =P
I dont know what the most fish, or what kinds I could get are
I really like the the 3 stripe damsels, two of them would be great (for obvious to anyone whos seen finding nemo, lol)
I would prefer not to order online, but Ive only been to my lfs a few times, its not even a fish store, its more of an all kind of petstore, its not a huge place. They have a very limited salt water section, the last time I was there I saw they had maroon clowns in one tank, and one percula clown in another and it was reserved... im not even sure if they sell LR =S
Id rather not order online, but I guess I would if I have to
and I was wondering what a good cleaning crew should consist of

 

[bjoe23]

ok, for fish i would not get ANY type of damsels (unless its alone). They are mean, territorial, and will bully ANY fish (even fish WAY bigger than it). You could get some kind of goby or a percula clown (nemo), royal gramma, and there are some others too. Look in the fish section of the site. If you like one that stays 2" or under, ask and you probably can get it.
Inverts you should get some blue leg hermit crabs (maybe 5 or more), cleaner shrimp or a sexy shrimp, and maybe a small starfish.

 

[blazin2k6]

Well i have that same 10 gal walmart setup that i first started off as hospital tank but never used it as that so then i just set it up as a reef tank. And i used the exact same filter it came with. Well i bought one for 10-20 gallon but its the aqua whatever that comes with that setup. And i clean the blue part each week when i do a water change. I usually change about 2-3 gallons every week. And my tank has been up for about 8 weeks and has been running just fine. Have lost maybe 2 snails but that is about all. I have 2 small B/W Clownfish in there with a Feather Duster, 2 Frags of Zoanthids that are growing by the day literally and about 8-10 lbs of LR. And about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch LS. Well goodluck and hope everything works out for ya good. I also went to ***** and got some Coralife MinI Compact Flourescent 50/50 Bulbs and took out the plain bulbs it came with. Well take care and goodluck once again.

 

[dlauber]

those bulbs can be used with the standard single bulb hood, and are still strong enough to support corals?

 

[bjoe23]

Originally Posted by Blazin2k6
Well i have that same 10 gal walmart setup that i first started off as hospital tank but never used it as that so then i just set it up as a reef tank. And i used the exact same filter it came with. Well i bought one for 10-20 gallon but its the aqua whatever that comes with that setup. And i clean the blue part each week when i do a water change. I usually change about 2-3 gallons every week. And my tank has been up for about 8 weeks and has been running just fine. Have lost maybe 2 snails but that is about all. I have 2 small B/W Clownfish in there with a Feather Duster, 2 Frags of Zoanthids that are growing by the day literally and about 8-10 lbs of LR. And about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch LS. Well goodluck and hope everything works out for ya good. I also went to ***** and got some Coralife MinI Compact Flourescent 50/50 Bulbs and took out the plain bulbs it came with. Well take care and goodluck once again.
Aqua Clear? if it is i recommend getting chemi-pure instead of one of the things it has

 

[blazin2k6]

What is Chemi Pure for and are you meaning to replace the filter ? I dont understand. Thanks if you can elaborate a little more.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Dlauber
those bulbs can be used with the standard single bulb hood, and are still strong enough to support corals?
the standard hood setup that comes with most small tanks will not be adequate for any coral variety. They lack the intensity required, plus they don't have the proper range. The cheapest lighting you would need would require an entire lighting fixture to replace the one you have in the hood. There are some good, inexpensive PC fixtures that you can find an most fish stores that sell saltwater fish supplies. The bulbs that come in these fixtures are a mix (commonly referred to as 50/50) and they have 2 types of bulbs: daylight and blue actinic.

 

[dlauber]

How worth it is it to have an extra 10 gallon tank below as a sump, and what peices of equipment can go in a sump and what must stay in the main tank.
I wonder how much the extra water volume will increase stability? and if its worth the extra cost + effort
Also how would I be sure that the water leaving the main tank is equal to the water returning to the main tank

 

[bjoe23]

Originally Posted by Blazin2k6
What is Chemi Pure for and are you meaning to replace the filter ? I dont understand. Thanks if you can elaborate a little more.
Chemi Pure is for aqua clear filters or ones like it (filter needs to have carbon, sponge, and some other thing, i cant think of the name of now, in it). Chemi-Pure replaces the carbon and is alot better for your tank. Now they make Chemi-pure Ultra, i think its called, which is more money, but better than the orginal chemi pure

 

[bjoe23]

Originally Posted by m0nk
the standard hood setup that comes with most small tanks will not be adequate for any coral variety. They lack the intensity required, plus they don't have the proper range. The cheapest lighting you would need would require an entire lighting fixture to replace the one you have in the hood. There are some good, inexpensive PC fixtures that you can find an most fish stores that sell saltwater fish supplies. The bulbs that come in these fixtures are a mix (commonly referred to as 50/50) and they have 2 types of bulbs: daylight and blue actinic.
Would those 50/50 bulbs only support corals for little tanks? Could I use that on my 29 and support and coral?

 

[blazin2k6]

Well i have two zoanthid rocks in mine and only have 2 10w 50/50 bulbs so that is 20 watts of light and my corals are doing great. They are Coralife Mini Compact Flourescent 50/50 Bulbs i got from ***** and they seem to be doing great. Even one of the zoanthid rocks sitting on the sandbed and its loving it seems like. Even stays open when i turn on the 3/4 watt moonlight i have attached to the hood.

 

[dlauber]

Originally Posted by Dlauber
How worth it is it to have an extra 10 gallon tank below as a sump, and what peices of equipment can go in a sump and what must stay in the main tank.
I wonder how much the extra water volume will increase stability? and if its worth the extra cost + effort
Also how would I be sure that the water leaving the main tank is equal to the water returning to the main tank

 

[cprdnick]

I bought the 10 gallon package that wal mart has when I started 3 years ago. I have it sitting on my desk cylcling right now in fact. When I first set it up I was using the HOB filter that came with it, just for extra circulation. Now I'm planning on using a powerhead and live rock, that's all I'm gonna use, I'm not worried about mechanical filtration. IMHO if you're going to have LR you don't need a Bio wheel, it's just another thing to clean or break and it's doing the same thing as the LR, the only difference is that if the bio wheel isnt cleaned as much as it needs to be you could have a chemistry problem from all of the built up crap on it.

 

[dlauber]

would you still reccomend still using the original HOB filter?
that would save me alot of money if I didnt have to buy a new filter, and yes I do plan on having around 12-15lbs of live rock
and I am also gonna have a power head running, I was thinking just keep one running in the tank, since its only 10 gallons, but ill prolly have an extra for mixing salt water
and another question:
I want sand as a base, but Ive heard too much sand can be a bad thing, I really wouldnt mind having no sand, but I think a bare bottem looks ugly
so could someone reccomend a good amount of sand for a standard 10g tank?

 

[cprdnick]

I have about 2 inches of sugar sand in the bottom with about 15 lbs of rock. I wouldn't think you would need to have the HOB, but it never hurts to have extra circulation. Ive been out of the hobby just long enough to forget the rule of thumb for sand. Good luck.

 

[dlauber]

Originally Posted by Dlauber
How worth it is it to have an extra 10 gallon tank below as a sump, and what peices of equipment can go in a sump and what must stay in the main tank.
I wonder how much the extra water volume will increase stability? and if its worth the extra cost + effort
Also how would I be sure that the water leaving the main tank is equal to the water returning to the main tank
I still need this question answered, but back on the topic of fish
would 1 false black and white clown, and 1 false percula clown be OK in one tank, or would that be too many
This may belong in the clown/anenome section, but would 2 clowns be ok to share 1 anenome or would I have to get 2 for them to both host
I know that theres changce that it wont host to it at all, but if both of them wanted to host to it, could they, or would this cause fighting?

 

[cprdnick]

First, earlier you stated that you were going to stay with the NO lighting that came with the tank. I doubt there have been any break-throughs in the year I haven't been on this board, but it used to be that NO lighting was not enough for an anemone to survive. As far as the two different clowns, I have no idea, I've only ever had one. Yeah, a 10 gallon sump would help you out a bit. You would have more water volume, you could get ALL of your equipment out of the display, if you ever had to dose your tank you could do it through the sump and not have to worry about a concentrated dose hitting your inhabitants, and water changes would be a lot less stressful on you and your display. To plumb a sump you would have an overflow box, if you buy one, it's designed not to allow a loss of siphon when there is no water overflowing into the front box. your sump pump would remove water from the sump, send it to the tank, which would increase display water volume and sent your surface water into the overflow, which would then be sent to the sump and picked back up by the pump....what I'm trying to say is that with a properly designed overflow box, your sump will only fill with the excess water that is removed from it. Your pump will always be pumping water to the display and will not over fill the tank if your overflow is working properly.

 

[dlauber]

Originally Posted by cprdnick
First, earlier you stated that you were going to stay with the NO lighting that came with the tank. I doubt there have been any break-throughs in the year I haven't been on this board, but it used to be that NO lighting was not enough for an anemone to survive.
Im not stupid. If I feel the need to get an anemone ill upgrade my lighting, as for now its just a thought.
Besides I wasnt asking about lighting, I was asking hypothetically if I had an anenome.
Gonna start setting my tank up around early January, cant wait so I can start taking pictures

 

[cprdnick]

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like I thought you were stupid, that's just something that caught my attention. Good luck with your tank.

 

[dlauber]

alright no problem, and thanks
getting a bit off topic, im just frustrated because I was parked in some ladies slanted driveway to pick up my little sister, her car slides down and hit my truck, then she tries to make it seem as if it was my fault
to prevent this from going too far off topic, Ill ask another question

...once I think of one
OK I got one, Im pretty sure I know the answer to my first question, but just wanna be 100% sure, and I am not sure about question 2
When topping off from evap I just use fresh water right? (of course I will use RO water)
And when changing water, I put the water I want to add into a bucket or whatever, add salt, mix water for 24 hours with powerhead, then just add the water to the tank?
Does that sound ok?
Or should I test the water before I add it to the tank? If so what exactly should I test for, and how should I add it to the tank so I dont kill my fish?