Converting the 10 Gallon

[goblue]

sorry to say it kimmie, but i dont think you should try this without some form of a budget. marine fish and other animals, which you will want once you get started, are EXPENSIVE and more addictive than crack (oh the things i could own rigt now if i never got into this) To keep those two clowns, you're going to need a filter ($75-150), a skimmer ($75-150), some form of lights (even cheapo NO will be $50 for a setup), about 20 lbs of live rock ($5/lb), test kits and who knows what else. If you have some cash to throw at it, this is an awesome hobby, but if not you are in for loads of frustration. Sorry, didn't want to bring you down, but thats just the way it is.

 

[magic mark]

goblue i DISAGREE!
filter for 10gal......20 bucks max!
skimmer for 10gal? no!
kimmie, 10gal will hold a max of 2 fish. so i would go with the 2 clowns. maybe if u like the neon gobies, you get some of them too as they are very very tiny and will even help control ich

 

[magic mark]

kimmie, ur only using regular freshwater gravel? that wont work very well in a mrine system. sand is even cheaper than that. $2 for 50 pounds :yes:

 

[reverai]

The place to check out about small saltwater tanks would be "http://www.nano-reef.com/". It's where I picked up most of my Nano info as a lot of the basic info about larger tanks isn't quite right for small tanks.
For instance I don't even use a filter in my 12 gallon tank. I have about 15 pounds of live rock that sits on about 20 pounds of live land. Both of these perform what filtering I need for the small bioload I have in my tank.
With the LR and LS I have about 8 to 9 gallons of water. I could have two small fish and a lots of snails and a few shrimp and be fine with water changes and tops offs for years. You could do what you want to do but it would take some time as it took my tank about 6 weeks to cycle and another two months before O felt comfortable putting in my two fish. So far, I haven't lost anything as yet and my guests seem happy.
Good Luck.
Steve

 

[goblue]

Originally posted by Magic Mark
goblue i DISAGREE!
filter for 10gal......20 bucks max!
skimmer for 10gal? no!

yeah, you COULD do it for less (i'd reccomend an eclipse hood for about $50, that'll include a little filter and some light and it looks good) if all you really wanted was two clowns and were willing to closely monitor your levels. But i think we all know that after not too long, your gonna want an anemone for those clowns... and so it begins (if you give a mouse a cookie...) I wish when i started someone had told me to just go ahead and spend the money on the better equipment cause i ended up spending so much more to upgrade so many times than i would have if i'd just bought it from the get go. Mark, you can't seriously deny that this gets real pricy real quick. Just a heads up kimmie... if you decide to try it we're all here to help.

 

[flounder]

Oh Goody!!! Magic Mark has just made my night.
I was quite bummed after goblue and was pretty much ready to throw in the towel. (This past week has been really frustrated trying to set up the aquarium while in the middle of everything else going on.)
So sand, eh? Hmmm...see I have the tank all up and cycling. Is the sand so much better than the gravel that i should take it down and fix it all up again? If so, it will be a pain but I will though I wonder how it will go with my filter system.
And excellent, neon gobies! I was checking them out and thought they would be a good addition. And if they help the clowns then even better.
Thank you again Magic Mark and goblue. And reverai- I plan on going and checking that site out now.
Kimmie:happy:

 

[sagxman]

Yes, get the gravel out of there. The easiest way to go i live sand. You can probably buy a bag of live sand at your LFS. You will thank yourself later when your tank is doing well and when you learn a bit more about the workings of the marine aquarium.
I agree, a couple of clowns would be nice. Maybe a neon goby or two. That's about as much as I would put. Any more than that will stress your bioload too much. I have a friend who had about 4 large fish in a 10 gallon. He amazed me at how healthy he kept the fish, but he couldn't keep even the easiest coral because of the water quality.

 

[a short]

Flounder, If you have a underground filter sand will clog it up stay with the gravel although less desirable or pick up a hang on filter like a whisper from wal-mart. The filter bags are cheep and you can wash them out and add new carbon and use them more than one time. I have the filter rated for the 20 gal on my 10 gal for extra water flow. I recently converted this 10 gal QT tank in my 3 year olds room to a regular tank after noticing my params hardly ever fluctuated. My girls love their tank wich is eye level and with a very secured top to keep little ones out!
I have:
15 lbs of live rock,
2 perc clowns,
a sally lightfoot crab,
ch. chip star fish,
2 cleaner shrimp
and a LM Blenny for the HAIR alage I was fighting (and lost) in my 80 gal bowfront. The alage was taking over and I did't have the time to do mait. on 80 gal. or finances to purchase de ionized water from lfs or address the high phosorus (SP?) levels in my tap water. Mixing up 10 gal of water, ageing it, airating it, and keeping 2 small kids out of it was just to much for me. I can swing buying a gal a week for $1 to address my phos. problem and draining 1 gal is so much easier than fooling with 5 gal buckets! A 10 gal IS possible and in my opinion easier than my 80! You don't hear many people say that! But I did get my feet wet with the 80 that is more forgiving and learned the hobby.
I also have a fluidized filter bed powered with a power head for added water flow and bio filteration to help support this amount of life. I would not recomend this much life without it. But they can be expensive (around $80) for someone tight on cash but I had great results with it on a overstocked goldfish tank so they do help, just glad I had it up and running on the 80 when I freaked out and took all my fish (except what i dumped in the 10 filled with the 80's water) back to lfs the day I desided the alage and water changes were to much for my mental state that day! HA HA But I am enjoying my 10 gal and that is what its all about isn't it?
for what all this was worth, Angela