First 10 Gallon Saltwater Reef Tank

bswe22

bswe22

Member
I have started a 10 gallon reef tank a couple monthe ago. I wish I would of been smart enough to psot pictures of the progress I have made.
Well I am going to start now. What I have is a 10 gallon tank with about 12 pounds of live rock. I did not want to start with too much because I knew I would be adding more with the corals I buy. I have a nice little colony of Zoas, a frag from a Green Toadstool Leather, Hammer Coral (I added this one last night), two small peices of Xenia, a peice of Green Star Polyp and one mushroom polyp. My clean up crew consists of 2 Scarlet Hermit Crabs, an Emerald Crab, 2 snails and a Cleaner Shrimp. Right now I have a 24 watt compact flo for lighting but I should have my new light here on Monday or Tuesday. It will be a 4 tube T5HO light fixture for a total of 96 watts. I am using a Penguin 170 bio wheel filter (without the bio wheel). I what to replace it with a protein skimmer but not sure which one to get. So here are some pictures. Looking for advice and suggestions as to what I should add or do differently.
Thanks Everybody
Here are a couple pictures. I will add more later.


 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Nice tank....one suggestion would be you need more flow....especially in the front where you have the algae growth on the sand....maybe add a few nassarius and cerith snails
also I would not replace your filter with a skimmer...I would just add a skimmer....they do different things
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3192582
Nice tank....one suggestion would be you need more flow....especially in the front where you have the algae growth on the sand....maybe add a few nassarius and cerith snails
also I would not replace your filter with a skimmer...I would just add a skimmer....they do different things
The 2 snails I have are nassarius snails. They don't seem to be doing their job. It feels like there is alot of flow in the tank. I have the Korilla Nano in the top right corner. Should I get another Korilla for the other side? Thank you for the compliment on the tank. It has become very addicting.
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
Here are a few more pictures of my tank. I also have a Goby and Pistol Shrimp. They are fun to watch.


 
andrew989

andrew989

Member
what kind of goby and pistol shrimp do you have ilike them.
im going to buy a pair when my 15 gallon cycles
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
Originally Posted by andrew989
http:///forum/post/3192729
what kind of goby and pistol shrimp do you have ilike them.
im going to buy a pair when my 15 gallon cycles
The Goby is a Barbershop Goby and he is paired up with a Randalli Pistol shrimp. When they actually come out, they are fun to watch. They spend 90% olf the time in one of the many caves they have built.
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
I have made some big changes today. I have gone from a 10 gallon tank to a 20 gallon tank. I added 20lbs of LR and another 10lbs of sand. I will post a few pictures tomorrow. I do have a question for everybody. Will my tank have to go through another cycle, or will it be like doing a 50% water change?
It will be very sad if I lose everything because I wanted a bigger tank.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
that depends on how much stuff you stirred up out of the sand from the 10G...did you just move everything over all at once???
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
I took all the corals and livestock and put them into a bucket with water out of the 10 gal. tank. Then I placed all the old and new LR into the new tank and then I scooped the sand from the 10 gal. tank and poured it into the 20 gal. tank. I couldn't think of a different way to transfer the sand. I added a heater and powerhead to the bucket and I let the 20 gal. tank settle for a warm up for a couplr hours. I then added the coral and livestock to their new home. I topped the tank off with the water from the bucket with the livestock in it. Everything appears to be opening back up, so I hope all is well.
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
Did I do the switch to a bigger tank correctly? If I did something wrong, any ideas of how to fix it?
Thanks
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
I was getting ready to do that after I have had my coffee and I get the kid taken care of. The only thing I did test was salinity, and it was at 1.023.
 
bswe22

bswe22

Member
I have tested the water after the big change to the larger tank. Everything seems to be doing good.
PH - 7.8
Calcium - 420
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Ammonia - 0
Phosphate - .5
KH - 8/9
Salinity - 1.024
I will check everything again tomorrow. What can I do to get the PH up a little?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top