first set up critique

[michaeljames]

I have decided to start with a 10gallon, to keep costs low. This is the set up I am going for. 10 gallon glass, 100 watt heater, 2 aquaclear 50's (1 bio balls) (1 filter floss) 2 coralife power compact 20w 50/50 flourescent bulbs (12 inches off bottom) 'red sea' sea salt, 15lbs live rock over a bed of live sand. maybe 3 little fish like blue damsels, a clown etc, cleaner crew, some corals eventually. My FIRST goal is to get the LR&LS situated and cycled, while learning & getting used to keeping the tanks parameters steady over time, during water changes etc. Next is selecting a cleaner crew, some emerald crabs, shrimp etc and after some more practice run 'time' finally going on to fish. Does this sound like a good plan? equipment I know I need to buy as of yet is a hydrometer, and marine water test kit. anything else to note?

 

[earlybird]

One fish or two small fish max.
Heater could be a little much for that 10g I dunno. Honestly you'll regret the 10g and you'll want to go larger when you find out that you really can't have much in a 10. Not to mention keeping water params are so tough on a smaller tank you'll have nothing but a headache as a learning hobbiest. If you can, wait. Do some research and set up a larger tank. You'll need that 10g for a quarantine tank so if you have it it's not a waste.

Just my opinion.

 

[donald]

If you want to get shrimp I would not get damsels. Plus damsels are aggressive. Just something to think about.

 

[michaeljames]

So my methods though seem pretty good?? truthfully I couldnt afford a bigger set up right now, I will eventually move up to a 29G but thats all I would want. I like the challenge of a 10G, I am very skilled with freshwater so its a challenge for me when it comes to a 10G SWA,
those tiny damsels will eat shrimp 3 times theye size? or just kill them over territory?> those bright red shrimp look cool

 

[teresaq]

those tiny damsels get really big, and mean, and very hard to catch. for a ten gal, a couple of clown gobies, or maybe a fire fish and a bicolor blenny would be good.

 

[spanko]

Yes your methods seem good with the exception of running the bio-balls. Do some searches and set that filter up as a fuge.

 

[perfectdark]

About your heater, while it prob wont work nearly to its potential and be ok for your tank. If in fact it fails and gets stuck open it will nearly boil your fish in little or no time at all. IMO Its better to get a 50 watt heater or smaller so if in fact it fails it will take longer for the water to get to dangerous temperatures and hopefully you will catch it before then. Just my 2 cents.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Originally Posted by PerfectDark
About your heater, while it prob wont work nearly to its potential and be ok for your tank. If in fact it fails and gets stuck open it will nearly boil your fish in little or no time at all. IMO Its better to get a 50 watt heater or smaller so if in fact it fails it will take longer for the water to get to dangerous temperatures and hopefully you will catch it before then. Just my 2 cents.

I agree. I think you will end up with a basket of long john silvers fried fish in no time if that heater sticks wide open. Go with the smallest heater you can find, it could give you just enough time to save your fish later on down the road.

 

[debbie]

I currently have a 10 gal nano that has been going for just about 4 yrs now. I have to say that I love it. I did for a short time upgrade to a 25 gal but dropped back to my 10 gal.
100 watt heater like mentioned is to hot, a 50 watt is what I run and that is all you would need for this size of tank.
I am running the small AquaClear 20 on my tank. But I am going to try my 50 on this tank instead. I don't know about using 2 of them. You might find things blowing all over, maybe someone who uses two of these in a 10 gal can give their opinion. But just the one 20 alone is not enough IMO
As for fish, I do love the damsel family but do yourself a huge favor and don't put them into this tank. You will only have headaches believe me. It is just to small for these types of fish.
I would recommend 2 fish max. The false percs, blennies, gobies, firefish like mentioned earlier are all good for this size of tank.
Don't over load your cleanup crew in this size of tank. I have one very large turbo snail and one small cowrie which I have had forever. I would not add anymore snails than that to this size of tank. Don't go overboard if you do crabs either. There is just not enough "natural" food source for alot of crabs as I found out the hard way too.
I do have 1 coral banded shrimp. You need a shrimp, they are so much fun to watch. If I had to do a shrimp again I would do a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp...

I have assorted mushrooms, toadstool leather, bubble tip anemone. Now for the anemone if I had to do it again I would probably skip it. I do love them and so does my clownfish but since mine has split into 2 of them it just does not look the same. I do spot feed mine once a week and run pc lights. But I think it would do alot better in a bigger tank and of course different lights.
The 20 watt 50/50 you are talking about are nice lights for the easy corals like mushrooms, leathers etc. If you want to get into the higher light corals then the 20", 96watt 50/50 Power Compact strip light is what you want to get. Many on this site have this light so you can ask them how they like it etc.
I see you mentioned about moving to the 29 gal. If that is your longterm goal I would go for that size right off the bat so you can setup a system and get it going without having to upgrade later on.
Another learning lesson I have done over my 4 years in this hobby. Leave all urchins and starfish for the bigger reef aquariums.....

Had them both and they did not live that long in a 10 gal.
I hope this helps you out a bit, these are things that I have done and been through with my tank. I still love my 10 gal and would not give it up.
Good luck and do post some pictures for us as you go along...