fun mistakes in a 10gallon!

[steeliathunder]

Hi everyone im new to the board an have enjoyed burning hours reading it. I was hoping to get some hand slaps to make me stop doing stupid things with this new 10 g setup.
I have kept many tanks before (75w, 55's, 60 hex, 30t), Tangankiyan, Malawian, South American, Heavy Planted, and FOWLR salt. I like the chemistry part of fishkeeping. But never tried reef due to expense. my buddy hooked me up with a 10 with 3" black sand from his prev setup (he upgraded), some coralife compact 50/50 96watt lights, and a small hob with pouches of tiny cream colored balls in them (not sure what it is) i put a maxijet 400 in it to increase flow. bought crystal clear water from a great reef lfs.
cycled two weeks...
mistake 1: i crammed the tank full of "bleached" dead corals left over from 55g salt. Intention to use it as a base for live rock so there would be good water circulation underneath. Raised the salinity bc i didnt rinse the coral well. i figured after years of being dry it was ok. no. too bad i had put a couple little damsels in there that refused to eat. alerted me to the salinity problem right away. balanced it with RO.
two more weeks...
mistake 2: i crammed the tank full of "bleached" dead corals. Thus reducing the amount of water in the tank. serious water chemistry fluctuation tipped me off. i know... seems obviously the wrong thing to do in hindsight. not used to tiny tanks i guess. i removed all but 2 small peices and added 2.5 lbs of live rock and some tiny blue legs.
possible new mistake?: there was LOTS of detritus in the tank that the tiny hob just could not handle. i considered a small canister, but was not sure what capacity to get without overdoing it and blowing the water right out of the tank. I stuck a Penguin Emperor 400 that i had laying around on it. it fits across the intire back, with just enough room for the 50/50 light unit. kept the mj in there to create figure8 cross current. It has fresh washed ammo-carb in the 2 filter baskets, along with the 2 sponge carbon cartridges, and i stick the pouches of unidentified media in there for good measure.
my ammonia was a tad high (from when fish werent eating surely) so i did a 15% water change with salt and topped off all the extra room from removing the corals and increased filter size wih salt. probably added another 5 gallons to tank.

ph is 8.2. just got the red sea master test kit today so will be watching all my levels obsessively.
Currently the little yellow tails are eating well but looking a bit stressed from the tear-down. If they start looking fuzzy im going to yank them out.
Any thoughts on the filter? i know its not conventional (from these threads), and i dont mind topping off daily with RO, i keep a stash handy. Anyway i run wet-dry on larger tank and that things evaporates like mad so im used to it. Are bio-wheels "nitrate-traps?
oh yeah, this is week 5 and i have the diatom explosion, also prompting me to increase filtration, because there was a LOT. btw... im convinced Saltwater biozyme (another mistake) caused it to bloom. i vaguely remember that happening in another tank long ago. i literally watched it cover the tank in one day. i know it will go away and is not that big of a deal.
sorry for the very long post, questions are in red, and advice is appreciated.

 

[reefer545]

More LR and more LS. Increase your flow within the tank. What lights do yo u have? What are your ACTUAL water parameters? Otherwise, just be patient as all sounds like it is on schedule for a tank. BE PREPARED FOR A LOT OF WATER CHANGES THAT ARE FREQUENT AND TIME CONSUMING. On these small tanks you have to tak e a LOT of time to do a water change as the water chemistry is very influential upon the inhabitants.

 

[petjunkie]

I would take out the damsels unless that's what you want for fish, even then I would take out one now before you have more rock and they are even harder to catch. I would ditch the biowheel and go for an aquaclear or whisper, something with the wheel and just run the filter open or search HOB fuge. You should add about 7-10 more pounds of live rock, make sure it is fully cured (no dieoff) or remove damsels before adding, they've lived in enough ammonia laced water already and will probably die this time around. Don't add anything live like a cleanup crew or fish as long as your testing any nitrites and ammnonia in the water. There's a stickied thread at the top of this forum you should read. Take out that media, sounds like maybe ammonia remover?. Run some carbon instead.

 

[steeliathunder]

Thanks for the replies!
Tank is doing well it seems. there is lots of carbon in the hob. tested last wednesday:
ammonia 0.25, was never higher than that.
Nitrite .5
Nitrate 5
Alk 2
ph 8.2
added 2 small turbo snails to eat diatoms (before petjunkies post), and left it alone (no feeding) for 4 days. the water and the tonga live rock look great now, lots of color still. no more brown crud. just tested at the same as above tonight. was hoping to see drop in nitrate, i guess tank is still cycling. fish are happy and ate up some brine shimp tonight, with no leftovers. snails and tiny blue legs are happy and busy.
i have 96 watt coralife 50/50 as lighting (self cooled unit). i get saltwater and ro from nice lfs for water changes/topoff.
Next Steps?
1. remove the larger damsel. the smaller is less than 1" so he can stay until he becomes a pest (if he does).
2. adding about 5-10lbs of lr this week.
3. would live plant material help in a 10 gallon without taking over? what about those bristle brush things?
4. keep up the weekly %15 water changes or increase?
5. There seems to be a lot of flow with the filter i am using plus the maxijet inside. do i need a bigger powerhead?
6. can i start to add calcium supplements now or do i have to wait for the levels to zero out?
i have read hours of posts on here but would still appreciate specific help since i cannot find much on the setup style i am trying. i have been having trouble searcing other questions as well. trying not to be an unnecessary nuisance, but i like this fish community and want to participate.
im hoping to add a small sebae (clarkii clownfish, not the anenome) in with the yellowtail (once water is ready), and maybe a small blenny OR a goby. i do not want to overstock with fish, i just want to have mushrooms and zoos. maybe a little ricordia later. thats the plan. i have kept successful sw before... i always end up having to take my mature fish back to the store years later when i move, or change setups.

but i have never tried corals or such a small finicky sw.
hoping to meet fish buddies too, if anyone else out there is in Memphis
thanks so much, hope to hear from some of you!
<3,
Steelia (rollerderby girl/fish nerd/welder/jeweler)

 

[paintballer768]

Judging by your water params, the tank isnt done cycling. Ammonia and nitrite should read 0. Then the nitrates should be kind of high and you should do a water change then. To be honest I dont think water changes during the cycle do anything, because the nitrates is going to keep building at a fast-ish rate and it doesnt help too much. I added my cleanup crew before the tank was done cycling, everyone makes mistakes.
IMO in a 10 gallon, I would say 2" of fish is the max. My rule of thumb is 5 gallons for every 1 inch of fish. Just keep a watch on it, dont quite add fish yet, and you can choose to keep the yellowtail damsels or not, but its not really helping or hurting (though it may be prolonging the cycling process by adding ammonia via waste). Good luck!

 

[ice4ice]

Since this is your first time attempting SW - let alone starting with a 10G tank, you're bound to constant monitoring on a daily basis. The smaller the tank, more room for error.
I would eliminate the bleached corals altogether and go with some live rock instead. As for the number of fish in a 10G tank, I'd go with 2 small fish (firefish and a clown goby) or a single clownfish. The Clarkii get up to about 4 inches.
Good luck.

 

[steeliathunder]

This is not my first time attempting saltwater. I have had very successful sw tanks for 10 years. freshwater for 20 years.
it is my first time with LIVE coral in a small tank.
i can always put the fish that get too big for the 10 gallon into the 60 gallon hex later. im in process of setting that up now. im running a wet/dry filter on it. it will be fish only. i dont have the budget to stock coral and buy halides for the 60 and my new house is limiting my space for tanks... thus the 10 gallon.
i have two 55's and a 30 tall in the attic atm along with lots of filters and lighting. i inherited the 10 from a freind who had a very nice little reef going in it for a couple of years. this person did not even do water changes (omg), so i have some confidence that i will be able to handle it once the tank is done cycling.
monitoring it daily is not a problem. i watch my tanks instead of television.
i agree about removing the dead corals. im going to get some more lr this week. i am a little hesitant to do that though bc i read on here that lr can raise ammonia which is the opposite of what i want to do.