new 10 gal (pics)

njfish77

njfish77

Member
i just picked up my 10 gallon tank

im going to be keeping you guys posted on this tank.i hope it comes out as beautiful as some tanks on here but i think it will.i ordered an AQUA CLEAR 70 300GPH hang on back filter,and a CORALLIFE 96 WATT LIGHT from a website.it should be coming in soon so when i get that stuff i post pics.im also going to be getting live sand and liverock when the stuff comes.i have a couple of questions for you guys...???
well on stocking the the tank this is what im thinking..
clean up:
1 conch
1 margarita
some snails and hermits but dont know how many of each.(do you guys?
emerald crab
thats about it is there anything else i should do?
inverts:
starfish
feather duster
cleaner shrimp
sexy shrimp
porcilen crab
is that fine or no?
fish:
2 mated clowns
1 neon gold goby
or 1 clown and a goby with a pistol shrimp
which would be better and do all of those choices work?
corals:
lots of corals
maybe some sps like lighter colored ones because i heard there less light needing then darker ones
also i might get a deresa clam is that ok?
 
marvida

marvida

Member
Ten gallon tanks are my favorite nano. I have had one in my office for the past 3 years.
I think your stocking list might be a bit much for your ten. I don't think the conch will find enough to eat.
You might have a challenge ahead of you in the SPS & clam department. You will have the wattage but the PAR is not the same as with MH. But it has been done before. I don't know much about the porcelain crab but the rest of the critters are probably OK, there just won't be a lot of room for them. I keep around 10 astreas in mine as far as snails go.
Good luck!
 
T

tuningvis

Guest
you may want to keep it away from the computer.... salt spray can destroy anything LOL
 
carshark

carshark

Active Member
probably a silly question but is that counter stable enough bc that ten gallon tank that will have approx. what 15 lbs LS, 12-15lbs. LR on top of 80 lbs of water, it'll be a bit heavy...
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
yes its a strong desk.it holds like 300- 400 pounds.maybe more.then ill probably leave the clam and the sps alone until i learn more.ok so maybe i shouldnt get two clowns just one and a goby of some sort?
new list:
livestock:
8 astrea
3 nassarius
1margarita
7-8 red scarlets
maybe a linkia star not sure yet
sexy shrimp(i hear they do well in nanos)
porcelin crab
1 wild perc clown
1 neon gold goby(max length is about 1/2 an inch to an inch)
corals im going to go with many softies and lps.
now here is another question the AQUACLEAR im going to turn into a fuge so what should i buy to run carbon?
and yes i will be using distilled water.
anyone have any suggestions on any other equipment? thanks for the help all.
 
debbie

debbie

Active Member
You will have alot of fun with your 10 gal. I currently have one going and it is going to be 2 yrs soon. Not a whole lot of room but neat things can be done. One thing I would like to pass onto you in "my experience", clowns and sexy shrimp do not mix. My sexy shrimp became a play toy and dinner for my clowns, I was not happy.....

Do make sure you use RO/DI water. I use just distilled water and have had no problems, however in the past I did get lazy and use aged tap water, I paid dearly for that. I also got lazy again and fell behind on water changes, don't ever do this either.
My water changes are every 10 days on time believe me. My tank houses 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 yellow tail damsel (love this guy), 1 chocolate chip star fish (my buddy) and 1 purple sea urchin. It took me a while to get this tank to where I wanted it. I started out with a few mushrooms of different types and some feather dusters. I also tried a few other easy corals but due to my lights and not wanting to upgrade them to what you have which is great by the way I really wanted a visual affect of a live rock fish only tank. So now this is where I am at, my few mushrooms are still there and doing well, my one feather duster is doing its thing too. No more corals will be added to this tank but more rock will be.
By the way just so you know Chocolate Chip stars are not reef safe, knock on wood mine has never bothered anything in my tank, I think I feed him to well. The urchin I was told would scrape all my coraline algae off my rocks, man did that guy ever go to town on what I called very uguly rocks, I now have the most beautiful pink rocks ever. This urchin did me a favor instead of ruining everything I had, I now have coraline growing all over my rocks and my new big piece of tufa is looking pretty good to, I am glad I put the urchin in there now.
Most will frown upon putting in three fish in the 10 gal, but I have had no problems at all. I have two filters on there and awesome water movement too. One thing you might want to add to your tank is a power head for extra movement. I have noticed a huge difference in my tank ever since I added one to mine. I am only running the Aqua Clear Mini on my tank but have this other filter with a powerhead and all is just great.
Hope you enjoy your hobby, do things very slowly as there is no room for error with saltwater. Have fun and enjoy.....
 
marvida

marvida

Member
The linkia will need a ton of live rock and unfortunately will not survive in a ten. You have plenty of time to decide on corals. One thing about nanos is that they take 6 months to a year to settle down & become stable, as stable as a ten ever gets anyway. In my ten I have SPS & shrooms, a couple of hermits, 1 emerald crab, 2 pepp. shrimp, 1 clown and a green chromis. Since I have SPS I don't go with three fish but have had 3 in there in the past. I have a hang-on fuge, a Seaclone 100 skimmer and a 150w HQI. The top off is fully automated so the tank level never changes more than 1/4".
You are going to really enjoy this tank, just take your time.
 
fallinmor

fallinmor

Member
definetly don't get a conch unless you have a bigger tank they get huge. get coweries instead, the clowns thought they might get big depends on which you choose like black and white percula or true percula would be fine but i whould recomend the hi-fin or yashea goby and pistol shrimp over the neon goby. they are very entertaining and do a good job cleaning and scavenging and the neon is very small and stays small and you won't always see it my 2 i see once or twice a day. where as the goby and shrimp are always around.
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
here it is after i entered my sand filter and thermomiter.im going to add my live rock in about 20 minutes.im getting in my heater and my light in about 2 days so everything is going good so far.
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
well i would like to know how long does it take for the tank to clear up?i waited about 20 min after i put the sand in and then turned the filter back on to get circulation going.
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
Yep with what others posted especially with conch, and clowns/sexy shrimp, The quad 96 watt light by coral life shoud be adequate for most except a few odds and ends.....I have a quad 96 n a tank of 16 gal (bowfront by AGA) which is close to what the height is on a 20 gal and it does fine.....
Your watershould clear in a few days or so.......I used live sand in mine, and it was decent within 24 hours, which during those 24 hours was getting stirred up with positioning of rocks and critters that we had place previously that we decided to move around more to our liking. My filter / fuge is a AC110/500 which I just slide a 30 micron foam filter pad into before it spills into thre fuge part initially to help catch any fine stuff and help polish off the water......Just a typical fiber batting bag typically found on a Tetra Whisper filter will do fine for collecting junk.........
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
here it is with about 4 pounds of rock

and here it is now with about 12-13

i cant wait to get my light its coming in the mail tomorrow.
theres lots of pods all over the glass lots of tiny little feather dusters on my rocks,i saw a peanut worm,ive got some zoos that came in on a piece of rock that are having more and more open each day,and i also got a hitchkhiker hermit today because i didnt see him on the rock i bought but he is also doing fine.i also added about a 1lb and a half to my AC 70
for my fuge im going to be maiking.
those are the updates for now.
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
oh yea also if you guys can could you make a list of what fish you have in your 10 gal. if you have a 10 gal.thanks for any comments and help
 
debbie

debbie

Active Member
Do you have a powerhead going in there? I do suggest it when you can, in the meantime try and position your filter so it is flowing into the center of you tank for a more even distribution. I did this and it works alot better than having it in one corner only. A powerhead will make a huge difference, when I put mine in which is also another filter plus powerhead flow it made a huge difference.
You asked for fish, well this is what I have in my 10 gal nano. It has been going for almost 2 1/2 years now and I have only had one crash due to my ignorance on "water changes".
2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Yellow Tail Damsel
1 Chocolate Chip Starfish
1 Purple Sea Urchin
I don't have any snail or crabs, due to the star but before I had the star they just did not live very long and I was forever replacing snails and crabs. Very expensive here and I don't need them anyways. I love what I presently have in my tank and would not change a thing. It is very enjoyable to watch and spot feeding my star and urchin are really fun also.
Good luck to you, my best advice is to take things slowly and enjoy....
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
thanks debbie and everyone else for the info and comments. yea im planning on getting a small powerhead for the other side the tank as soon as i get some extra money but the tank is doing pretty good i just tested nitrates and ammonia yesterday and the readings were Nitrates(10)and Ammonia(o.24).
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
well i just got my ebo jager heater in the mail with legs for my coralife light and the light should probably be here in 2 days max.i went to my LFS and picked up a 13 watt light for my fuge/AC 70 its a 7000k bulb.i also got some background paper for my tank but i have no tape so ill buy some tomorrow
but anyways heres a pic with the new light on for the fuge( up in the left corner)

any comments are welcome.also anyone else who has a ten gallon and would like to post it i would love to see some.
 
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