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- Thread starter ice_veins
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keith burn
Active Member
Originally Posted by ice_veins
i lust got a 10 gallon tank and i wanted to put some coral and a sea anenome along with a couple fish. what kind of coral would be good for this. what kind of water do i mix the sea salt with? does it matter? how do i go about mixing the salt in
is this your first tank?
i lust got a 10 gallon tank and i wanted to put some coral and a sea anenome along with a couple fish. what kind of coral would be good for this. what kind of water do i mix the sea salt with? does it matter? how do i go about mixing the salt in
is this your first tank?
lion_crazz
Active Member
I would strongly suggest you pick up the Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner. However, I will also quickly break down what you need to do to set this tank up just so you get an idea of all that needs to be done to actually do this.
Also, as another poster said, a small tank with fish and corals is EXTREMELY difficult to maintain.
You will need to get a filter for this tank, a 50 watt heater, and a small powerhead. You also need 10-15 lbs. of live rock. If you plan to do coral and anemones, you need metal halide lighting for the anemones. Metal halides heat the water pretty fast, so then you will need a fan to cool the tank. If you have a fan cooling the tank, you also will really need an auto-top off unit so that you can control evaporation and your salt level. You will get a lot of evaporation with metal halides and a fan cooling the tank.
You need to use RO water to mix with your salt, and a refractometer is neccessary to measure your salt level. Saltwaterfish.com sells refractometers for the cheapest you will find them at $50. Here the link:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...e2ca20de2f01e1
When you set the tank up, put the 8 gallons of RO water in, turn on the filter, heater, and powerhead, and mix some salt in. Check the salt level in a few minutes and adjust accordingly. If it is too low, add more salt. If it is too high, take out some water and add pure RO water.
Let the tank run at the proper salt level for 24 hours. The proper salt level is 1.025. After 24 hours, go out and buy your 10-15 lbs. of live rock and place it in the aquarium. This will now be the only thing that enters your tank for 3-6 weeks. During that time period, you will need a test kit to test for pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and alkalinity. When both your ammonia and nitrite are 0 ppm, your pH is 8.2, and your dkH (alkalinity) is between 8 and 12, you will be ready to do your first partial water change to get down your nitrates. You will want to do a 2-4 gallon water change, depending on how high your nitrates are. You need to get your nitrates to 20 or below. When this happens, you will be ready for your first clean-up crew. Your clean-up crew will consist of 5-10 snails and hermit crabs.
When you take them home, I strongly suggest you acclimate them like you would anything else, via the drip method. This allows for your critters to slowly adjust to their new home. If you acclimate them too quickly, you run the risk of having a few die.
After these are in the tank, leave them in for another week before you add anything else. After a week, you could get your first fish. There is not many fish you could do in a 10 gallon. You are limited to clownfish, small gobies, maybe a small blenny, and maybe a few others that do not get large. You need to select your fish wisely. Avoid anything that is a tang, angel, butterfly, trigger, puffer, wrasse, along with many others.
Good beginner corals for this aquarium would be your simple mushrooms and polyps. I would recommend trying these first.
Anemones need mature aquariums, so you need to wait at least 6 weeks before introducing an anemone to your tank.
Any questions, feel free to ask!
Also, as another poster said, a small tank with fish and corals is EXTREMELY difficult to maintain.
You will need to get a filter for this tank, a 50 watt heater, and a small powerhead. You also need 10-15 lbs. of live rock. If you plan to do coral and anemones, you need metal halide lighting for the anemones. Metal halides heat the water pretty fast, so then you will need a fan to cool the tank. If you have a fan cooling the tank, you also will really need an auto-top off unit so that you can control evaporation and your salt level. You will get a lot of evaporation with metal halides and a fan cooling the tank.
You need to use RO water to mix with your salt, and a refractometer is neccessary to measure your salt level. Saltwaterfish.com sells refractometers for the cheapest you will find them at $50. Here the link:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...e2ca20de2f01e1
When you set the tank up, put the 8 gallons of RO water in, turn on the filter, heater, and powerhead, and mix some salt in. Check the salt level in a few minutes and adjust accordingly. If it is too low, add more salt. If it is too high, take out some water and add pure RO water.
Let the tank run at the proper salt level for 24 hours. The proper salt level is 1.025. After 24 hours, go out and buy your 10-15 lbs. of live rock and place it in the aquarium. This will now be the only thing that enters your tank for 3-6 weeks. During that time period, you will need a test kit to test for pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and alkalinity. When both your ammonia and nitrite are 0 ppm, your pH is 8.2, and your dkH (alkalinity) is between 8 and 12, you will be ready to do your first partial water change to get down your nitrates. You will want to do a 2-4 gallon water change, depending on how high your nitrates are. You need to get your nitrates to 20 or below. When this happens, you will be ready for your first clean-up crew. Your clean-up crew will consist of 5-10 snails and hermit crabs.
When you take them home, I strongly suggest you acclimate them like you would anything else, via the drip method. This allows for your critters to slowly adjust to their new home. If you acclimate them too quickly, you run the risk of having a few die.
After these are in the tank, leave them in for another week before you add anything else. After a week, you could get your first fish. There is not many fish you could do in a 10 gallon. You are limited to clownfish, small gobies, maybe a small blenny, and maybe a few others that do not get large. You need to select your fish wisely. Avoid anything that is a tang, angel, butterfly, trigger, puffer, wrasse, along with many others.
Good beginner corals for this aquarium would be your simple mushrooms and polyps. I would recommend trying these first.
Anemones need mature aquariums, so you need to wait at least 6 weeks before introducing an anemone to your tank.
Any questions, feel free to ask!
X
xoxox
Guest
Sorry but only the most experienced aquarist can keep an Anemone in a 10, and even then they will not last long. They are very sensitive to salinity changes.