New to saltwater, starting with 10g...

[coachresue]

Thanks Nike,
I spent awhile putting the scape together and I do like the way it turned out. Anyways... I obviously want to turn this into a mini reef... How long would you wait for the parameters to stay consistent before adding any corals? Any recommendations? There are so many out there...
Lighting is 24" T5HO Coralife Aqualight 48 watts on a 10 gallon.
Thanks for any input. Others, feel free to chime in!

 

[nikesb]

i have to dose my tank everyday with calcium and buffer to keep parameters stable but i doubt u'll be dosing. check your ph and all that stuff. once its cycled (differs from tank to tank) add in your clean up crew. and start with some zoas. gsp is a great starter too. they are hard to kill. I once kept gsp out of water for 3 days trying to "dry some rock" and put it into a bucket of water to cure and i saw the gsp open right back up.

 

[fibinotchi]

Some might think 3 fish in a 10 gallon was 2 much but I have very good filtration and many caves and hiding places to go so I don't notice them ever paying attention to each other. Also in the near future I will be converting my 29 gallon so if there became problems I would just convert it sooner. I added the royal gramma and the purple firefish at the same time, after I had added the clown and the clown was ecstatic for the company, he went from laying down in his corner by himself half of the day to dancing all day long. I would hesitate to add another fish though and don't forsee it happening. You overstock 2 much and you just end up with algae.

 

[nikesb]

yehp, thats why i had 3 in my 10 gallon, and the weekly water changes could not keep up with their waste. i now only have one fish, and the algae is not coming back

 

[coachresue]

Soooo....
I have been doing so much thinking my brain is starting to hurt...
Have a couple of questions...
I want to go with softies, mushrooms, zoos, etc. What additives do you put in your tank? Iodine, calcium, strontium, magnesium? How much, how often and do you recommend a certain brand?
What do you feed your corals, zooplankton, brine, mysis shrimp? Again, how much, how often?
Also, I want to put 2 fish in the tank. I know algae can be a problem but I would really like a pair of clowns or a clown and something else. What would you recommend?
I was thinking about turning my ac50 into a fuge, to small? I would like to put chaeto, chemi pure elite and purigen in it. What wattage of light would you recommend for the fuge?
I know this seems like a lot but any info will be helpful...
I'll put more pics up soon but not much has changed...
Thanks!

 

[fibinotchi]

With those coral, I would doubt you would need to add much extra in the way of additives. Your weekly waterchanges replenish those elements for the most part. You might find that changes as your tank gets very full. I would monitor those but don't think they will be a concern for a while.
Marine snow is good to have in your watercolumn for your corals, follow the directions on the bottle. Some softies benefit from feeding frozen brine or mysis. You should research whatever species you intend on getting, but zoas and palys don't need brine or mysis. 2 clowns or a clown and firefish or something that is good in a smaller tank shouldn't cause you any trouble although some types of clowns are probably best suited in larger tanks. If you can fit cheato and a light in it, it could be used as a fuge, but watch the cheato that it gets enough light or it dieing will cause water condition problems which I found to be the case in using a small hob filter as a fuge. There are small led lights or just a standard 5 watt pc that you could use in the fuge and leave running 24 hours a day. You may post some of your questions in the new hobbiests forum because that forum gets much more traffic and you may receive more responses. Hope this helps.

 

[coachresue]

Thanks Fib for all the help... I have literally been doing research non-stop! Anyways, here's an updated pic with a sweet diatom outbreak, lol.