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joseramentol

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Messages
108
Location
miami,florida
hello everyone i started my tank today and wanted to know what you guys think ive done right so far and done wrong and what i am missing,also what i should be checking for this 3 weeks of cycling the water.



-10 gallon tank (decided to start small)
-4.7 pounds of live rocks
-2 mechanical filters 1 on each side
-sand from the local aquarium store


i will be buying my light tomorrow as well as the heater

if you guys have any good tips please let me know this is my first time ever doing a salt water fish tank and need all the help i can get, i will also be posting pictures soon:thanks:
 
Sounds like your off to a good start.

I will say that the smaller the tank, the more difficult it is, especially for a beginner. But im sure if you do your research and maintain it well you can do it. I would say get a 20-30g from craigslist, it will be less maintenance and allow for much more of a selection when it comes to fish.

Make sure you have a good test kit, most recommend the API liquid kits.

Do some research on fishless cycling, and take your time with it, patience is key with a saltwater tank.

For lighting make sure you go for 10000k light color or above. Check out my thread on cheap LEDs, for a 10g you could get a 10w 12000k LED flood light on eBay for $30, there cheap, look great, and capable of growing corals should you want to once you have mastered your first FOWLR.

Also do your research and plan a stocking list before you buy any fish, never trust the guy at the pet store! Lots of newbies to SW buy lots of little damsels, tangs, clownfish etc then realize they grow way to big for their tank. To be safe you should put your stocking list on here before buying them, that way you don't kill a fish, or waste your money. Also fish compatibility Is very important, lots of SW fish eat other SW fish!

Water movement is essential, get a couple of small power-heads (maxi-jets, koralia etc), you don't want any stagnant water, you want lots of flow!

What type of sand did you get?

Keep us posted, hope this helps, & good luck!
 
wow man you've been great help thank you so much for all that info you just made my life a whole lot easier lol if you can please send me the link of your thread cause i want the light to be my next purchase also i posted a picture of my tank right now, do you think i should get more live rock since i only have 4.7 right now

please let me know what you think about the tank and if you have anymore tips
 
No problem.

Here's the link to the LED thread I started...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f60/cheap-led-solution-186459.html

And here's a link to the one I suggest for your tank...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10W-Cold-Wh...or_Lighting&hash=item20be0dde88#ht_4383wt_825

For this LED you will have to come up with some kind of method of raising it a few inches above the top of the tank, so the spread fills the whole tank, that's for you to get creative. I suggest you keep this light on for 8-10 hours per day, trust me you will like this light, when you check out my thread you will see pics of a 10w 6500k for brightness and a 20w 12000k for color. Make sure you get the 12000k like the eBay link above or you will be inviting algae to grow.. One thing, these LEDs come from china (what doesn't!) so they take about 2 weeks to arrive. But as you are cycling right now and you have no photosynthetic creatures, lighting is not needed at this point. If you do get it be sure to post pics and reviews on it on my LED thread.

Your tank looks good. I would suggest maybe getting another dry reef rock, the LR you already have will seed it, so dry rock will be fine and save some money. As far as Rock placement, the less you have touching the sand the better (search aquascaping for more info). I think you do need a bit more water movement in the tank to stop waste from settling, I would get one maybe two power-heads, each under 400gph. As its a small tank you have to pay close attention to water loss through evaporation, you will need to add freshwater every day or two to keep it stable and check the salinity regularly.

A tank that small will also require a water change every 1-2 weeks with your current filtration, 2g would probably be fine. I don't think you need to worry about a protein skimmer if you keep up with your partial water changes. As far as filter media in your hang on the back filters, I would get some LR rubble and put some in there, unlike FW, filter floss can be a lot of maintenance and end up giving waste a place to gather and turn into unwanted nitrates. You could remove all the current media, put some charcoal in a filter bag (fine mesh bag) and throw some rubble in. Your LR and rubble will house all the organisms you need to filter your tank. Be sure to feed sparingly so nothing gets left behind, 10g can foul quickly with over feeding. You can probably expect some algae outbreaks in the first 6 months as the tank matures, that will pass.

Tom
 
For your research search for "mrsaltwatertank" and "nysteelo" on YouTube, they both offer lots of good videos on reef aquariums. They should answer a lot of questions you will have.
 
thanks for the link i went today and bought a light, see how it works out if not ill just return it i will post pictures later on it doesnt seem to be so bad gives me the white light blue light and both together at the same time
another question is if i decide to put them seperate for how many hrs do i have to put the blue and for many hrs do i need to put the white

i went today and got another 2.0 lbs of live rock makes the tank look a lot better since its more filled, yea i was planning on putting a power head i believe just 1 should be good

also i dont know if i mentioned already but im planning on getting a 75 gallon tank thats should be fun they are selling it for $450 and it comes with everything stand lights filters, do you think thats a good price since its my first time shopping for fish tanks
 
I run the blue for 12hours and run the whites for 10, so an hour of just blues morning and evening.

1 powerhead should do it, I would go for around 300-400 GPH.

$450 is a fair price for a 75 with stand and filters, of you check out Craigslist you can get some good deals. If your serious about getting a 75g you might want to consider a sump tank, better to do before you set it up...
 
I run the blue for 12hours and run the whites for 10, so an hour of just blues morning and evening.

1 powerhead should do it, I would go for around 300-400 GPH.

$450 is a fair price for a 75 with stand and filters, of you check out Craigslist you can get some good deals. If your serious about getting a 75g you might want to consider a sump tank, better to do before you set it up...

so when you say an hour a day im guessing the 10 to 12 hrs its weekly not daily?
 
also quick qest, when a little bit of water evaperates am i supposed to add fresh water or salt water and is if fresh water do i need to add any chemicals to it before i put it in ?
 
joseramentol said:
so when you say an hour a day im guessing the 10 to 12 hrs its weekly not daily?

Sorry I may have worded it wrong...

You want to run the blues for 12 hours each day (say 10am-10pm, then run the whites for ten hours each day (11am - 9pm). That way the blues are on by themselves in the morning and evening for one hour. Make sense?
 
joseramentol said:
also quick qest, when a little bit of water evaperates am i supposed to add fresh water or salt water and is if fresh water do i need to add any chemicals to it before i put it in ?

The water that evaporates is pure fresh water, this makes the remaining water in the tank become more salty. So you need to add FRESH water. Water conditioner is a must if you are using tap water, most recommend "Prime", it's a white bottle with a reddish label, you can find it at most pet stores.

You need to make sure you keep the water level at the same height to make sure your salinity is stable. You could draw a line so you have a rough idea where to top it up each day.

I have never had a tank that small so I can't tell you how much evaporation its likely to have but if you keep a cover on it (glass etc) then you will have much less. Personally I don't like to cover my tanks as I want to get a good gas exchange with the water and air, the payoff is that I have to put over a gallon a day of fresh water into my 72g. I use what's called an Auto Top Off or ATO. It is a float switch in my sump (tank below my main tank that houses filtration) and when the level drops it powers a pump from a container of FW and fills it up automatically. This makes it much easier on a bigger system and keeps the salinity stable. It is possible to rig a DIY ATO up for a cheap solution (as i have on both my tanks) but it is kind of ugly in a display tank and better suited for a sump.

Another thing, surface agitation is very important, you don't want any still water on the surface, if you have enough agitation on the surface then you don't need an airstone, which is good because all airstones do in a SW tank is create salt creep (when salt builds up on the outside of the tank and makes a mess). Also one thing worth mentioning is that you want the tank temp as close to 78 degrees as you can, if you have it hotter then that will also contribute to more unwanted evaporation.
 
Light looks cool, nice rocks too. Have you been testing the water yet? Have you began a cycle with an ammonia source?
 
Sorry I may have worded it wrong...

You want to run the blues for 12 hours each day (say 10am-10pm, then run the whites for ten hours each day (11am - 9pm). That way the blues are on by themselves in the morning and evening for one hour. Make sense?

yea makes more sense now so can i just leave it on for 10 hrs a day with both lights on without a problem and turn it off at night since its in my room?:dance:
 
Light looks cool, nice rocks too. Have you been testing the water yet? Have you began a cycle with an ammonia source?

no not yet i just built my tank on weds and i put more salt water in it today before asking the quest dummy me lol is that going to affect my cycle or not and if so how can i fix it :confused:

also what do you mean by water agitation on the top, i have 2 filters that drop water into the tank on the top so the water is constantly moving if thats what you mean?
 
joseramentol said:
yea makes more sense now so can i just leave it on for 10 hrs a day with both lights on without a problem and turn it off at night since its in my room?:dance:

Yea sure, when you have corals you should get a light timer (Walmart sells cheap ones for $10) so they get a regular day & night.
 
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