I currently have a freshwater tank setup and love it! However I would love to give SW a try! I have a spare 10 gallon tank and was thinking about trying it out but had heard the smaller the SW tank the harder the maintenance is! Would maintaining a 10 gallon nano reef and just a few small fish be very difficult?? And any starting advice would be well appreciated!
new tank!
- Thread starter MatthewM
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TLTGF
Aquarium Advice Addict
It isn't the maintenance that is more difficult, it is keeping the parameters in check. In a larger tank there is "more room for error" and the system has a better buffer. Small tanks can be done, but they need more attention to the water quality, nitrates, etc.
FTMMWS
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yep,but don't let it scare you off..i've been running my sons 20 gallon,my daughters 10 gallon and my 30 gallon angler tank with aquaclear hobs for months now..My angler tank has been up for over a year..Just get into a routine and keep it..keeping a SW tank really isn't as hard as so many people think..
TLTGF
Aquarium Advice Addict
I agree with that - I was very surprised at how much my mini ocean does for itself. Great point - get a routine, stick to it, don't get cheap stuff, you should be okay.
carey
Aquarium Advice Addict
You need to pay more attention to a sw tank than a fw in my opinion. I now have a total of 9 tanks and most of them are sw. I have them from 4g up to 125g. 
Weekly water changes are a must since it';s not practical to have a skimmer on a 10g.
In my opinion a good starter tank would be a biocube or a nano cube setup. Everything is included including enough light to grow a good amount of corals and you can get more actual fish.
All you need with a cube is a heater (maybe depending on your area) and a powerhead. You still need the restof the normal sw gear though: salt, live rock, refractometer for salinity and a good quality testing kit(s). Also ro/di water is a must if you want to avoid issues later on.
Weekly water changes are a must since it';s not practical to have a skimmer on a 10g.
In my opinion a good starter tank would be a biocube or a nano cube setup. Everything is included including enough light to grow a good amount of corals and you can get more actual fish.
All you need with a cube is a heater (maybe depending on your area) and a powerhead. You still need the restof the normal sw gear though: salt, live rock, refractometer for salinity and a good quality testing kit(s). Also ro/di water is a must if you want to avoid issues later on.
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