want to try SW!

[poppab02]

I now have a 10 gallon tank free to do what I want, and I would love to try a simple SW tank. I have heard that small SW tanks are very difficult to do, it's better to start bigger when beginning, but is it impossible to do it? I don't have room in my house for any more tanks, and SW fish are so beautiful. I was thinking damsels (cheap but very pretty!). Could it be done?

 

[CBRGuy]

There are plenty of people that have small (nano) tanks. My 20 gal requires much more work then my 90, but I have not had any problems. The thing to remember is with less water volume if something goes wrong it must be correct immediately i.e a dead fish in the water will foul up the tank fast. you should look at the JBJ nano cubes they are self contained tank that have everything you need to keep a SW tank (even some corals) HTH

 

[fishfreek]

I was thinking damsels

That should be changed to...

I was thinking damsel.

For a small tank like a 10 gal I cant avocate any more than 2 small fish. When I say small Im talking 1" to 1.5" in size each. The issue with small tanks is how fast the water conditions change. Due to evaporation the salinity will change and require daily top offs of freshwater. If not careful its easy to overfeed or over populate a small tank. Saltwater tanks have less disolved oxygen and therefor can support less fish per gal than Freshwater. If you limit your evaporation your also limiting your gas exchange so you want to promote evaporation as to maximize the amount of oxygen in the water.

Starting your first tank as a small saltwater tank is possible but it will require a bit of work. Expecially in the first few months.

Damsels whle small are also very agressive.

 

[RocketSeason]

I don't recommend a 10 gallon tank even for freshwater systems. It's simply way to small. If you have a little extra room, try for a 29H. you could easily get away with 2 Perc Clowns and some hermit crabs. Possibly even a neon Goby.

 

[srgetz]

even for 2 percula clowns (nemo), you should have at least a 20-30g...the thing is you can get these tanks so cheap now and you could always build a stand or set it on a strong dresser, etc. Keep the 10 for your qt tank, then you know, you will need sand, salt mix, filter, sw test kit, and possibly live rock and a skimmer. I guess the biggest thing is to study and plan out what would be best, but a bigger tank is so much better, IMO no fish should really be kept in a 10g for long, though others may disagree...

 

[poppab02]

Thanks for the replies guys, that's what I figured. I think I'll wait til I save enough money for a bigger tank and all the stuff that goes along with SW.