10 galreef tank, quck question.

[Zero333]

So after doinga bunch of research and fact hungting i have decided to build a 10 gal reef tank. Reasons being, that it is less expensive then most other options I had. I do realize that since the water volume is so low that fluctuation in levels in the water will be drastic to the inhabitants, but I am willing to keep on top of it, and also i have a friend that has done this and never had any problems.
With that i have only a couple of questions for you guys. Where can i look for a light hood for this tank,, I would like to run pretty high wattage so i can have some nice anenomies and such. Also, I am going to run a HOB and a powerhead, with the power head should i connect the air-inlet hose, or just leave it out. Will the HOB airate the water enough or will the power head need to have a little bit of air in the jet also?

thanks in advance

 

[steve r]

welcome to the forum! i am also a newbie. i have learned a ton of info here since i have joined you will aslo i am sure.

what i have learned is to remove the air inlet hose. it is not useful in saltwater. it just puts littel annoying bubles in your tank.

as far as the lighting goes, try one of the sponsors of this website. i am sure you can find some lighting from one of them

good luck
steve r

 

[KMyers18]

Current USA makes a nice reef light for a 10gal. I have one on my 20gal. It comes with the lunar lights also As for the power head i dont think you need the air hose. The HOB filter is fine for airating. The power head would fill the tank with bubbles. With the Current USA light you will have about 8 watts per gal.

 

[Zero333]

thanks for the replys and i am going to look into the lights more. I was thinking about getting 2 mini-aqualights. They make 18 watts each so that would be a total of 36 watts in the tank. I need to look into Current USA light more,, 80 watts sounds nice.

Thanks

 

[KMyers18]

Yeah they have the most watts for the money. The 10gal. version has 40 watt 10k and 40watt actinic!! You could have what ever you want in that

 

[Zero333]

That light is great. I saw it on a website for 115, does that inclue the bulbs??? I guess i should be asking the seller, I would asume not though.... I really do not know much about lights.
Also, I have my tank set up now,,, just sand water and pumps. The water was cloudy for a while. Then it cleared up quite well. Now it seems as if it is clouding up again.. Is this normal. I need to run some tests I guess. Just curious here.

Thanks

 

[KMyers18]

Yeah, that is the sweet thing it does include bulbs 8O 8O As for the cloudy tank it could be a algea bloom, no worries Test would'nt hurt thoe, you could check the phosphate. 8)

 

[Zero333]

thanks for the replys and since it includes bulbs i might just have to change my order.. is there any down side to having 8 watts per gal?

thanks

 

[Zero333]

Also,,, one other quick one. I am cycleing my tank right now. I have 40LB of live sand in there right now (want a thick bed for sand critters) should i also have live rock in there too? I was told by my lfs friend that i should wait a bit before adding live rock. I was under the influence that LR would help the Cycling along,,,,, but i am not experienced at all with this. So is this correct or should i get some live rock ASAP?

 

[nodoubt471]

i second the current usa light fixture, i have one and i absoultly love it on my 10g. i think that you should have LR, it will help cycling and introduce some hitchhiker critters too. go for around 2lbs per gal.

i honestly dont htink there is something wrong with having 8 watts/gal. that just opens the spectrum of inverts you can have

good luck keep us posted!

 

[Zero333]

So you say i should have some LR in there,,, good to know, i will most likely pic some up tomorrow. Also, is it cool to have LR in there without any lighting... i would assume so. And when you say add some hitch hikers do you mean little crabs and stuff. If so, is that good for them before i am done cycling?

thanks for all the feed back

 

[nodoubt471]

it really is, youll be amazed all the neat little things you notice as the days go on- just today i realized i have little baby feather dusters all over one of my rocks.

yes by hitchhikers i mean small inverts such as crabs or snails. they will be fine if added with the LR they are very hardy.

 

[Zero333]

ok so i just got back from the LFS and i got some live rock... stuff is nice and for 7.99/lb i was not upset. It is good rock. As for lighting i just ordered the Current USA dual light. I should be getting it here by wed. Thanks for all the info so far and in a couple of weeks I will be more then happy to post up some pics.

thanks again

 

[KMyers18]

No problems that i know of with 8watts per gal. I dont think you can over light a tank..... well maybe but 8 per wont!!! Yeah you should have LR in there now cuz even if the rock is cured it may not be completly so it will spike the tank if there is any die off.

 

[KMyers18]

You will be happy wit the current light! You can turn on the lunar light and watch your nocturnal animals come out.And the look just like moon light on shallow water, very happy with mine. Good luck 8)

 

[Zero333]

ok just to add to my nubie-ness.

I picked up some live rock,, stuff looks great, got it out of a tank at the LFS that they had made over lik 10 years. Good stuff.... now here is my lame nubie question. Is there a specific way rock should be put in the tank. Due to tank size only have 3 peices in there right now,,, pretty large peices but none the less only 3. So should i have them all up against the back wall?


what do you think....

 

[revhtree]

It really depends on what kind of look you want to have. You need to take in consideration your water flow. Try to keep from having a lot of dead spots when arranging the rock. With a 10g, you need all the room you can get, so some will probably have to sit against the back wall. Did I miss somewhere where you said how many pounds of lr you purchased?

 

[Zero333]

yeh, i have 8.5lb of LR right now. I want to get some more,, like little peices but i do not want to pack the tank with too much rock.

thanks for the comments

:judo edit: I have a power head in the back right hand corner of the tank pumping the the front left bottom corner. I figure that should circulate the tank adeqately due to it being so small. Also since i put the live rock in yesterday I can allready see the water being even clearer and it was allready clear before the live rock,,, except for little algie clouds forming.

 

[KMyers18]

Well they say 1.5 - 2 lbs per gal but i think that is if you dont have any kind of filter. With a HOB 2 more lbs will be fine i have a 20 gal. with 17lbs and i like how it looks

 

[Zero333]

Ok so i have a few more questions, I figure instead of starting a new thread i will just add back onto this one. So after reading even more i see that a biowheel is not a good thing for SW, is that true? If so i will take that out with the quickness. Also, I am getting a Current USA Satellite 2X40 PC anyday now in the mail, is this a quality light?

As for everything else i am currently cycleing the tank with LR. Should this take as long as the big tanks? Or will it cycle faster?

thanks