First saltwater tank

[Cohenjl13]

Good afternoon!

I have a 9g Fluval Flex that was recently ceaned out and is now empty. I wanted to take this opportunity to jumped into my first saltwater tank. My plan is use sand/crushed coral substrate with a live rock set up and only a couple friends, like a Blenny, Snail, Crab or Shrimper and maybe 2 Banggai Caridinals.

(I have been in the planted tank hobby for about 4 years now with tanks ranging from 5g to 110, so I know all the basics)

Couple questions off the top of my head are:

If I have a stable live rock formations do I need to gone them together just in case?

Is this an okay stock for a 9g.

How much of a leap is it to add coral frags, I don't know how they work with bioload and feedings.

I will have the tank cycle for a month or however long it needs, but I do plan on introducting Scuds while it cycles to help build a base for the Blenny to hunt food. Any and all advice would be great, thanks in advance.

[Sniperhank]

There isn't any reason to glue your rock. I have never secured my rock and have only ever had minimal settling of the rock. I just make sure that the sand goes in after the rock to help secure things.

The only issue with your plan is the size and stocking. These small tanks struggle due to their size. I'd suggest checking out the nano section on liveaquaria to get a good idea on what will be ok to stock it.

For coral, they have pretty much 0 bioload. If it is only photosynthetic corals, which I would recommend staying to this, you could easily get away with a PAR38 bulb probably. The non photosynthetic corals will need fed, but these foods easily foul up the water column. This will lead you quickly towards a tank crash.

Just cycle the tank. Don't worry about adding anything, just let nature do its thing.

[Cohenjl13]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

There isn't any reason to glue your rock. I have never secured my rock and have only ever had minimal settling of the rock. I just make sure that the sand goes in after the rock to help secure things.

The only issue with your plan is the size and stocking. These small tanks struggle due to their size. I'd suggest checking out the nano section on liveaquaria to get a good idea on what will be ok to stock it.

For coral, they have pretty much 0 bioload. If it is only photosynthetic corals, which I would recommend staying to this, you could easily get away with a PAR38 bulb probably. The non photosynthetic corals will need fed, but these foods easily foul up the water column. This will lead you quickly towards a tank crash.

Just cycle the tank. Don't worry about adding anything, just let nature do its thing.

Awesome ok thanks, how do I measure how much current there is? Right now the pump with the system is small but food enough for freshwater.

Should I try and upgrade it, how will I know if it's too much?

[Sniperhank]

It varies from system to system and the type of corals you are planning on keeping. Reef tanks go anywhere from 10 to 50x turnover of the size of the tank, with the higher end being for SPS dominant reefs.