10 gallon coral tank - where to start?

[mreider]

Hi all,

Got a 10 gallon tank sitting around, thought I'd do something with it

I want to make it a simple coral tank. Just put some nice coral in there, and MAYBE a small fish for some movement..but right now I just want some coral.

So forgive my 'noobie' questions, but where do I start?

I've heard of a setup where someone used an undergravel filter, some live sand, and then the coral and it all worked out fine.

What are some good options? What kind of coral would work well in a small setup?

Also - Do I need to cycle the tank first before adding coral?

I'm thinking basically a nice little tank with some live rock and coral.

Any tips on how and where to start would be GREAT.

Thanks!

 

[indy]

Welcome to AA. I'm running a few minutes late so these will be short. I'm not trying to be rude or abrupt.

Undergravel filters are works of the devil and should never be used in a saltwater tank, especially in any kind of reef tank.

There are a lot of corals/inverts that will be ok in a 10g, but a 10g tank is going to be a lot more work than a larger tank as such a small volume of water is very difficult to keep stable. Poor stability + corals = lots of dead things. If it's your first sw tank you'd be better off starting with a larger tank until you get the hang of things. It's not harder than fresh, there's just more of a learning curve.

All tanks need to be cycled before you introduce life into them, especially corals. Read up on fishless cycling, and really just read up on everything. There's a ton of info you'll need, a ton more you'll want, and most of it is available here.

And zooooom! I'm off.

 

[mreider]

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

I've got a good 29 gallon freshwater tank I'm running now, but I'm definitely sticking with the 10 gallon for the saltwater (i know it's risky, but I wanna do it )

What would be a low-risk coral to start with? In other words, one that I won't mind losing if it all goes haywire

 

[indy]

There's a few hundred different types of mushroom corals, and all are relatively easy to keep with good water and ok lighting. And briarium is easy and covers rockwork pretty easily.