Brand New to Saltwater with a 10 gallon tank. Please be NICE! lol
- Thread starter Drewdude
- Start date
- Tagged users None
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Everyone has their preference i would search on here and see what people have said and pick which one works best for you and your budget.
Jilly92
Valuable Member
Welcome! I've done a hob budget build before. I may also upload a YouTube video on budget build, not sure yet. I will be uploading how to do a water change/ mixing correctly soon. Message me If you need help/tips
monkeyCmonkeyDo
7500 Club Member
Get a $6 marine aquariun book.
D
D
monkeyCmonkeyDo
7500 Club Member
Imaexpat2
Active Member
Welcome to the forum and nice to see some 10 gallon tank love! We all love those big tanks but I have to admit over the years I have had and I have seen some absolutely eye popping smaller tanks that were works of art!
Wow where does one begin though...This aint a hobby for instant gratification. Aint no way you cycled a tank in 48 hours! Probably has a lot to do with the anemone not surviving. While pretty hardy its gonna be a rough couple of weeks for those clownfish I suspect as well but they should make it. Just not an optimal arrangement. At this point thats water under the bridge, so lets focus on what you can do going forward in a positive light!
1. Dont add anymore fish. Not right now for the next 4 weeks as you kinda got that tank maxed out for fish except for maybe 1 or 2 more smallish fish. Getting a proper cycle in right now is more important than anything else. You can cross that bridge later when the time is right.
2. Get that tank through a cycle! This will take about 3-4 weeks minimum in my experience. Yes you can buy bacteria in a bottle and add it and it will help, but its not a magic bullet. It will still take a week or two under the best of circumstances. While you water number look good for the moment they arent likely to stay that way very long. The good news, if you dont over stock or over feed the tank it will improve greatly before too long.
3. Get some clean up crew in there in the near future, maybe in a week. Longer if you can wait that long as after the cycle would be best. But since you already have fish and your feeding them it wouldnt be a bad idea to add about 2-4 snails and a couple of hermits. Your likely to have some algae build up and its best to cut this off at the pass before it can get a solid foot hold in your tank as it goes through the various coming stages of life. Many like Turbos or Atreas but I prefer Banded Trochus for several reasons.
4. Your equipment looks decent enough however since you bought a kit and its from DeathCo, I suspect you could do some upgrades unless you got the Aquaclear filter with it. If not I would later upgrade to a Aquaclear or Tidal HOB filter. That heater should be plenty good. The light seems plenty good enough to get the job at hand done. Good call on the Rock and live sand! Might want to go to a glass shop and get them to cut you a piece for a lid to minimize evaporation which in a tank that small will be a chronic on going issue tying to keep a tank that small stable. I have a 6, and 2 x 20H's and I typically drip Kalkwasser for make up water. It works pretty well for me and adds calcium and helps maintain Alk and PH as I typically drip it at night. You might not have much of a demand for these things but later you probably will. Just something to keep on your radar.
5. I wouldnt use Tap Water unless it was an emergency. The likely hood of adding things to your tank you dont want chemistry wise is pretty high. In an emergency sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. But this is a good reason to always have some fresh make up water and fresh SW on hand at all times. Its good insurance!
6. I wouldnt add anymore live stock other than clean up crew. That Anemone is best to add first and best if you wait 6-12 months for the tanks chemistry to stabilize. I would add the Anemone first as it will move around until it finds its happy spot and it doesnt care if corals are in the way it will sting them to death. If it were my tank I would add my anemone let it find its comfort spot and then add corals around it if you so desire. Make sure you put a screen over the intake or you might end up with it being sucked up by the filter and turned into "Anemone Puree" which might also result in a tank crash to boot too. I wouldnt add any corals until the tank has been stable for a couple of months for best chances of success.
7. Slow down, take it easy, be the Tortise not the Hare! SW reef tanks are a journey not a race. Enjoy the trip and the scenary. Do some serious research before you proceed, knowledge is power and power is success.
Good luck and keep on reefing!
Wow where does one begin though...This aint a hobby for instant gratification. Aint no way you cycled a tank in 48 hours! Probably has a lot to do with the anemone not surviving. While pretty hardy its gonna be a rough couple of weeks for those clownfish I suspect as well but they should make it. Just not an optimal arrangement. At this point thats water under the bridge, so lets focus on what you can do going forward in a positive light!
1. Dont add anymore fish. Not right now for the next 4 weeks as you kinda got that tank maxed out for fish except for maybe 1 or 2 more smallish fish. Getting a proper cycle in right now is more important than anything else. You can cross that bridge later when the time is right.
2. Get that tank through a cycle! This will take about 3-4 weeks minimum in my experience. Yes you can buy bacteria in a bottle and add it and it will help, but its not a magic bullet. It will still take a week or two under the best of circumstances. While you water number look good for the moment they arent likely to stay that way very long. The good news, if you dont over stock or over feed the tank it will improve greatly before too long.
3. Get some clean up crew in there in the near future, maybe in a week. Longer if you can wait that long as after the cycle would be best. But since you already have fish and your feeding them it wouldnt be a bad idea to add about 2-4 snails and a couple of hermits. Your likely to have some algae build up and its best to cut this off at the pass before it can get a solid foot hold in your tank as it goes through the various coming stages of life. Many like Turbos or Atreas but I prefer Banded Trochus for several reasons.
4. Your equipment looks decent enough however since you bought a kit and its from DeathCo, I suspect you could do some upgrades unless you got the Aquaclear filter with it. If not I would later upgrade to a Aquaclear or Tidal HOB filter. That heater should be plenty good. The light seems plenty good enough to get the job at hand done. Good call on the Rock and live sand! Might want to go to a glass shop and get them to cut you a piece for a lid to minimize evaporation which in a tank that small will be a chronic on going issue tying to keep a tank that small stable. I have a 6, and 2 x 20H's and I typically drip Kalkwasser for make up water. It works pretty well for me and adds calcium and helps maintain Alk and PH as I typically drip it at night. You might not have much of a demand for these things but later you probably will. Just something to keep on your radar.
5. I wouldnt use Tap Water unless it was an emergency. The likely hood of adding things to your tank you dont want chemistry wise is pretty high. In an emergency sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. But this is a good reason to always have some fresh make up water and fresh SW on hand at all times. Its good insurance!
6. I wouldnt add anymore live stock other than clean up crew. That Anemone is best to add first and best if you wait 6-12 months for the tanks chemistry to stabilize. I would add the Anemone first as it will move around until it finds its happy spot and it doesnt care if corals are in the way it will sting them to death. If it were my tank I would add my anemone let it find its comfort spot and then add corals around it if you so desire. Make sure you put a screen over the intake or you might end up with it being sucked up by the filter and turned into "Anemone Puree" which might also result in a tank crash to boot too. I wouldnt add any corals until the tank has been stable for a couple of months for best chances of success.
7. Slow down, take it easy, be the Tortise not the Hare! SW reef tanks are a journey not a race. Enjoy the trip and the scenary. Do some serious research before you proceed, knowledge is power and power is success.
Good luck and keep on reefing!
Imaexpat2
Active Member
Oh for power heads...depending on the corals you need to keep or want to keep you may have enough water movemnet already. I would suggest a set up I have used with great success with LPS and SPS corals and thats 2 x Koralia Nanos and the wave maker you can plug them into from the same company. There are better options available but this one is pretty cheap and works pretty well on my past tanks.
Imaexpat2
Active Member
Re: Do I need a HOB skimmer....
You dont need a skimmer in this hobby to be successful. Its a good thing generally when you can though! In a tank this small I would go skimmerless. There aint a whole lot of HOB skimmers that work all that great for a tank that small to begin with. Im sure there is one, I just havent found it yet. If there is I am sure it would be pretty pricey to add to a tank like that. I would just stick to 2-2.5 gallon water changes weekly and you should be sitting good. You shouldnt have much to worry about going that route.
For example...Im running a 20H right now with no skimmer. I am only running about 10 lbs of Live Rock, 10 lbs of Garf Grunge for substrate, Aquaclear 70 as my biological and mechanical filtration. I do a 2 gallon water change weekly. I drip Kalkwasser from a dripper system I built for all make up water to compensate for evaporation. Lighting is two Lumi-Lite Pros from Reefbrite. I have several SPS corals and a gang of LPS and Zoanthids in the tank that are thriving and growing. Now I do not have any fish in this system and I rarely feed the corals and when I do I target feed them sparingly. As such my water quality is pretty good, very consistent, lots of coralline algae growth and no unwated bad algae in the tank. Sometimes, simple is good!
You can have a very nice tank, especially a small one in this hobby and do very well without a skimmer. You just need to have a well thought out plan, equipment, moderate bio-load, be a bit stingy with the food and have a good maintenance schedule. Having an amazing SW reef tank aint all that hard, it does take a little effort and patience and its usually unforgiving when you do something really dumb without thinking it through in advance.
You dont need a skimmer in this hobby to be successful. Its a good thing generally when you can though! In a tank this small I would go skimmerless. There aint a whole lot of HOB skimmers that work all that great for a tank that small to begin with. Im sure there is one, I just havent found it yet. If there is I am sure it would be pretty pricey to add to a tank like that. I would just stick to 2-2.5 gallon water changes weekly and you should be sitting good. You shouldnt have much to worry about going that route.
For example...Im running a 20H right now with no skimmer. I am only running about 10 lbs of Live Rock, 10 lbs of Garf Grunge for substrate, Aquaclear 70 as my biological and mechanical filtration. I do a 2 gallon water change weekly. I drip Kalkwasser from a dripper system I built for all make up water to compensate for evaporation. Lighting is two Lumi-Lite Pros from Reefbrite. I have several SPS corals and a gang of LPS and Zoanthids in the tank that are thriving and growing. Now I do not have any fish in this system and I rarely feed the corals and when I do I target feed them sparingly. As such my water quality is pretty good, very consistent, lots of coralline algae growth and no unwated bad algae in the tank. Sometimes, simple is good!
You can have a very nice tank, especially a small one in this hobby and do very well without a skimmer. You just need to have a well thought out plan, equipment, moderate bio-load, be a bit stingy with the food and have a good maintenance schedule. Having an amazing SW reef tank aint all that hard, it does take a little effort and patience and its usually unforgiving when you do something really dumb without thinking it through in advance.
Drewdude
Community Member
so i dont know if this is normal or just because i have a new tank. When i look at my water from the top it looks like there is like a cloudy film on there. its not super noticeable but when i look from the bottom up i can see a big difference. Where the powerhead and hob filter break the water it looks clear but everywhere else there is like this white looking film.
Imaexpat2
Active Member
That "oil slick you see is normal although not desirable. This can be removed by using a surface skimming HOB Filter like the Tidal or by using a reef ready style tank or AIO style tank. It will also hamper your lights ability to penetrate the water to the bottom of your tank with adequate PAR depending on what corals your trying to keep.
Similar threads
