Brand New to Saltwater with a 10 gallon tank. Please be NICE! lol

[Drewdude]

so i have finally decided to try my hand at saltwater tank keeping. i bought a ten gallon kit from petsmart with hang on back filter. i also purchased a power head and Nicrew light from amazon with a glass hinged lid and a 50 watt heater. I purchased two life rock and caribsea live sand. I let the tank cycle for about 2 days and purchased a pair of clown fish (ocellaris). they seem healthy though i know they are fairly hardy. I also first filled up the tank with instant ocean water. yesterday i tried to add an anemone from the store. Yes i did it wrong i only temp acclimated than dropped it in. it was moving around for awhile and then found a place to stay i woke up this morning to it dead and i netted it out the aquarium which made a giant mess.. i did about a 40% water change but i used tap water with instant ocean salt. My salinity before water change was like 33ppm and now after my water change im at about 30 ppm. i just did water test and amoniam is zero . nitrite is zero. my ph is about 7.8-8.0. but my nitrate is between 5-10 ppm. not sure what i should do next. Do i buy some chemicals to reduce nitrate level? i only feed about once a day right now to keep levels low till its completely cycled. any advice would be helpful as i would rather not drain and start all over unless i have to.. i dont know if there are other equipment i should buy? i know 10 gallon is a bad idea because its so small but its what i have to use for the moment.

 

[Peace River]

#WelcometoR2R!!! IMO you are better off waiting on the anemone for six months to a year to let the tank mature and the parameters fully stabilize. You may want to check out this YouTube series about how to set up a budget reef in a 10g tank:

 

[Jekyl]

Welcome to R2R! I As Peace River said you generally want to wait somewhere around 9 months before trying to keep one. There's no path to being able to keep one in a young tank. Probably maxed on fish and wait a month or so before trying any other corals.

 

[Drewdude]

Thanks for the advice! I wont be trying to add an anemone for a long time! Im wondering if my powerhead might be too powerful? what gph should i shoot for in my 10 gallon? the one i have is 425 but most videos ive seen they have two powerheads in there so im wondering if i need a second one?

 

[Jekyl]

2 is better so that just 1 isn't blasting away. You want enough flow so there are no dead spots, but not enough to blow sand around

 

[Drewdude]

2 is better so that just 1 isn't blasting away. You want enough flow so there are no dead spots, but not enough to blow sand around

i just worried because the box for the one i have says its for 25 gallon tanks not blowing any sand around though. but i did order two new powerhead that are the cordless ones that will be putting in tomrrow and using the one i have now to circulate my water change water. also i just notice that my glass hinged lid has a big black bar in the middle of it. not matter where i position my light bar it seems that black seam covers up one row of lights. should i just take the lid off so it can have all three rows?

 

[Theulli]

Welcome!

Just don’t say you’re putting a tang in there and everyone will be nice

Gotta say, I will defer to others but I have a 240gph pump in my 20g. Over 400 seems like a Lot.

As for lids - I would take the thing off, gas exchange is better, you won’t trap heat, and condensation won’t block your light

 

[Jekyl]

i just worried because the box for the one i have says its for 25 gallon tanks not blowing any sand around though. but i did order two new powerhead that are the cordless ones that will be putting in tomrrow and using the one i have now to circulate my water change water. also i just notice that my glass hinged lid has a big black bar in the middle of it. not matter where i position my light bar it seems that black seam covers up one row of lights. should i just take the lid off so it can have all three rows?

I don't use a lid on my tank. If I did I would probably make it from egg crate. Place your powerheads about 1/3 of the way down and pointed slightly upward to create surface agitation .

 

[Jekyl]

Which nicrew light did you get?

 

[Drewdude]

I don't use a lid on my tank. If I did I would probably make it from egg crate. Place your powerheads about 1/3 of the way down and pointed slightly upward to create surface agitation .

thanks for the help! i will take my lid off the lighting looks better without it i just was worried i needed the lid. how long do you think i should wait before i add like a cleanup crew? i was thinking off adding 3 green chromis just for a little more activity in the tank.

 

[Drewdude]

Which nicrew light did you get?

 

[Zotch]

I would suggest you stop what you are doing immediately and do some research.

 

[Drewdude]

I would suggest you stop what you are doing immediately and do some research.

could you give me a little more guidance than that?

 

[CrimsonTide]

I would wait awhile before adding anymore fish to this tank. You want it to cycle. You probably need at least a month or so for your bioload to really get established in the tank. You may also want to add some bacteria to the tank since you are cycling with fish to maybe help you along.

 

[Drewdude]

I would wait awhile before adding anymore fish to this tank. You want it to cycle. You probably need at least a month or so for your bioload to really get established in the tank. You may also want to add some bacteria to the tank since you are cycling with fish to maybe help you along.

is there a good chemical to use that adds the bacteria?

 

[CrimsonTide]

Also in the way of nitrate levels you can just do waterchanges regularly to keep the nitrate down. 5-10 is not bad most people try to be as low as possible but those numbers will not harm anything in the tank. I wouldn't add any chemicals to reduce your nitrate just do maintenance on your tank.

 

[Theulli]

is there a good chemical to use that adds the bacteria?

I like Seachem Stability. Whatever you pick, pick one and use only that one, as I have read that the different strains of bacteria can compete with each other.

 

[Cajun_Reefer]

I would wait awhile before adding anymore fish to this tank. You want it to cycle. You probably need at least a month or so for your bioload to really get established in the tank. You may also want to add some bacteria to the tank since you are cycling with fish to maybe help you along.

I second this! I would look into Dr. Tim's beneficial bacteria on Amazon! You need some kind of beneficial bacteria to help break down all the waste that your clownfish will produce. If you don't have any bacteria, their waste (ammonia) will just sky rocket and kill everything. Even if you have a filter on the tank.

Bulk Reef Supply has an awesome playlist that goes step by step of setting up a saltwater tank!

 

[Jekyl]

This will be fine for fish but will need to be upgraded for coral.

 

[CrimsonTide]

is there a good chemical to use that adds the bacteria?

You can use something call Bio-spira you can find it at like a petco. It is cheap. Dr. Tim's one and only is good as well. Some people like Stability which is made by seachem. I would suggest Bio-spira or Dr. Tim's and you can add a little stability when you do your waterchanges if you want.