New to salt water! Any help I will get

[beenaught]

hello everyone,

I’ve owned freshwater, mainly ranchus and orandas, and decided to start a cheap 10 gallon tank. I know a lot of people here are super knowledgeable and take it very serious and I hope I don’t offend anyone in this hobby with my set up. I just did not want to spend so much money initially if it wasn’t for me. I did do some research about basic set ups and decided to go and give it a shot.

Right now I have a top fin pro hang on filter, aqua top heater, live rock and sand and a wave maker that I think is too strong. I know there’s more gadgets but I wanted to start the cycle for now.

My first question is, how do I know if the cycle is going good? What are things I should buy? What should I look out for and when do I know I’m done cycling the tank. Any information in general helps!

 

[1112-425XL]

Check out "BRS 52 weeks of reefing".
They're short videos and will answer a lot of your questions.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How did you start the cycle and when? Do you have any test kits? Even a cheap API test kit will help you get through a cycle, basically, in saltwater, we wait for ammonia to drop to zero and have some measureable nitrate, then the tank is considered cycled. Nitrite is not harmful to saltwater fish so we don't pay attention to nitrite, just make sure ammonia is zero.

I would point that powerhead upwards slightly to agitate the water surface, more agitation is always better. You might want to consider 2 smaller powerheads on either side of the tank to point them at each other to get a more random flow, instead of the one-way flow you will get with that one.

An ATO is super handy in this hobby, topping the tank off manually each day gets tedious very quickly.

Eventually you will want some good test kits, especially if you want corals, then you need alkalinity, calcium, nitrate and phosphate testers.

Looks like your off to a good start, good luck.

 

[Doctorgori]

dang can’t contribute any better than the above …
curious to see what folks add

 

[tzabor10]

I see that your filter is running and the light is on. You might want to consider turning them off. The filter is removing bacteria you want to multiply. The light will start algae growth that you will fight off later. Looking good though. What are your goals for this tank?

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

Welcome aboard

Don't worry about offending people. Just do the best you can with what you have. No matter what you do someone will be offended, just try to ignore them. Experience can be the best teacher.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I see that your filter is running and the light is on. You might want to consider turning them off. The filter is removing bacteria you want to multiply. The light will start algae growth that you will fight off later. Looking good though. What are your goals for this tank?

filters dont remove bacteria. The bacteria grows in the filters and skimmers, its sticks to surface area (hence the reason for porous rock), not free floating, so cannot be "removed"