10 Gallon Salt Water Tank

[SuperGuppyGirl]

So in my search of ways to find a cory free tank I could enjoy, I wandered into the saltwater section at a LFS. What had caught my eye were these adorable gobys. So I started some research and found that these guys were basically a saltwater version of my favorite freshie fish. So towards that I am thinking if I can squeeze in another tank of starting a small 10-15G salt with a few of the smaller gobies,a few blennies, maybe some sexy shrimp and a few of the fire fish ( I love how they look like popsicles). Online reading is very confusing, with everything from salt cycles in a day to a month, live rock dead rock, coral choices, lights to a big gah do I want to do this to myself. Stocking options alone made my eyes ccross. So please let her rip with advice and suggestions, thanks!

Edited March 10, 2013 by SuperGuppyGirl

[jeremoose]

Watching this thread with MUCH interest.

[jvision]

The key with small SW is to keep stocking levels low. The fish are way more sensitive than FW - SW environments are extremely stable, whereas FW environments are typically exactly the opposite. Over do it with Live Rock and flow and pick only a couple to a few fish for your small tank.

[Senroc]

I LOVED my 10gal salt tank. I only had a clown fish and a bi-colour damsel along with a Coral Banded Shrimp and some hermit crabs. But it was fascinating. As my interest in the hobby grew, so of course did the tanks, but the little one was by far my most successful attempt. Maybe I was over cautious with it so it seemed quite easy to take care of, but it did move with me several times and always bounced back within an hour or two after a move. I picked up a couple of nice pieces of live rock and let it cycle for 3-4 weeks. I figured I'd get bored waiting but the live rock alone was cool to watch. Little fans would pop out of the rock and wave in the current and then get disturbed and flash back into the rock, then emerge slowly. It was like watching a David Attenborough documentary I also had a couple of hitchhikers appear as well. I was lucky enough to snag a green emerald crab that was cool to watch grow from a claw that was maybe 1-2mm to a proper size crab in a few months. Once the fish went in there was of course a lot more action.

Go slow and put it somewhere where you can actually sit and watch it, even when your cycling the tank it'll be interesting.

[SuperGuppyGirl]

Hmmm going to make for some tough choices for fish, thinking I'll up it to a 15 as I tend to overstock in few. Concerning invertebrates, I realize I need a clean up crew of snails, crabs and some shrimp, do these impact the biological footprint as well? For a 15 gallon, I am looking at a hob filter say AC 30, will I need a protein skimmer or is there an add on that can be connected to a hob? I know decent live rock will be pricey especially at average pricing of 5-10 dollars a lb, but if I go live first will mean quicker cycling. Any preference for live rock and live sand? A recommendation of a live sand depth? A preferred power head for this size tank? Koralia seems to be the trend but rather buy dependable than trendy. Hydrometer or Refractometer? Another lack of input I found was do any of the saltwater fish mentioned prefer to be in shoals/schools/groups? Preferred salt mix?

Edited March 11, 2013 by SuperGuppyGirl

[jvision]

Pretty much all SW fish that we keep are suited for life in pairs. Almost all can switch sex so that there is always a pair in any given place on the reef, and pretty much any fish you're going to be looking at for your size of tank will be fine either as an individual or as a pair. If you don't want to make many costly mistakes, I highly recommend sticking to just a few fish - if one dies, another may soon follow... then the whole tank crashes and you're out a tonne of cash for livestock and time for cycling again. I know it's going to be hard, but you really should resist the impulse to over stock.

I've seen some great 10gal mini reefs with the largest Aquaclear (500, or whatever it's called now) used as a refugium to grow macroalgae. I ran one like that for quite some time. The flow was enough not to need any additional powerheads and I was able to keep some soft corals. Now, I should mention that the tank didn't last long... many people experience the same thing - it's VERY difficult to keep a small SW tank. You will inevitably NEED to upgrade to a 50gal.... which is also hard to keep b/c a 90gal doesn't take up much more floorspace, but allows for almost double the volume!!! Throw in a sump and you're off to the races!!!

On a small tank, a skimmer isn't really necessary b/c WCs will be relatively cheap... 10-25% per week until it's well established, then biweekly after that should do... if your tank is LIGHTLY STOCKED!!

I'm not sold on the deep sand bed in the tank - if I'm going to use one, I'd put it in a sump. I've heard too many horror stories of fish digging and finding a gas pocket and wiping out the tank. Put it where there won't be any disturbance. If you want to make sure you have adequate biological filtration, aim for 15-20lbs of live rock (for an ecologically friendly option, try ecoLiveRock) and a refugium to grow macroalgae. Start hanging out on CanReef - there are quite a few great Reefers in Edmonton with some great tips, and I know a few that can get a tank going on a dirt-budget (check out some of the ghetto tanks on that forum). It's also the place where you'll find consistantly good deals. Probe Kijiji and the SW shops (ask if they know of anyone getting rid of their system), as sometimes you'll find a gem of a deal there, but they seem to be few and far between.

Have fun!

[Senroc]

Not sure how much the inverts impact the tank overall but I was told the more the merrier and they'll find their natural balance based on food of course. Their pretty tiny so I doubt they'd have much of an impact. The big thing I was told was to make sure there are LOTS of shells of various sizes for them to trade up their houses. That seemed to be the biggest issue in terms of keeping them alive was suitable homes.

For a tank that size you shouldn't need a skimmer, just the usual water changes should be enough. If you end up expanding to a larger tank, say 60+ then you'd probably need to go that route. But a little 15gal should be fine with a regular filter.

Spend the money on the rock. It'll benefit you the most in the long run since in a smaller tank that's your biggest filtration system, so don't cheap out. It's an eye opener when you go to pay for it, but probably the most important purchase you'll make. I'm not sure who has the best quality rock here in Calgary, but if you go to Edmonton Aquarium Illusions is the place to go for that, and everything else actually.

I had my sand pretty much deep enough to hold the rock in place. But I don't think the depth is an exact science. Pretty much whatever your comfortable putting in. If you want 2-3" go ahead. If you want a bit less, but enough to stop everything falling over do that.

I didn't go with a powerhead in mine, just let the flow of the filter create the flow in the tank. That seemed to be enough. If you go with too much flow in a small tank you'll have a hard time keeping corals because there is too much. Also the fish will have a harder time if there is too much turbulence in the tank. Natural ocean currents are strong but not pummelling. I've found for best results a semi gentle current works best, which I achieved with the filter.

A hydrometer should be good enough to check your salt levels and after a few water changes you'll have a really good feel for if you need to just add fresh water, or a bit of salt. I liked to go a bit on the salty side since I found the corals I had seemed to do better with it. I think the hydrometers give you a sweet spot of 1.23-1.26 or something, I tended to run around .27-.28 and everything seemed really happy. But that was also Edmonton water, so maybe the chemistry was a bit different than here, so it's something you'll need to play with.

As for the schooling vs. solitary, I think all fish like a buddy. My damsel and my clown fish played together all the time, so I think it depends if you have a fish that are a similar kind of personality. You mentioned Fire Fish, beautiful fish but their a bit shyer so maybe better suited together or with a fish that is of a similar nature. Other fish that are bit more outgoing are better suited together. Also if you decide to go with gobies put extra sand in. They're diggers and like to make caves under your live rock so you don't want them to undermine and make things unstable.

[Senroc]

Oh yeah..jvision had a great point. Kijiji. Smokin deals on there. I gave a large SW tank a run when I first moved down here and I managed to get about 120lbs of rock and some amazing corals for cheap in comparison to what it was going for retail. Probably saved myself close to $1000 going that route. Plus lots of people are in and out of the hobby so you'd save a ton.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Senroc

[425nm]

Not that I'm saying this should be the first thing you try in salt water buuut:
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/updates-on-the-1-gallon-reefbowl-another-year-169607.html

I'd really recommend going for a refractometer over a hydrometer (they're shody) and weighing your salt rather than measuring by volume. This way your water change water will be off a much more consistent salinity. On the topic of salinity, I personally think that my automatic top up system is the best thing I've bought for my salt water tank. That's me though, suuuuper bad at remember to top up evap (very important in salt water, evap causes your salinity to rise which can be very hard on squishy inverts such as snails and such).

Here's a some good yotube channels for learning:
https://www.youtube.com/user/tidalgardens
https://www.youtube.com/user/mrsaltwatertank