going marine

[side19]

so i'm moving out of my house into an apartment next summer and in the process i'm doing a major over haul of all of my tanks. i'm upgrading the fish from my 20 into a 55 or larger (depends on how much money i have to spare and if my parents are so kind as to help me out), upgrading the fish from my 10 into the 20, and then hopefully turning the 10 into my first marine tank. i'm hoping i could get some advice and recommendations on what equipment i should get and some tips for curing live rock and getting the entire setup started. fish recommendations would also be great. i know it seems like a long way off but i figure i can at least get some advice and start collection the right equipment so i can set it up right after moving in. thanks

[Pufferluv09]

As for equipment, a protein skimmer is a good idea, but not totally necessary with such a small tank- you will have to do water changes more frequently without though. The live rock will be the main filtration, so make sure you get at least 10lbs. You'll want a little power head or two for water movement and/or a HOB filter (without filter media, but u can put LR rubble in it). As for curing the live rock, others may have different advice, but the way I did it was actually put it right in my tank to help cycle. It cycled in about 3 weeks, then I added some big snails to help with the algae bloom, and continued to add more ammonia source (fish food) to keep up with the cycle, and after another week I added the first fish.

[Pufferpunk]

My best advice is that the smaller the tank, the more difficult it is to keep stable parameters. You might want to rethink your 1st tank being a 10g. It will need topping off, 2x/day.

[jdak]

+1

[JoseDepacos]

Not for argument sake but I have to disagree. My first salt tank, which I still have is a 10g. It has a tight fitting glass canopy and requires no top off between weekly water changes. Water parameters stay steady and to this point I have had no issues or problems. Its very low maintenance and its inhabitants are healthy. http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/

[Brent]

That problem is easily solved with an ATO though, Jeni. I mean, as long as you don't forget to refill it!

Would salt creep potentially pose problems? Just something to think about...

[side19]

thanks for the replies everyone. i would like to do a bigger tank as i know that the larger the water volume the more stable the parims, but seeing as in the new apartment space will be tight i would like to keep it small. now i've been doing some more research and i saw a cheaper way to cycle your tank, which is getting a small amount of live rock and then the rest as "dead" rock, and then letting the organisms from the one piece of live rock colonize all of the dead rock. is this a good way to go about cycling the tank for less money, or should i just go and buy all the rock as live rock? also what skimmers would be good for a 10g? most of the ones i see are larger than the tank is.

[Pufferpunk]

Your method is slower but with the same results. Are you planning a nano reef?

[side19]

a nano reef would be nice but i'm not sure i want to jump into corals right off the bat. i'm thinking maybe a FOWLR tank ( and by FOWLR i mean 1 or 2 fish and some peppermint shrimp), but if corals aren't too hard i would love to set up a nano reef. i know they have very specific lighting needs but i'm not really sure what they are other than very specific.

[Brent]

Many zoas can do well in lower light. A macro tank, as I suggest to most everyone, would be cool for getting started in the marine world. Generally, though perhaps not for seagrasses (oar grass should be fine), they will thrive in low-ish light.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.p ... owforum=65

[JoseDepacos]

Some of the corals are less specific than you think. As for a skimmer, I dont use one in my 10g (though some manufacturers are making small ones now). I highly recommend reading the articles on nano-reef.com.