10 Gallon Reef Tank Questions

[BallyHoe]

Hey Guys
I have a couple of questions to ask. I have a ten gallon tank that I bought with 10 pounds of LS and ten pounds of LR is this enough? Another question that I have to ask you guys is how many fish can I but in my ten gallon tank? What would be the best fish to put in the tank that are hardy? How many anemones can I put in this tank? The last question that I have to ask you guys is that I have noticed in the last couple of days my lr seems to be losing color is there any thing that I can do to get it to its original color? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
BallyHoe

[SteveN]

Is this enough for what?
One small fish, small when it reaches its full size.
A small damsel.
None.
We would need to know what the tank parameters are and what kind of lighting you have to be able to answer the last question.

[Randy V]

Let's see: a 10g with 10lb sand and 10lb rock... 10 fish, right?

Why put any fish in a 10g? Seems cruel to me. 10g makes a really nice fishless micro-reef. And if you keep it to mushies and zooanthids and parazoanthus and such, then you can get away with fairly low-cost lighting.

But if you're thinking of buying a bunch of anemonaes and clowns then you should stop and reconsider.

[SteveN]

My 10 gallon reef has no fish. Acouple of snails, a brittle syar, a couple of shrimp, and coral and rock. I like it and so do people that come visit.

[Randy V]

I love my little invert-only tank also. Why this infatuation with the "goldish in a bowl" look? How did the "clown with anemonae" get equated with saltwater tanks in the minds of the general public? I can't even look at a clown anymore without thinking plastic fish. No fault of the species just getting a little over-exposed.

[SteveN]

One of the things that really bugs me about the "goldfish in a bowl" mentality is the fact that those creatures get pretty big and can live 20-25 years. How many 20 year olds do you know with a goldfish they won at the fair 5-10 years ago?

[chromis]

Ok, be real guys. How many of you joined this hobby "for the corals"? I think we all know that new aquarists want FISH. I think you could have a few small fish in a 10 gallon providing you have adequate filtration. BallyHoe, what is your filtration? Please dont tell me all you have is live rock and sand. NO ANEMONES in a 10 gallon. Especially if youre a newbie. I have been very succesful with my 10 gallon, here is what I have learned:

Grow cauperla or gracilaria for a nutrient export:D
Stock SLOWLY
Shrimp can be alot more interesting than fish:p
Use a DSB....I refer you to Dr. Ron's forum for all DSB info
Do water changes, escpecially if you dont have a skimmer


Thats all I can think of right now.:) For good beginner fish try 3 or 4 stripe humbug damsels and if you have to try blue damsels then get an odd number(max 3).

HTH
Andrew

[ckeadle]

Hey BallyHoe welcome to the Saltwater Hobby... I too started with a 10gallon tank about 1 year ago then it moved to a 55gallon and I just bought a 100gallon this last weekend. It is a fun and addictive hobby....

I think the best thing to do is fill up your tank with water put your live sand and live rock in there and let the tank cycle. This should take a month or so. During that time READ READ READ. This board is a good reference and you will learn a ton.

One of the things that I learned about keeping such a small tank is that it is a lot harder than keeping a slightly bigger tank. The fluctuations in temperature, salinity etc. stress the fish out quite a bit. If you don't have a lot of money a good way to solve this problem is a big sump. This will give you more water in your system and less fluctuation. You can still only have a couple of small fish max even with a big sump and a 10gallon viewing space.

Tell us more about your lighting and filtration and lets see if we can't help you out. Do you have a skimmer?

[JohnL]

Hi BallyHoe, [welcome]

[moved]

[BallyHoe]

Hey Chromis
I have had my tank for about a week. I bought the tank with every thing all ready in it. My current filtration system is a Millennium 1000. I am not to sure if that is any good. I have not yet put any anemones because my tank has not finished cycling. In the current moment I have a three stripe humbug damsel and a blue damsel. The blue damsel seems to be giving the three stripe humbug damsel a hard time. Someone told me that my lighting is not strong enough for any anemones I have a 18 inch 15 watt lighting system is this enough light? What is a cauperla or gracilaria how can I start to grow them? At the current moment I don't have a protein skimmer. How much would the one I need for my tank cost? Sorry For all the stupid questions but as you said I am a newbie.
Thanx
BallyHoe

[ChrisIsBored]

BallyHoe I would give up on wanting to put an anenome in that size of a tank. I have a 10G nano myself and wouldn't even try to put an anenome in there. They require more room, I wouldn't tempt anything less than 30G's. They expell a lot of waste and in small tanks this can be hazardous to not only other occupants, but even itself.

Your lighting isn't enough to sustain a reef habitat either. Try checking out FlyingFishExpress.com, AHSupply.com, or do some searches on the board for other lighting places. You'll want a few more watts and I suspect you're probably using the stock lighting that came with the tank(kit?). In which case they're most likely just flourescent bulbs and not strong enough. Over my 10G I have 2 28W 6500K PC bulbs and 1 actinic, a total of 84W's. Everything does pretty well... IMO. You have two damsels in there already, I wouldn't tempt adding anything else. Not even another damsel. Your cycle period is usually much shorter in small tanks as well.

Protein skimmers aren't necessary, especially for such small tanks. Just make sure you do routine water changes, if you're lazy a protein skimmer would probably be a good idea then. Caulerpa is a form of macro algae. Just a bigger type of algae than the green slimy stuff. Check your local fish shop, if they don't have any(if they have reef tanks setup they probably do) then you can purchase some off ebay or find a friend on the boards to send some to you.

Good luck with the new hobby!

[Randy V]

These aren't stupid questions BallyHoe. I admire your interest in getting help and opinions from others. That together with reading good books and articles will help make you a successful reefer. Reward your current fish by not overcrowding them. You've stressed them out by using them to cycle your tank. Using fish to cycle is a good exanple of something you won't do in the future as you gain experience. There are many alternatives to using fish to cycle and it's not kind to force a fish to swim around in amonia and nitrite.

For me, the real interesting critters in the reef environ are the inverts. If the main attraction was fish I would keep fish-only tanks, not reef tanks.

[Tadashi]

I had a 12-gal (http://www.geocities.com/ktchinn/12-gal.html) for about a year. You can look at it on my web site it has since been upgraded to a 55-gal (http://www.geocities.com/ktchinn/55-gal.html) then 155-gal (http://www.geocities.com/ktchinn/155-gal.html) (wife put her foot down so I had to stop upgrading). I chose two false percs because when I read about them they usually do not stray more than 1 foot from their anemone. I choose green frilly mushrooms for their host (and luckily for me they accepted it). They would always just snuggle in the mushrooms and only swim around to chase after food.

The 12-gal (http://www.geocities.com/ktchinn/12-gal.html) gave me an extra 3" for a DSB. You can see the web site for how much rock and sand I had but I had considerably more than 10 lbs of each, but it depends on the look you want.

Definitely get a skimmer. It will save you maintenance. What is your time worth? The skimmer allowed for monthly 15% WC versus weekly 15% WC. Saves on water and salt also.

I kept a carpet anemone (4" dia) in the 12-gal for about 4 months. He grew to about 8-12" by that time (I had 4 40-watt VHO on him) and ate all the other fish in the tank (except the clowns), several cleaner shrimp, and a turbo snail. Due to his size I had to donate it to a public aquarium.

You will have some coralline death/growth when you get new LR. It is adjusting to your salinity, calcium levels, and light levels. It will grow back unless you are deficient in all areas.

[chromis]

milleniums are OK filters, I run a 2000 on my 10 gallon. Its best to get some black diamond carbon and put in a filter stocking insted of those $5 cartridges. Gracilaria and cauperla are types of macroalgae, they use nitrates to fuel their growth, removing nitrate from your water. A prizm or seaclone are probably your best bets for a cheap skimmer- $60-$70. Your tank is really to small for any anemones and keeping more than one anemone in a tank is generally a bad idea. I think you could keep some polyps of some sort, I really dont know that much about softies but I think that xenia would be fine in your tank. I beleive it needs current more then light. Any questions, just ask....


HTH
Andrew

[ReefHawk]

Thanks for asking the questions BallyHoe. I've been reefing since '95 but never really did a nano before. I put in a perc to help cycle but I had a filter on my 40gal so I used it in the nano. It along with seeded substrate and a little LR and I'm able to house corals after 4 days! The tank is still very new and experiencing some diatom bloom and the lighting I hve is not quite right....normal room light lamp in a 100w MH. No heater yet but the MH does the job there. I set a fan near it to help and of course turn the light off at night. The temp flucuates from 75 to 85 degrees. Kinda much to me but not too bad.
I want to do sps later but will need to add another MH I think and then consider cooling again.

Welcome to the hobby.

Nano Newbie...Andy or...

[BallyHoe]

Hey guys you have a lot of help. Thank you very much for all your suggestions. I think that I will probably go with the AH fixtures. I will have my brother make a custom canopy for me due to the fact that I am using a HOB filter and I am planning on buying a Sander's Picolo internal skimmer. Thanks again for all the help which you have provided me with. Once I am done with my set up I'll let you guys know how it turned out.

BallyHoe