What temperature should my tank be?

[RLiu818]

I am starting a 10 gallon fish only tank that will most likely house one percula, one cleaner shrimp, and some other small peaceful fish.


What temperature do you guys recommend i set my heater at?

[Nek]

I shoot for 78-80.



Is this your first tank??

[RIVERROBSKI]

You know to do a 10 gal Fo only for your first tank is going to obe rough.You may lose alot of fish. For FO it is good to start at about 40 gal maybe.

www.robreneasreef.com

[slimytadpole]

Double Post

[slimytadpole]

I have to disagree with Riverrobski.

I think a 10 gallon coralless tank will make an excellent starter tank. Daily maintenance should take less than 5 minutes, and weekly water changes should take you less than 20 minutes.

You would have to be very negligent to loose fish in such a setup.

[RIVERROBSKI]

time will see

[Im Lon 2]

I would go bigger if you have not start setting up. Not saying it is harder than a bigger tank because this I wouldn't know. My 1st tank was and is a 10 gal. And have had no problems but I have a 15lbs of live rock that I think real helps filter my tank.

My reason for saying to go bigger is because as soon as you set this up. You are going to want a bigger tank. That’s why I'm now slowly setting up a 55 gal. reef. But in the back of my mind I keep say bigger BIGGER BIGGER.

But yes It can be done in a 10 gal. Some say it is harder than a big tank, and if that is I can't see that much I will have to change on my new setup.

Oh yeah you asked a question. I keep mine at 80°

Good Luck

[moze229]

RIVERROBSKI has a point - it is a little more difficult to keep any type of marine tank that is that small. One small change in water chemistry and the whole system is screwed because there is simply not enough water to make up for mistakes. I would not recommend this for beginners, even with FO.

On the other hand, I'm not saying that it cannot be done. If one is familiar with tank mainantence it would be fairly easy, especially with FO. Corals may provide a different story. The general concencus has always been to start with as large of a tank as possible. It's just less headache in the long run.

My .02

BTW - 78-80 degrees F should work great!

[slimytadpole]

Originally posted by moze229
RIVERROBSKI has a point - it is a little more difficult to keep any type of marine tank that is that small. One small change in water chemistry and the whole system is screwed because there is simply not enough water to make up for mistakes. I would not recommend this for beginners, even with FO.


The only possible concern with a small tank is temperature fluctuations. By putting a small fan in the hood, and not placing the tank in direct sunlight, you should have no difficulty keeping the tank at a stable temperature. But since that's how you should treat a 100 gallon tank, there's really no difference.

I don't see where all this concern is coming from for water chemistry in small tanks. What could cause such a rapid change in water chemestry? A dead fish? That's why you have a clean-up crew. A couple nassarus snails and a few worms should have no difficulty polishing off the remains of a small (2") fish. And that's about as large a fish as you would get for a tank that size, anyway.

I will concede that with a small tank, one must be that much more diligent about topping off water. But even with a 10 gallon tank, you still only have to top it off every 2-3 days. And really, if you aren't willing to spend the minute and a half it takes to do that, then you really aren't serious enough about the hobby to get a larger tank, anyway.

The 10 gallon also has a good price-tag for the beginner. No need for an RO/DI with such a small tank. 1-gallon jugs of water from the grocery store are sufficent for the task (you'll probably need 2 per week: 1 for top offs, and 1 for changes). The jugs are also more convenient than dealing with an RO/DI unit, provided you aren't moving aroung more than a few jugs (which you shouldn't be for that size of a tank). Filtration is easy, as a Penguin Mini (no bio-wheel), will provide all that you need. No expensive skimmer necessary.

The beginner can get a tank up and running with littlle $ up front, and find out if the hobby is right for them before breaking the bank. Further, if they find the hobby really isn't for them, they'll ony have to off-load a few creatures, rather than a couple dozen.

I'd always suggest someone try their hand at a nano before committing themselves to a larger tank.

[DgenR8]

This thread was about propper temperature, wasn't it?
Read this about temp and salinity:
http://rshimek.com/reef/tempsal.htm
It should help.