WTB: 10 GALLON SALTWATER SETUP...please help

[texusboy1869]

Looking to get into saltwater. I have a 10 gallon tank with light and top, just need the rest. I will catch everything in galveston i need to go in the tank...water included. Please let me know what you have and if you could show me how to set it up that would be amazing.

Thanks

Charles

[Mzungu]

Not the best idea to use water from Galveston...

I know that people could help you here, but just in case you don't know about it, have you been to MARSHReef? That's the local saltwater forum for Houston. :)

http://www.marshreef.com/

[Hanson77]

Yeah, I for sure wouldn't use the water out of Galveston...or really anything else for that matter. You can catch things like Peppermint Shrimp and some of the little gobies but thats about it. Water is cheap to buy already made from LFS's that specialize in saltwater. A ten gallon could be setup for saltwater pretty inexpensively depending on what you plan to keep. Lighting is going to be the most costly for any type of decent corals. MARSH is a good place to learn the basics. As all internet sites though, be careful and read, study, read and study some more before you make a move.

[cichlid1409]

Yeah, I for sure wouldn't use the water out of Galveston...or really anything else for that matter. You can catch things like Peppermint Shrimp and some of the little gobies but thats about it. Water is cheap to buy already made from LFS's that specialize in saltwater. A ten gallon could be setup for saltwater pretty inexpensively depending on what you plan to keep. Lighting is going to be the most costly for any type of decent corals. MARSH is a good place to learn the basics. As all internet sites though, be careful and read, study, read and study some more before you make a move.

Exactly right, on a 10 gallon you could get away with a HOB filter and no skimmer, try www.reefcentral.com for some good info too.

[semper]

I have live rock if you need any

[nacra99]

If this is your first SW tank, would suggest that you start with something a little larger. I say this because of the following

1) There's very little water quality equipment (such as skimmers) out there for a nano tank. With a 10 gal you'll have to be doing water changes every day to keep the bioload down.

2) It is hard to keep water parameters constant with such a small tank. Even if you do daily water changes, it's impossible to get the SG exactly the same each time you mix.

3) You can't keep a lot of livestock in such a small tank. Prob a couple of hermits, couple of snails and a tiny goby.

4) Any significant lighting that you'll need for coral will probably overheat such a small volume unless you have adequate cooling or ambient temperature.

5) You can't grow too much coral.. probably a couple of shrooms and zoas...

6) Rule of thumb (loosely) 1-2 lbs of Live rock per gal. 10 or 20 lbs or live rock in a 10 gal leaves practically no space for anything else.

If this is your first SW tank, i would go for at least a 29 gal will an air driven skimmer.

Best advice is to take your time and do your research. Spend at least a month reading up on everything before you start. Spend lots of times on different SW forums to get different perspective on things. Good luck!

p.s... i wouldn't use Galveston water.. its real nasty.....

[thekarens]

If this is your first SW tank, would suggest that you start with something a little larger. I say this because of the following

1) There's very little water quality equipment (such as skimmers) out there for a nano tank. With a 10 gal you'll have to be doing water changes every day to keep the bioload down.

2) It is hard to keep water parameters constant with such a small tank. Even if you do daily water changes, it's impossible to get the SG exactly the same each time you mix.

3) You can't keep a lot of livestock in such a small tank. Prob a couple of hermits, couple of snails and a tiny goby.

4) Any significant lighting that you'll need for coral will probably overheat such a small volume unless you have adequate cooling or ambient temperature.

5) You can't grow too much coral.. probably a couple of shrooms and zoas...

6) Rule of thumb (loosely) 1-2 lbs of Live rock per gal. 10 or 20 lbs or live rock in a 10 gal leaves practically no space for anything else.

If this is your first SW tank, i would go for at least a 29 gal will an air driven skimmer.

Best advice is to take your time and do your research. Spend at least a month reading up on everything before you start. Spend lots of times on different SW forums to get different perspective on things. Good luck!

p.s... i wouldn't use Galveston water.. its real nasty.....

+1 We've kept everything from a 5g salt to a 135g and by far bigger is better and much easier to maintain water quality. The 5g was a PIA.

[rage]

+1. There are very few things you can keep alive and well in a 10g.

A 10g, light, top is the cheapest thing in a salt water setup (assuming the light is a normal fluorescent lamp)

Everything else is much more expensive. If you can't afford a fair amount of $, you can't possibly keep anything worth keeping.

What do you expect to catch from Galv anyhow?