10 gallon reef tank

[Puggles]

Hello, i am new to the forums! Once i finished with my 55 gallon planted tank project, i wanted to take on the challenge of owning a saltwater tank. It has been about 2 months since owning a 10 gallon saltwater tank along with doing 20% weekly water changes. So far i have been enjoying the experience, but i would also like to see what you think and also some tips to help me along. One of the goals i had in mind was to maintain a coral and to have it bloom and grow. I also was thinking of getting a larger tank with a sump as well. 

 

Equipment 

Aquaknight 

Fluval aquaclear

Aqualife protein skimmer

Aqueon heater 

Instant ocean (will be switching over to red sea) 

Seachem prime 

Seachem stability

Reef fusion 1/2

Phyto

zoo

 

Livestock

Damsel 

2 blue legged hermit crabs 

Frag coral

 

 

 

 

[IamJoHo]

Welcome. I'm new also. Lots of info here to take in but so far everyone has been great.

[WV Reefer]

44 minutes ago, Puggles said:

Hello, i am new to the forums! Once i finished with my 55 gallon planted tank project, i wanted to take on the challenge of owning a saltwater tank. It has been about 2 months since owning a 10 gallon saltwater tank along with doing 20% weekly water changes. So far i have been enjoying the experience, but i would also like to see what you think and also some tips to help me along. One of the goals i had in mind was to maintain a coral and to have it bloom and grow. I also was thinking of getting a larger tank with a sump as well. 

 

Equipment 

Aquaknight 

Fluval aquaclear

Aqualife protein skimmer

Aqueon heater 

Instant ocean (will be switching over to red sea) 

Seachem prime 

Seachem stability

Reef fusion 1/2

Phyto

zoo

 

Livestock

Damsel 

2 blue legged hermit crabs 

Frag coral

 

 

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, IamJoHo said:

Welcome. I'm new also. Lots of info here to take in but so far everyone has been great.

Welcome to both of you. 🙂

[DreC80]

Welcome. 

 

Recommendations:

 

Keep it simple

Research

Take it slow

Use rodi water

Buy a refractometer

Have fun

 

And finally...you'll probably want to return the damsel to the lfs at some point once you decide on other fish as they can be quite mean.  Pretty sure most of us on here been there/done that with those fish.

 

Tons of people on here willing to help...so as questions come up fire away.

[IamJoHo]

30 minutes ago, DreC80 said:

And finally...you'll probably want to return the damsel to the lfs at some point once you decide on other fish as they can be quite mean.  Pretty sure most of us on here been there/done that with those fish.

Or flush them down the toilet. Kidding get a eel or something that will eat them.

[Clown79]

Welcome to nano

 

Best advice is do lots research and go slow.

 

Second best advice use rodi or distilled water, what you put into the tank really reflects on the tanks success.

 

Ask lots of specific questions.

 

 

[Puggles]

43 minutes ago, DreC80 said:

Welcome. 

 

Recommendations:

 

Keep it simple

Research

Take it slow

Use rodi water

Buy a refractometer

Have fun

 

And finally...you'll probably want to return the damsel to the lfs at some point once you decide on other fish as they can be quite mean.  Pretty sure most of us on here been there/done that with those fish.

 

Tons of people on here willing to help...so as questions come up fire away.

Whoops, i forgot to mention that I do have a refractometer. Would be kind of concerning if i didn't have one XD!  

Though i have seen a lot of tips surrounding RODI water. And i got to admit investing in an RO unit is quite expensive from what i have seen. But regardless i bet the payoff would be awesome. Though despite being aware it exists i got to admit i am not really informed at how it functions and what waste it actually removes to help out reef tanks. 

I was planning on keeping my damsel as its my first saltwater fish and an achievement that i managed to house a saltwater fish. I was planning on getting more fish once i start my other saltwater project! 

 

[Clown79]

12 minutes ago, Puggles said:

Whoops, i forgot to mention that I do have a refractometer. Would be kind of concerning if i didn't have one XD!  

Though i have seen a lot of tips surrounding RODI water. And i got to admit investing in an RO unit is quite expensive from what i have seen. But regardless i bet the payoff would be awesome. Though despite being aware it exists i got to admit i am not really informed at how it functions and what waste it actually removes to help out reef tanks. 

I was planning on keeping my damsel as its my first saltwater fish and an achievement that i managed to house a saltwater fish. I was planning on getting more fish once i start my other saltwater project! 

 

Rodi units look very intimidating.

 

They remove everything that's in tap water. Rodi and distilled are pure water.

 

Tap water consists of numerous chemicals like chlorine and chloramine amongst all sorts of other chemicals.

 

Then there are nitrates, phosphates etc etc

 The list of things found in most municipal tap water differs.

 

Most of it is not beneficial and often aids in algae growth.

The minerals alone can mess with the salt parameters.

 

Getting your municipal water report is important as it really helps determine what rodi system is needed.

 

For example,  my city water is river and well, treated with chlorine and chloramine. It's also very hard water.

 

I needed a 5 stage rodi so I can use a  chloramine carbon block to remove chloramines as regular carbon blocks don't.

 

My tds level going into the system is anywhere from 375- 475 and once it's gone through the system its 0. Pure water.

 

 

Check out brs rodi videos. They are super helpful.

 

If your water isn't as bad as mine you can go with an ro buddy.

[Puggles]

4 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Welcome to both of you. 🙂

Thankies ❤️ 

[Puggles]

2 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Rodi units look very intimidating.

 

They remove everything that's in tap water. Rodi and distilled are pure water.

 

Tap water consists of numerous chemicals like chlorine and chloramine amongst all sorts of other chemicals.

 

Then there are nitrates, phosphates etc etc

 The list of things found in most municipal tap water differs.

 

Most of it is not beneficial and often aids in algae growth.

The minerals alone can mess with the salt parameters.

 

Getting your municipal water report is important as it really helps determine what rodi system is needed.

 

For example,  my city water is river and well, treated with chlorine and chloramine. It's also very hard water.

 

I needed a 5 stage rodi so I can use a  chloramine carbon block to remove chloramines as regular carbon blocks don't.

 

My tds level going into the system is anywhere from 375- 475 and once it's gone through the system its 0. Pure water.

 

 

Check out brs rodi videos. They are super helpful.

 

If your water isn't as bad as mine you can go with an ro buddy.

So i was able to check the water quality of my home with the municipal report. Interested to see what it looks like? 

[Puggles]

3 hours ago, IamJoHo said:

Or flush them down the toilet. Kidding get a eel or something that will eat them.

XD! I have seen snowflake eels, stingrays, lionfish, and some gigantic puffers. There is so much options to choose from, but my tank is just way too tiny. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Have you heard of dwarf pea puffers? Granted, it's a FW fish, but they're perfect for a nanotank. A 10G can actually house a pair. Mine were very curious and fun to watch. Mean as hell for their size though. So if you're really keen on keeping a puffer for a small tank, you can look into those, but they're FW, not SW. I don't think there are any small puffer species that would fit comfortably in a 10G reef, unfortunately. 

[Puggles]

Interesting look at my water quality. 

[Clown79]

17 minutes ago, Puggles said:

Interesting look at my water quality. 

That's why we like using rodi or distilled.

 

Does it state what the water is treated with? Chlorine or chloramine?

[Puggles]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

That's why we like using rodi or distilled.

 

Does it state what the water is treated with? Chlorine or chloramine?

From the looks of it, chlorine. Though i am also interested with this information what type of RODI unit would i need. Looks like a ton of shit is in my water XD.

[Clown79]

17 hours ago, Puggles said:

From the looks of it, chlorine. Though i am also interested with this information what type of RODI unit would i need. Looks like a ton of shit is in my water XD.

A standard brs or spectrapure 4 stage will be enough if just chlorine is used.

 

Sediment, carbon, membrane, and di will do.

 

 

[NuisanceAlgaeCultivator]

So far so good, i also started with a 10, ocellaris clown, and an emerald crab. 1 year later and I’m on tank 3 lol.

It’s crazy addicting and the sky’s the limit, but there’s something exciting about that very first time you get things to survive in saltwater 🙂 .

Good luck!

[Puggles]

7 hours ago, Clown79 said:

A standard brs or spectrapure 4 stage will be enough if just chlorine is used.

 

Sediment, carbon, membrane, and di will do.

 

 

Thanks for letting me know! I had no clue that there was many stages with these units 😱. 

[Puggles]

2 hours ago, NuisanceAlgaeCultivator said:

So far so good, i also started with a 10, ocellaris clown, and an emerald crab. 1 year later and I’m on tank 3 lol.

It’s crazy addicting and the sky’s the limit, but there’s something exciting about that very first time you get things to survive in saltwater 🙂 .

Good luck!

Thankies! ❤️ 

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Puggles said:

Thanks for letting me know! I had no clue that there was many stages with these units 😱. 

There are lots of good videos done by brs which can help out with choosing.

[TatorTaco]

My wife only wanted 1 fish in her 10G Innovative Marine so I put an Azure Damsel.  If you plan on having more fish with a damsel, you're probably going to have a bad time, but as the only occupant, it's a gorgeous and resilient fish.  

 

Good luck!

[Puggles]

On 1/2/2019 at 12:44 PM, TatorTaco said:

My wife only wanted 1 fish in her 10G Innovative Marine so I put an Azure Damsel.  If you plan on having more fish with a damsel, you're probably going to have a bad time, but as the only occupant, it's a gorgeous and resilient fish.  

 

Good luck!

Thank you <3!

Absolutely, i have heard tons of horror stories with damsels. But as the only fish, they are pretty hardy from my experience and i think it was a good choice to start out with one. If i were to get more fish, then i think i would upgrade the size of my tank to a 29 with a good stand (which i have actually been thinking about). The only thing i want to accomplish as of right now is maintaining my parameters and having my single coral look nice. 

[Puggles]

[Puggles]

For context, the second picture was taken about month ago while the third picture was taken just now. About two days ago i did a 10% water change and started to switch salts from instant ocean to coral pro salts.