need some opinions...

[v_dubb_it_up]

I'm new to marine setups, but not to fish keeping in general. I am 19 and have successfully kept freshwater fish in tanks of various sizes, 33 gallon being the largest, since I was 11 years old. A salt water setup has been tempting me since I got into fish, but I have just never had enough money to fund the project. Anyway, I finally am financially stable enough to start with a smaller marine setup. I have purchased most things (I think) that I may need. I'm starting with a 10 g setup. I purchased the whole setup from the guy I buy all my freshwater supplies/livestock from. He was nice enough to leave some water, sand, and about 1 1/2 pounds of live rock (which also included about 5 or so hermits) from his setup that he later moved into a larger tank. The setup came with stand, glass 10 g tank, brand new canopy, 2 mini compact 50/50 bulbs, hang-on filter/pump, 75 w heater, and free salt. I set it up as soon as I brought it home. All my hermits seem to be doing well, and water quality is surprisingly good for only being set up for a day or so. Must be because of the rocks/sand.water that was left in the tank from the previous setup. Anyway, my biggest question is how long should I wait to introduce new invertabrae like crabs, shrimp, snails, ect.? Will I have to wait as long even though there was things left over from the previous setup? the hermits that appeared after I set everything up seem to be doing very well, so I don't know. Also, I plan to eventually add some coral to the tank, and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 50/50 bulbs. The previous setup that was in the tank before I bought it seemed to do alright with it. Also, any other tips that are specific to marine setups would be great. Thanks

[Gimpster]

Can you provide any specific details on the lights (Age, Wattage), the Filter/Pump ( Brand and Model) etc. You will need to add more live rock as you will want between 10lbs and 20lbs of it in a 10g. Also what are your current water specs? That tank may go though a small cycle even though all the contents where from an established reef.

 

For my first reef, I purched an already established reef, over a year old. I when through a small cycle after getting it home. I also had a little die back of some of the soft corals. It is now a year later and I have moved it in to a 20L after it started crashing, due to a casulty and nutrient build up in the sand bed. Since moving it most of my soft corals have died back, because the lights are old, their spectum has shifted and they are not farther away from the tank.

 

The rest of the tank is doing well, the two fish are healty and happy, I have loads of Coraline Algea growth and my population of little Brittle Stars is growing rapidly. I still have things to do before I am ready to start thinking about corals again.

 

My best advice is to take it slow, get the envirnment stable & learn the ins and outs of keeping it there, before you start to add expensive senitive critters. Oh and Read, Read, Read and Read some more. You can never know enough.

 

Rember you need to privide the basics, nature will pertty much take car of the rest. Good water at the right tempture and salinity, water movemnt, light, filtration (Live Rock, Live Sand, Protien Skimming and or Refugium) and food.

[v_dubb_it_up]

The lighting is only 10 watts, 2 bulbs. But each bulb has two fluerescent tubes, not an incandescent bulb. One tube on each bulb is for 50% 10,000 k daylight, and the second tube on each bulb is Actinic 03 Blue. The box also says that the 10 watt bulbs I have are equivelent to 50 watt incandescent bulbs. My pet store guy has had no problems with them, just wondering if anyone else has as there are a million different opinions on lighting. And I was gonna buy a whole new lighting setup from him, so it's not like he was telling me the bulbs are good so I would buy them as the new lighting setup would have at the very least tripled the cost of the bulbs. Anyway, I realize I need more live rock. I figure 10 lbs should be plenty though, 20 may be a little excessive for the size of the tank as I plan on keeping a few fish as well. Also, ph, salinity, ect. all seem to be running good. If all stays well for the next few days, I am slowly gonna begin adding my cleaner crew and see how they do as my current hermits seem to be thriving. I'm not sure the specs of the filtration unit, but it moves enough water, though the current is not overly strong. Also, I have heard I can get away without a skimmer, especially in a tank of this capacity as long as I have plenty of cleaners (snails, crabs, ect.) and some descent quality live rock and do 5-10% water changes every week. If anyone can back this up it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for helping a noob!

[geekreef_05]

Filteration

You can definately do without a skimmer if you keep up the water changes (generally 10% a week).

 

Critters

As for adding critters, my advice is to add the LR before moving on; this is because the LR may begin a cycle which is common to new tanks. During this period of cycling your Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate will spike one by one; these levels maybe toxic and deadly to the life in your tank. Add the critters after the cycle is complete.

 

Lighting

Sounds like you've got the coralife mini 50/50 lights. They're great lights for a fish-only tank, but I dont think you'll be able to support any coral with those. In order to create a reef of any kind, you'll have to upgrade your lighting. Your lighting requires more output and intensity for coral. Your pushing 2watts/gallon; Ive got 4watts/gallon and my low light corals yearn for an upgrade. Anyway, my advice is to do more research on the subject to see what you can find out!

[v_dubb_it_up]

the guy I bought it from ran one single coralife mini 10 watt and he had a few soft corals ect. with out any problems (that I know of). Does anyone have any experience first hand? I will take into account I may need to upgrade lighting, but if possible I would like to stick with these bulbs. The aquarium store owner who I bought the setup swears by them. But I do not want to eventually introduce some types of coral and have them fade away on me. Also, the lights are easily if not more intense than any other setup I have come accross.

[geekreef_05]

...I dont know about that dude...

Im running 2x20watt coralife mini PC 50/50 bulbs over my nano (same as yours, twice the watts). I have some low-light corals including some shrooms and polyps. BUT, they're not by any means stunning specimens of coral. They yearn for more light; my polpys and shrooms both seem to 'reach for the sky' as they definately need more intense light. I'll be upgrading to MH's this summer but until then I would never subject any other softies to that low light.

 

happy reefin'

 

PS. Dont trust anyone from your local fish store; most times they're full of shady advice.

[v_dubb_it_up]

well I guess an upgrade is inevitable. Also, I trust this particular guy because I have been buying from him for a few years and he gives me deals. As I said, he had the tank successfully running with corals, but they may not have lasted in the long term, I don't know. Might as well upgrade just to be safe. What would be a descent setup for my 10 g that won't break the bank?

[janasleah]

For comparison, I have a 5g with 26w of 50/50's, and I'm thinking I'll need to add another fixture to the hood. I plan to only keep softies: zoas, mushrooms, ricordeas, etc. I can tell my zoos (I don't have many yet) want more light, though. I think some folks w/10g tanks go with the Coralife 96w Powerquad. It is sort of pricey, but it fits perfectly and it's enough light for a reasonable amount of corals...but NOT anemones....