My 10 gallon saltwater just turned a year old and it's doing great! Look up my recent post titled It's been a while... to see what I have in my ten (also read my signature at the bottom).
1) For SW you don't need the bio-wheel, although, in my opinion, it doesn't hurt either. Some will say that it encourages nitrate accumulation, my nitrates read zero with a filter pad, so I don't place a lot of stock in that.
Get ten lbs. of live rock, and get your fish store to sell you sand from their tanks (doesn't take a lot for a 10, and most will sell that amount). That way you will be ahead in your cycling. Also add marine Bio-Spira: it speeds cycling up tremendously.
2) My light is a 65W Satellite single tube fixture. It's reasonable for the price and allows me to grow SPS coral close to the top (green acropora). It also has a moonlight.
3) Use a glass cover. Evaporation is a big factor in a 10. Your light will cause a lot of it, and your salinity can swing if you don't control it. I took the plastic hinge off mine so there is a gap in the front and the filter cutout in the back, so convection takes care of heat buildup.
4) I have pretty strong water flow with a 200 GPH HOB (Hang On Back) filter. My corals love it. I also have a rotating powerhead for turbulence, and a second nano HOB power filter running a Hagen surface skimmer. My main filter is a Skilter 250, and incorporates a protein skimmer, but the Skilter is a piece of trash out of the box. Mine is highly modified. If you do weekly 10 or 15% water changes you don't need a skimmer, or you can get a countercurrent Berlin that may fit a 10.
5) Be prepared to monitor Salinity,Temp, Ph, Alk, Nitrites, Nitrates, and Calcium as a minimum. With a water volume this small they will want to wander off the mark. After one year my tank is very stable, but it was not at the start. Now I test only when I observe my tank and get the feeling something is not as it should be...coral growth, skimmer foam, etc.
6) Enjoy. A 10 gallon SW is a challenge. It's fun to have one that works as well as those big 150 gal tanks you see pictures of all the time. For those who tell you to start big, then go small...my ten is my first SW tank, it is challenging, and I'll never go big! What would the point be?
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SW:Equipment:10 gal 65w Satellite, mod Skilter250 + nano filter/surface skim rotating p.h. R/O unit
Occupants: yellowtailed damsel curlycue anemonae 11 nassarius 2 astreas red/green zoos green/orange/yellow zoos 3 mushroom coral candycane green acropora green star 2 colt anthelia ricordia feather duster
Hitchikers: stomatella snails burrowing clams brittle star asterina stars peanut worms bristleworms "pods"
Plants: caleurpa
FW:30 gal Amer.Cichlid
Last edited by ragc; 06-25-2006 at 08:45 PM.
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