new reefer

Hey,

I have been keeping freshwater planted tanks for many years, I am currently running a 75 gallon freshwater tank with 4 x 54 watt t5ho bulbs, dosing fertilizers and using a pressurized CO2 system. The tank is doing great but I must admit I was getting a little bored with it, so when my wife suggested I start a saltwater tank (so that my kids could keep a nemo ) I jumped at the opportunity.

I started with an old 10 gallon tank that I had laying around.

Specs:

standard 10 gallon tank
20" t5ho odyssea fixture (2 x 10000 and 2 x actinics)
marineland penguin 200 HOB, retrofit as a fuge (heater/chaeto/rubble)
using RO/DI
coralife saltmix
20% weekly water change
crushed coral substrate (my first mistake haha, but I am slowly siphoning out the gravel and replacing with live sand)

Stocking:

2 tank raised percs
2 peppermint shrimp
CUC - nerites, nassarius, ceriths, dwarf ceriths,
Hitchhikers - brittle stars, bristle worms, stomatella, tons of pods

shrooms - blue, green, orange
ricordia - green, orange
GSP
Kenya tree
Zoas

Things are going pretty well right now, no issues other than I am getting a green dust algae outbreak on my gravel , mostly from overfeeding I believe. It is hard to say no to the clowns, they are like little puppies begging for food. The corals are doing ok, I just put them in a few days ago so they are still acting annoyed.

So that is all, just wanted to say hi and I look forward to learning tons on here. I already know that I will probably be upgrading to a larger tank so I will be doing a lot of research on here on how to set up a sump/fuge etc. I really would like to do a 40 breeder with a 20 long as a sump...just have to wait for the $1/gallon sale at petco

 

Welcome & it sounds like your off to a good start. Be prepared to do a fair amount of trimming on that kenya. That stuff grows crazy. I got a little piece last Monday and I sear its already grown 3/4 inch at least.

 

stocking a saltwater tank is much different than stocking freshwater, you would maybe be able to keep one clown in the 10 gallon but that would be pushing it. also i would not start with such a small tank, the bigger the tank the easier it is to keep. a small tank is very unstable. i would do at least a 29 gallon. also that gives you more of a variety of live stock. with a ten gallon your really stuck with damsels gobies or blennies. just my two cents. if you want to keep two fish in that tank i would do probably a clown goby, then a dartfish or something that swims around.

 

+1 bvb
I agree, It does sound like your on the right track but a 10 gallon is just to small for several reasons. It IS to small for the clowns as they are probably very stressed out. They may seem fine but it could all crash down fast It is also very true that the more water volume you have the more room for mistakes there are. How long has the 10G been running for? Did you cycle it? If so how did you do your cycle? What are your water parameters?

 

Thanks for the input guys

The tank was fully cycled before adding the CUC, it went through another mini cycle and then I added the clowns individually. I agree that the clowns are right at the edge and this is the smallest tank that they could be in. I spent alot of time at nano-reef.com doing alot of research before stocking this tank. It is not uncommon to keep pairs of tank raised percs in 10 gallon tanks as they are generally smaller and hardier.

I started with 1 in the tank and he did not look very happy, he stayed in the top of the tank, but as soon as I added the other one, he perked right up. They paired off immediately and are looking very healthy and energetic. But ofcourse, I will keep a watchful eye on them, if their demeanor changes as they grow then I will move them.

I am fairly meticulous with water quality in general, maintaining my freshwater tank involves alot of testing because I am dosing nitrates and phosphates as fertilizers and maintaining 30 ppm of CO2. This tank is definitely not a set it and forget type tank and requires constant maintanance so I am not too concerned with being able to maintain this 10 gallon. I tend to be obsessive about these sorts of things, so I believe it should be ok. It seems like with the nano reefs, that if you start to neglect it it can crash very quickly, but if you keep on top of it than things should be ok. Also I only plan on keeping softies and shrooms etc so they do not need spotless water to begin with (like sps/lps).

 

you cant compare freshwater to saltwater, you may have kept your tanks in check for freshwater but saltwater is a different world, with different chemicals and minerals and such that you need to test for. a reef is a very stable environment one of the most stable on the planet. and if you cant perfectly replicate that in an aquarium you wont have success. you need to do probably 2 water changes a week. also that tank is overstocked. it doesnt matter if they are tank raised they still need the same care as wild caught. i would suggest upgrading to at least a 20 that will be enough for the clowns. but like i said the bigger the better. many people however on this site do have nanos and picos but they are very experienced aquarists. it is just not reccomended for a first time reefer. but you never know.
now aside from all that WELCOME TO 3 REEF! this is a great site and people will certainly get you the info you need.

 

thanks for the tips, I appreciate your concern and I will probably move the clowns into the larger tank once it is set up.

I absolutely understand the difficulties associated with a nano as a first tank and I look forward to the challenges of maintaining this tank! I plan on starting a tank thread once I figure out how to take pics of reef tanks, so I look forward to having your advice to help me along on my journey

 

if your up for the challenge and dont slack on water changes the tank will be very healthy, one benefit of a small tank is it is way cheaper in the long run with lighting coral filtration etc.

 

Yeah, I wanted to start smaller for several reasons:

1) being my first tank, I didn't want to spend upward of a $1000 on a 30 gallon reef only to find out that I don't enjoy it
2) use it as a learning experience...if I am successful at keeping the smaller tank, a larger one in the future should be a piece of cake haha
3)I will be moving in about 6 months so I figured it will be much easier to move this one

I am shocked at the cost of stocking a saltwater tank, it is not for the faint of heart. I have spent close to $200 just on livestock and it still looks kind of bare!

 

i know how you feel, i guess its for the best imagine filling up a 125 with live stock. im talking thousands of dollars! its much pricier than freshwater with the rare delicate fish being less than 20 bucks. haha. good luck with the tank and post some pics as soon as possible