Starting a 10 gallon reef

I am just now starting a 10 gallon reef tank, currently i have live sand, 6 pounds of live rock and a simple HOB filter for now and a 24 inch t5 ho

in the near future i am gonna upgrade to the following equipment

TOM mini HOB canister filter

A protein skimmer

Does anyone have any suggestions that are budget friendly to make this tank awesome.. I am looking to just house a few fish coral banded shrimp and kenya tree maybe a small frag of frogspawn.


I should be setting the tank up for cycling tonight or tomorrow.

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Personally I would forgo the canister and just get a simple HOB filter, while I am not familiar with the brand you mentioned. Also I would increase the amount of rock to aid in biological filtration.

You can make easy cheap modifications to the HOB filter to make it more efficient.

Good luck on the set-up.

 

Congrats and welcome!

I agree a canister would not be required but a good hob would be best

 

Hey post some pics I'm really interested in doing the same

 

I would buy the smallest overflow possible, get another 10 gallon tank for the sump, get some glass cut at the local hardware store for baffles, some silicone, glue it all in, buy more rock (base rock because your 6lbs of LR will seed it) some macro algae, a small light, and a return pump. Later you can add a skimmer.
Keep in mind that this whole setup could be trasfered to a larger 20 or 30 gallon tank if you want to go bigger in the future. And, if you want you can keep your HOB filter running just for good measure.
In my honest opinion, this investment will be well worth it because spending the money upfront will save you money in the end.

Oh, and I also would steer clear of canister filters. I had a Rena 4 about 5 yrs ago and it caused tons of problems. As soon as I removed it and installed my sump, all the problems went away.

Happy Reefing

 

yeah if its possible i would drill the tank and make a little sump, which would give you more water volume and make the little tank easier to care for..if not then i would go with the overflow like stated, also to give you more water volume with a sump..if not that then i would just do the hang on filter, preferably one of the aquaclears, since they are easy to mod and you can find alot of diy mods on them all over google to give you ideas on how to turn them into mini fuges..and welcome..and post as many pics as possible..

 

Welcome to 3reef.

If you decide to keep the HOB filter like some are saying, you can make a small fuge out of it pretty easily, just take out the filter media and add cheato and lr and such and add a small light over it.

 

well as you can see i have a 10 and am not using a sump... but i agree try to make one; it would really help out a lot. in the meantime i just use carbon and am planning on adding chaeto to my HOB as well with a small light.