New to the hobby

mellowchef87

Reefing newb
Hey out there everyone. I am very new to the hobby and would welcome any help or advice thrown my way. Have always wanted a marine tank and finally decided to start a 10g practice tank about a month ago. 8lb live rock with crushed coral. Penn-Plax cascade 300 internal filter, says it cycles 70gph. LEDs that came with the tank. I got a little antsy when I set up and didnt let it cycle before I added fish. Started off with 3 yellowtail blue damsels, and a clownfish. Lost the damsels, but the clownfish is still going strong. Added a small cuc of 3 hermits, a snail, and a peppermint shrimp 2 weeks ago and all the levels are evened out now. Everything looks like it is doing well. I think I will definitely be going with live sand on the next tank. Any ideas for a small addition or two good for a beginner? I want to add maybe one or two more so I can get everything down before I start a larger tank. Also the peppermint shrimp has molted in the last 24 hours. Should I take the exoskeleton out or leave it for the cuc?
 

Attachments

  • 20130411_203009[1].jpg
    20130411_203009[1].jpg
    147 KB · Views: 376
  • 20130411_202401[1].jpg
    20130411_202401[1].jpg
    147.7 KB · Views: 402
  • 20130411_203029[1].jpg
    20130411_203029[1].jpg
    138.7 KB · Views: 436
Hello and welcome to the boards! Very nice looking tank! As you stated using sand is the way to go b/c crushed coral is very hard to keep clean and becomes a nitrate factory. You also lose the ability to keep sandsifting fish. With a 10g I would leave the one clown for a while and see how that goes before adding another fish. If the shrimp molt is easy to remove you can remove it if not leaving it in there will be fine too.
 
Thanks for the advice. What about a bit more live rock? Would adding another small peice be too much or is it good to have good amount in there?
 
The general rule of thumb is at least 1-2lbs per gallon of tank capacity. So yes you can add more. Even more than the general rule. For example I have about 200lbs in my 90g tank.
 
Awesome, thanks. Its so tempting to put things in, its good to know that I can at least pu tthat in ;). I learned with losing the damsels though to not rush it anymore. I originally had a spray bar on the filter, but changed it to the flow nozzle with the air muffler a few days ago. The clown seems to like the current that is in there now. It is swimming around a lot more than it was before.
 
saltwater is different from freshwater in that the salinity cuts down on the available oxogin in the water, so you can't stock the tank like you would a fresh water tank. That being said, you could add one more peaceful (but small) fish to your set up. I might look for an invert or two as they won't hurt your stock rate, but increase the "interest." As they say "nothing fast happens well in this hobby."
 
AHHHH Crushed Coral!!! Dont do it!!!! lol From personal Experience crushed coral will cause nothing but problems. Sand is so much nicer :) And do get upset if anything happens to your tank. What I mean is in saltwater the smaller the tank, the harder it can be to handle. A small change in water chem can ravage a 10 gallon where a 55 gallon would be perfectly fine.
 
Thanks greenman, I actually was aware of that from the get go. That is actually one of the reasons I did the small tank (besides being broke when I decided to start it). I thought if I can keep a small one maintained on my first try and use a few fairly inexpensive fish to start out and learn on, then when I am ready to moove on to a bigger tank, I shouldnt have any problem maintaing that. But like i said, I am new to this, and I could be wrong in thinking like that also. If I am, please let me know. Like I said, I welcome any and all advice. Ive been doing weekly water changes to make sure that things all stay leveled out. Oh yeah, and about the crushed coral, It looks fine and all, but didnt give me the natural look I wanted, and I was unaware to begin with that there was the cleanliness issue with it. But it was cheap at the time. Live and learn :/. Cant wait to actually be able to afford to do a good sized tank.
 
So I was out in the yard today and found a rock that I had seen so many times but never actually looked at. Turns out it was an old coral skeleton. I cleaned it up and boiled it to make sure that there was nothing bad on it and used it in my scape. Made a few swim throughs and there is a small natural cave in the rock already. I think it looks pretty sweet, and everyone in the tank seems to LOVE it. Its awesome to be able to snaz the tank up for FREE! lol anyway heres the pic. What do you all think? I also flipped the rock that I found a hitchhiking mushroom on so that the little guy could get some light.
 

Attachments

  • 20130414_202446.jpg
    20130414_202446.jpg
    129 KB · Views: 285
  • 20130414_202536.jpg
    20130414_202536.jpg
    116 KB · Views: 311
  • 20130414_203806.jpg
    20130414_203806.jpg
    138 KB · Views: 288
Back
Top