I want to start a 10 gallon FOWLR. I know very little about saltwater tanks. I know u need a refractometer to measure the salt levels and your pH, ammonia, mitrites, and nitrates always have to be in check. I have a 37 calling community fresh water tank which was upgraded from my 10 gallon. Now I want to try something different. I have a 10 gallon with LED hood, Aqueon QuietFlow 20 HOB filter, Aqueon 100 Watt heater, and some fake plants. I know in a saltwater tank u use sand not regular gravel. What else do I need besides a test kit and refractometer?? What fish are best for a beginner?
FOWLR Nano Tank
- Thread starter Kelly Wallace
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I also know that live rock helps the tank chemistry and biology. Does petsmart sell live rock or PETCO? Thats all I really have near me. I just really need advice on setting up the tank and maintaining it.
Your equipment is fine. Petco sells live rock. For your HOB filter use ceramic rings or rock rubble and some filter floss or pads before. It is much cheaper then buying the over priced cartridges.
Set equipment up
add water and salt to your target salinity
Add a small piece of live rock and let it run for a week or 2.
Then add whatever other live rock you want
Test your ammonia nitrites and nitrates
When ammonia and nitrites are 0 and nitrates are low add a few clownfish and an anemone and enjoy your tank
Set equipment up
add water and salt to your target salinity
Add a small piece of live rock and let it run for a week or 2.
Then add whatever other live rock you want
Test your ammonia nitrites and nitrates
When ammonia and nitrites are 0 and nitrates are low add a few clownfish and an anemone and enjoy your tank
Virtualbasil
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I wouldn't buy live rock from petco everyone I have seen has bad algae growth on it. You will need about 10 pounds of live rock. A hydrometer will be cheaper than a refractor eyre as you don't need the accuracy of a refractometer. You will also have to do weekly water changes since your filtration will be limited.
melypr1985
totally addicted
The idea here Kelly is, that link will give you a good working knowledge of how to get started. It should spark some new questions that you can then come back and ask. If you read the link and need clarification on something, then by all means ask it. That link is the best place to start your research at. This forum is full of wonderful people that are always willing and help, but it does pay to do some reading while asking questions.
3dees
Well-Known Member
first thing I would do is get a bigger tank. small nano's are nice but far from easy. not much water to overcome any mistakes you make and you will make mistakes. I would go with a 20gal. worry about fish after the tank is cycled. you won't be adding many to a 10 gal. anyway. the Petco live rock I see is not very nice nor is it the cheapest. you can do better on quality and cost online. there is much to learn, and no one wants to spend the day trying to answer one persons question. thus the links. they will get you started. of course your questions are always welcome, but you also need to decide what kind of tank your going for. fowlr? if a reef, what kind of coral. your equipment will be dependent on what's going in the tank. good luck.
Sounds like a fun project, for clarification FOWLR stands for Fish Only With Live Rock. It is recommended to place at least 1 lb of live rock per gallon of water the tank holds, this is very important since it is most of your biological filtration. I wouldn't recommend using ceramics(or rubble) in the filter as they tend to trap debris and leach nitrates into the system(due to the trapped debris) and since the live rock serves the same purpose, that small amount of ceramic media(or rubble)won't do much for the tank. I would instead recommend using carbon, some kind of phosphate media, and some filter floss(change weekly). I have had success managing a 10g tank personally with a hob filter with that media and weekly water changes. I would really recommend a refractometer though instead of a hydrometer, the smaller the tank the faster the salinity can change so accuracy is very important in a tank that can change levels on a daily basis. Hopefully that answered some of your questions, if you have any more questions please feel free to PM me.
James
James
Reefrookie220
Valuable Member
Stick with fresh water, if you haven't the patience to read you haven't the patience to reef, throwing someone's help back in their face is a great start. Laziness won't help your tank.
No reading gets answers like-"cycle a week or 2 then get an anemone and some clowns."
If you took the time to read those links ALL of your questions were answered. I wish you the best of luck and this IS the place to be for info, but it's not reading free.
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I think you misrepresented my statement and forgot a few steps such as waiting for ammonia and nitrites to reach 0 before adding the live stock.
Maybe you should give advice to the OP instead of rude useless remarks.
Reefrookie220
Valuable Member
Advice. Don't get bent out of shape cause your advice was at very best rudimentary, throwing an anemone in a new tank is...,well stupid.
brandon4432
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Check out my build thread so you can get an idea of what you could possibly do. Keep in mind my tank isn't 100% complete.
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/10-Gallon-Nano-Reef-build.209623/
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/10-Gallon-Nano-Reef-build.209623/
brandon4432
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Virtualbasil
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I threw a anemone in my tank once, it missed and landed on the floor ...
