Sounds like you're itching to visit the LFS and get some critters in there
Most soft corals will do well with your lighting. Xenia may not, it would probably like a little more light but with a 10 gallon tank being fairly shallow, you won't lose as much light intesity as with a larger tank.
I have a nano on my desk at work that has about 4 watts per gallon over it and I have
Capnella, common name Kenya Tree, star polyps, mushrooms and photo-synthetic gorgonian which are thriving in there. So, how about these to start with in your tank: some
button polyps (Zoanthids), some star polyps (brownish-pink or green) and some mushrooms of whatever color. Mushrooms come in about every color of the rainbow and do well in small tanks. If those do well, you could move up to the Colt-Capnella branching type of a coral for your big "centerpiece."
What to avoid? Anything non-
photosynthetic corals that you have to feed; with a small tank, less feeding is better, easier to maintain water quality. Avoid anything that can sting: frogspawn, bubble corals, anemones. You don't really have the light for these anyway.
Have fun and remember that corals grow so don't overcrowd the tank and go slowly to let your tank adjust to the new bioload.
HTH,
~Alice
"A BRW Original"
