Newbie Intro.

meiamcool · 11-19-2003, 10:17 PM

Hi guys. I'm still a bit of a newbie to this whole thing even though I had one saltwater tank beofre that was nothing major but I want this one to be good. I have a 10 gallon with a single Flourescent bulb hood (the bulb is a Power Glow 15W), a Skilter 250, 1 1/2" of crushed shell substrate, 5-7 lbs of LR, and 2 blue damsels. Right now I am just trying to get the tank to start up a bit. It has been running for about 5-6 weeks and it seems to be doing great, despite a small outbreak of brown algae, which i remedied by cutting down on the time the light was on and also cutting down on the amount of food. I'm really just trying to maybe put a few small fish in and a shrimp and maybe some blue legged hermits to keep the tank clean. I also want to get some coralline growth. But I'm going to have to get a better light source and maybe some other things. I really don't know where to begin with that though. I am totally lost about supplements.
I also have another 10 gallon that I just set up today. I don't know exactly what I am going to do with it. It used to be freshwater so I haven't had the chance to buy my new filter. Any suggestions would be nice.

By the way I'm the one Whitten is helping. We just set up his minibow tonight. Looks good. Anyway, I will just sit back and take in all this knowledge that I have seen floating about.

Alice · 11-20-2003, 07:52 PM

Welcome to The Reef Tank!

In a 10 gallon you could have a couple of small blennies or gobies and a shrimp and a few hermits and snails. You'll need to get rid of the ****sels first thought, onery things. You might want to try something interesting in your tank like a pistol shrimp/goby pair. In a small tank they won't get lost and their interaction is very fun to watch.

If you're just going to do fish and no corals, the lighting you have is fine.

Welcome to the madness...pretty soon those two 10 gallons won't be enough and you'll add a 29...and then a 75...LOL

Alice

Reefdude5 · 11-20-2003, 07:55 PM

And then a 120, and then a 180....

Hi I'm Austin!

ruhspolostar · 11-20-2003, 08:16 PM

I started with a 170 and I want something bigger

Hi, I'm Adam, oops thats the first time I've said my name

Geoff · 11-20-2003, 09:29 PM

Welcome to TRT!!!

make sure to clean that filter of yours weekly. they are good at polishing water but they can be problematic if left to long between cleanings. it is really imortant the smaller the tank it.

G~

Whitten · 11-20-2003, 11:10 PM

Here are some pics of his tank for good measure.

Whitten · 11-20-2003, 11:13 PM

The live rock that is in front came from a store in Atlanta called Marine and Tropical Fish, while the one in the back ground is much like mine and came from a place locally in Auburn. Personally I would much rather drive to the ATL to get better LR than get cheap stuff like what we got and have to by good stuff on down the road.

meiamcool · 11-24-2003, 05:25 PM

Yea those pics are a few weeks old. I moved the big piece of rock to my other tank. One damsel is in Whitten's tank and the other is cycling the other 10. When Whitten gets back from break I am gonna add some more rock and start on my "cleaing crew." After I get that going I'm gonna add some more fish. I'm thinking of putting a Lionsfish in the newer 10 gal. Since I've heard they are pretty hardy and not that demanding. Give me some feed back.

tkjeffrey · 11-24-2003, 05:33 PM

First of all, WELCOME!!

Lionfish, ummm I would not reccomend in a 10 gal or even a 55 gallon. My bro has a lion in his 55 and he can barely turn around in it (he bought when it was only 4 inches now its enormous). As for tuff fish I would try a clarkii clown, I have 2 in my tank and they are the toughest fish I have ever seen!! As far as cleanup crew get a variety of snails (to cover the diff types of algae that you will have ((from diatom to green they do it all)) I myself dont like crabs but in a fish only tank go for it!! Keep that box filter clean, it will help ya out, believe me.

meiamcool · 11-24-2003, 09:12 PM

Yeah. I had heard that they grow pretty quick but the one I was eyeballing is about 3-4 inches as you said about your brothers. I've been trying to get my head straight about what to do still. It'll be after T'giving break before I do anything else. Thanks for the info.