salt water in the making

Fishckabibble

Fishckabibble

Large Fish
#1
Jan 13, 2006
792
2
0
Colorado
#1
ok i have my 10 gallon tank set up and ready to begin, i have put in the black sand, have 1 powerhead, and one hob filter, i have not added the sw yet because i havent been able to get to the lfs since i have returned from vacation, so what do i do next? lol i know i will need a hydrometer, another powerhead, and i was thinking of just doing lr in the hob filter, if that can even work. so any advice for my first ever sw setup? and there is no plan on stocking yet besides possibly a few snails or a hermit.
 

M

Mushroomman

MFT Staff
#2
Jan 16, 2004
1,669
6
38
35
Syracuse, NY
#2
Live rock. Id take the media out of the hob and use it to help move around the water. Another powerhead would be good, youd want to rely on the live rock and waterflow for your filtration in that smaller sized tank, besides water changes every week preferably.

Id wait on the hermits and snails until your tank has a few more weeks under its belt.
 

Fishckabibble

Fishckabibble

Large Fish
#4
Jan 13, 2006
792
2
0
Colorado
#4
would 10 lbs of live rock be enough or would i need more? im kind of on a small budget, and thats why its gonna be a fowler tank only. i want to make sure i do this right, cuz hubby wont let me go bigger till i get a small one up and going sucsesfully., i was planning on removing the filter media, but would adding lr into the hob help aid the filtration as well? thanks for all the help in advance. i have read all the stickies, but have other things i want to know that they dont cover.
 

RockingCricket

RockingCricket

Large Fish
#5
Jul 29, 2005
443
0
16
46
Sunny Cali & Rainy England
#5
I'm fairly new to the hobby so please take anything I say with a pinch of salt (and pardon the pun ;) ).

10lbs of LR in a 10 gallon is plenty but I don't see why you would house it in your HOB filter though. Why hide it away? If you've got LR to spare then by all means load it up, but it's pretty and the fish need something to shelter in, so keep it in the display. The HOB will still be moving the water around with media in it or not. I would put carbon in the HOB to keep your water looking polished and also think about getting some kind of skimmer. If you're looking to go bigger once your confident you've got the hang on the 10 gallon (which I believe is harder to keep than a big display) then you're going to need a skimmer.

I hope I haven't confused you further.

Incidentally, a 10 gallon is considered a nano which there is a specific saltwater forum for. Not that it matters. I'm glad you came here else I wouldn't have seen your post.
 

Fishckabibble

Fishckabibble

Large Fish
#6
Jan 13, 2006
792
2
0
Colorado
#6
lol i may hav confused you, i am planning on keeping the 10 lbs of live rock inside the tank but i was asking if i could put more in the hob to aid in the filtration. i havent really thought about the fish part, i wil do that when the time comes, but after the tank is cycled i want to get a few snails and a hermit. possibly a few shrimp in place of the hermit, but that is still a while ahead.

one more question is what is the best kind of salt mix? i was looking at the kent marine salt or the coralife brand. any opinions help.
 

M

Mushroomman

MFT Staff
#7
Jan 16, 2004
1,669
6
38
35
Syracuse, NY
#7
Yes you could put small pieces in the hob, would be optimal if some light can hit it to get some more organisms growing.

As far as salt... I personally use Deep Ocean, some use Instant Ocean... some people say Tropic Marin is good stuff, but as you are going FO, getting a fancier reef salt would be pointless.
 

RockingCricket

RockingCricket

Large Fish
#8
Jul 29, 2005
443
0
16
46
Sunny Cali & Rainy England
#8
OK I understand now, although I'm still of the opinion that you arn't gaining anything by putting the LR in your filter. If you have room for it in your tank, and enough flow, it'll do exactly the same job in there leaving you with space in your HOB for any other filter media you choose to use.

Anyway, I use Coralife Salt (because it came with a free T-shirt! *laughingc ) but I think they're all pretty much the same. I've heard some people recommend Kent.
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#13
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#13
I run a 10g nano and have about 18 lbs of live rock with about 3 inch sand bed. I have a hob filter that I converted to a quasi refugium that I put the heater in to get it out of the tank. I have two powerheads but want better ones. I have charcoal in the hob that I change bi-weekly and do a minimum 10-15% water change weekly. My parameters are good and with constant water changes these should remain stable. I only have a small citron gobie in the tank as a 10g doesn't have room for much more. Inverts are a turbo snail and a couple of hermits, a few nassarius snails, a nerite snail and a very small sea cucumber which will be going to live in the 75 soon as he will be too big for the 10 (unless I upgrade which is what a seriously plan on doing soon to a 29) only thing is hubby is not aware of that yet.....hehehehe
 

You must log in or register to reply here.