# 10 gallong Saltwater Noob



## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

My wife wants to set up a saltwater aquarium for my son who will be turning 1 year old in April. She wants to do a clownfish "Nemo" theme, as I am sure you have heard before. Anyway, this is my trouble.

I bought a beginners kit from PetCo; tank, filter, heater. They said I could use the filter for saltwater as well as freshwater. Not sure if any of the information I got is true but that is just what I was told. I used the Real Ocean water boxes to fill my tank up with water, and I bought a bag of live sand (not the stuff you need to wash, it came in a bag that had some water already in it, i dont remember the name but I am sure you guys have a general idea of what I am talking about.

My tank has finally settled (after being murky when I added the sand) but I have these little bubbles on the tank walls. Any idea of what is going on with this?

PS. The only thing I have added in the tank is a tiki dude, and a live rock. No fish yet, I want to get the tank taken care of and in a suitable condition for my to add fish in it first.

Please help, may not be nothing, but I am a noob and I need/want as much information as I can get

Thanks in Advance!


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon. You can use Fully Cured Live Rock, and have the tank cycled in just a few days also. Other way is to use just a couple of pounds of Live Rock and the rest Macro or Dry Rock. 
#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary. 
#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads. 
#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume. Unless your tank is under 30g, in which case you can do 10% water changes a week to rid the system of detrius. But, you'll have to watch the water parameters close, if things go haywire, you'll have to do more water changes. 
#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium. 
#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish. 
#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one 
#8-Rubber kitchen gloves 
#9-Fish net 
#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets 
#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best. 
#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock. 
#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank. 
#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water. 
#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank 
#16-Heater rated for your size tank. 
#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike. 
#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash. 
#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such) 
#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 2-3" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep. 
SC Aquariums 
Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle and Cycling. Methods for Ammonia, Nitrite Removal. 
aquarium heater in Aquarium & Fish | eBay 
power heads | eBay 
NEW | eBay 
MarcoRocks Aquarium Products 
Bulk Dry Live Rock & Live Sand - Bulk Reef Supply 
Live Rock and Live Sand: Live Saltwater Aquarium Rock and Sand 
Fish & Aquarium Supplies: Marine Substrates, Sand, Crushed Coral, Live Sand 
Aquarium Lighting, Light Information; Reef & Planted, PAR, Watt, Kelvin. 
http://live-plants.com/ 
What Your Coral Needs | Successful Reef Keeping 
t-5 lighting | eBay 
cree led aquarium | eBay 
Aquarium Salt Mix: Salt for Saltwater and Freshwater Fish Aquariums 
Aquarium Water Testing: Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Reef Master Liquid Test Kit 
Reef Aquarium Care: Kent Marine Liquid Calcium Supplement 
Saltwater Aquarium Buffer: Kent Marine Superbuffer-dKH pH Buffer and Alkalinity Builder


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

Thank you for your response.

I was on my phone when I posted this, I should hae looked around more because I could have gotten the same information from one of the other threads on here.

Thanks again and sorry for the unecessary thread.


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

I read that threads are useless without pictures. Can someone take a look at this and the details that I include and let me know what you think please.










_First picture of our tank. In this picture, as you can tell, we currently only have one live rock. To fill the tank we used the ocean water that came in the 5 gallon boxes at PetCo as well as the live sand.
I will post more pictures later on, since this picture (a day or so) we have added two more live rocks, equalling out to be around 10lbs of live rock (give or take a pound) Have also added 2 peppermint shrimp, 7-10 little crabbies, and a clownfish

I would have posted a picture of what it looks like now, but I bumped something in the tank while putting in the new heater and stirred up the sand, so it's cloudy again. In the morning I will take another picture and post.

_Read more: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...ure-our-tank-picture-you-35668/#ixzz2MXofBH2q


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Looks good. Gonna need alot more rock, not necessarily Live Rock. Looks as if you'll need a power head also, as that filter won't provide much. And the filter in the long run will cause you, more than likely, issues with Nitrates. Sand bed might be a bit deep, and may cause Hydrogen Sulfide bubble issues down the road. Sorry, don't like being the bad guy. But you'll need a couple things to make a successful SW tank. But, we gots a bunch of people on here that are willing to help out, so anything you need, just give a shout.


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## RSully (Nov 22, 2012)

Sorry to ask the question but, if I'm reading this right, did you just set up your tank recently? If so, have you tested the water yet to make sure you've completed the cycle?


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

Reefing Madness said:


> Looks good. Gonna need alot more rock, not necessarily Live Rock. Looks as if you'll need a power head also, as that filter won't provide much. And the filter in the long run will cause you, more than likely, issues with Nitrates. Sand bed might be a bit deep, and may cause Hydrogen Sulfide bubble issues down the road. Sorry, don't like being the bad guy. But you'll need a couple things to make a successful SW tank. But, we gots a bunch of people on here that are willing to help out, so anything you need, just give a shout.


I don't see you being the bad guy, I need some coaching, and you gave some, sounds pretty strait forward to me . I got all of my information and equipment from Petco, by the managers suggestion. I bought the bag and he told me to use the whole thing and I did. But judging by your response I will be removing some of it tomorrow ( i work night shift and I am currently at work..."working hard or hardly working?" you be the judge) How much sand is adequate for a floor bed?

I have added more live rock, and once everything settles I will post pictures tomorrow. But thanks for the advice, hopefully what I ended up adding will suffice. What kind of rocks should I use other then live rock, I know I can't go right outside and starting adding rocks from the front yard. As for the filter, it looked as if I would need a new one or bigger one, is there one that you could suggest? I mentioned it to my wife earlier that we may need a different filter. For the Power head, what is that and could you suggest a good one of those as well?

Outside of those, is there anything else you could suggest that I would need? I want to do this right and so far it looks as if I have been getting wrong information. I have done some reading, but this past week has been busy and I didn't realize what I was getting myself into...But I am anxious and ready to learn about all of this.




RSully said:


> Sorry to ask the question but, if I'm reading this right, did you just set up your tank recently? If so, have you tested the water yet to make sure you've completed the cycle?


How long does it take for the cycle to complete? I spoke to a the manager at PetCo and he said once I set up the tank with the salt water and sand that I would be good to go within 72 hours of setting the tank up for me to start adding fish and such. 

I am guess he was wrong from the look of your post


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## RSully (Nov 22, 2012)

If you got "cured" live rock, an amount equivolent to one to one and a half pds per gallon, along with live sand, you may have been ok after 72 hours. IMO, I think you'll be fine with your sandbed the way it is. The only thing I would have done is before adding any fish/crabs/snails etc, is to stir your sandbed a couple times a day to eliminate any air pockets in the sand bed. That can help to alleviate any future problems like RM was talking about. As for the power head, just google "circulation pumps". They're a bit differant than the traditonal power head as the only function is to move water. Movement of water prevents dead spots, which helps to keep algae from growing. As for rocks, macro or live rock is what you'll want to add. You may have enough in there now but tough to call until we see a photo.

Now, if you really want piece of mind, go pick up an API Saltwater liquid master test kit. It will check amm, nitrites, nitrates and PH. amm and nitrites need to be at zero and trates preferably under 20. How's everything doing so far?

One last thing, if you can find a mom and pop lfs that deals in SW close by as opposed to the chain stores, you'll get better advice in the long run.


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

RSully said:


> If you got "cured" live rock, an amount equivolent to one to one and a half pds per gallon, along with live sand, you may have been ok after 72 hours. IMO, I think you'll be fine with your sandbed the way it is. The only thing I would have done is before adding any fish/crabs/snails etc, is to stir your sandbed a couple times a day to eliminate any air pockets in the sand bed. That can help to alleviate any future problems like RM was talking about. As for the power head, just google "circulation pumps". They're a bit differant than the traditonal power head as the only function is to move water. Movement of water prevents dead spots, which helps to keep algae from growing. As for rocks, macro or live rock is what you'll want to add. You may have enough in there now but tough to call until we see a photo.
> 
> Now, if you really want piece of mind, go pick up an API Saltwater liquid master test kit. It will check amm, nitrites, nitrates and PH. amm and nitrites need to be at zero and trates preferably under 20. How's everything doing so far?
> 
> One last thing, if you can find a mom and pop lfs that deals in SW close by as opposed to the chain stores, you'll get better advice in the long run.


If I would have know that, I would have done that as well, thank you! I imagine it would be too late to do that now though. Causing stress to the fish, and the shrimp and crabs.

I was told I wouldn't need a power head since I was not putting any coral or anemones in the tank just yet, but if it will help fight against algae and such than I can't see it being a bad idea at picking one up anyway.

When I get to the house in the morning and the tank is cleared up than I will take some pictures and show you guys what I got going on right now. As for how the tank is doing, I couldn't tell you. I have a running log wrote down at the house at off the top of my head I can't remember the readings that I am getting.

There is one mom and pop store that I found, where I got the live rocks from, but they have HORRIBLE customer service, only reason I went to PetCo. I go back in a couple of days, see if they are any better.


Now for another question of my own. Would my tank benefit from a Protein Skimmer? I keep seeing people talk about them, being that my tank is only 10 Gallons should I pick one up? I was looking at the "Skilter 250 Power Filter" or the "300GPH Aquarium Protein Skimmer Filter Pump Fish Tank Powerhead". I read that it would keep my water to where I wouldn't have to do water changes as much, or at all. Just looking for an opinion.

Thanks A LOT for the help! My wife sprung this whole Saltwater Aquarium on me because my sons birthday is coming up ( I think I already mentioned it) so...yeah...thats how that goes. So far I am having fun learning about all of this. I read that a bigger tank is better so I think we may upgrade soon and get the equipment here and there, then once I get it set to where it needs to be, transfer everything and use my 10 gallon for something else...Maybe freshwater, or a Q tank that I read about....Who knows.


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## RSully (Nov 22, 2012)

No need for a skimmer in that size tank as long as you have enough LR in there. You can also look for a product called purigen ( they cut to size for your filter) or chemipure elite (you'll want the smallest one they sell) and run one or both of those in your hang on back filter. No need to run the normal carbon filters in your HOB filter when using these and they work great. I use both but it's not neccesary.


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

RSully said:


> No need for a skimmer in that size tank as long as you have enough LR in there. You can also look for a product called purigen ( they cut to size for your filter) or chemipure elite (you'll want the smallest one they sell) and run one or both of those in your hang on back filter. No need to run the normal carbon filters in your HOB filter when using these and they work great. I use both but it's not neccesary.


Thanks, I will look them up. What does "LR" stand for?


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

This is the tank with the other live rocks that were added. I have a feeling I will be conducting a water change within the next day or so. I haven't read the levels yet because I just got home. I am about to jump in the shower but wanted to shoot these pictures on here real quick.










Looking at this rock makes me feel like I will be doing a water change. Can you guys see what is growing on the rock already? Can someone enlighten me, or do you need the readings first?










I know I was saying we got crabs, but looking at these things, I believe we got snails.










and there is the perppermint shrimp, just hanging out.

EDIT: I thought the pictures would be bigger, my apologies, I took them on my iPhone 4S


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

Alright Gentlemen, sorry for the double post.

Here are my readings

Salinity: 1.025
High Range PH: 7.8
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm

So, what does this tell you guys?


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Looks good there. Snails yup. YOu may end up with a few dead ones, you may not, with your tank going through the Nitrogen Cycle
Here is a rough idea of the Cycle your looking at.
http://www.petco.com/caresheets/fish/NitrogenCycle.pdf

LR stands for Live Rock.


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## sftydude (Mar 3, 2013)

Reefing Madness said:


> Looks good there. Snails yup. YOu may end up with a few dead ones, you may not, with your tank going through the Nitrogen Cycle
> Here is a rough idea of the Cycle your looking at.
> http://www.petco.com/caresheets/fish/NitrogenCycle.pdf
> 
> LR stands for Live Rock.


Thanks for that info! What can you tell me about my readings? My ammonia and nitrates seem to be a bit high
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Your tank is still in cycle. Those numbers can jump all over the place in a 6 weeks time span. After that, your Ammonia and Nitrites will read 0 and your safe to add fish and other critters when your Nitrates get under 40.


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

How deep is that sandbed? If it is 4" - 6", you will form a layer of anaerobic bacteria that will actually complete the Nitrogen cycle and turn those Nitrates into Nitrogen Gas (which leaves the system naturally). This is a good thing and if you grab a powerhead or two you can get rid of that filter also. Filters do the opposite of what we are trying to achieve in a Marine Aquarium, they build up excess Nitrates. There is no area on a filter that anaerobic bacteria can grow and therefore no way for the Nitrogen Cycle to change Nitrates to Nitrogen Gas.

Here is an illustration of a system that utilizes anaerobic bacteria:


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