Salt Water Aquariums

[FlyJumper]

I've been keeping fw tanks for the past 5 years or so and I pretty much covered every fw fish out there , and now I think I'm ready to try out a sw set-up.

To begin I need to convince my mom that sw tanks are easier care then fw's are. I've heard that the initial set-up is harder but then once you have it running it's a peace of cake.

-is this correct?

I have an 10g I used to breed in that is empty now and I thought it would make a nice home for 1 clownfish and some anemone of some sort.
Maybe overstocked?

I'd also like to know all the added accessories needed such as, filter, the peice that creates the current, and etc.

 

[@ombomb]

read the faqs

 

[ox5477]

You can read this in the FAQ's but anemone's are very hard to keep. They need a mature stable system and a constant source of hand fed foods. And, it is not guaranteed that they will host a certain clown you buy. I would recommend getting a bigger tank, atleast 30G, to start with as this gives you more lee-way in keeping the water stats stable. Also, opens up many new fish that you could keep, (I keep a clown, 2 yellow wrasses (fairy wrasse species), and a flame angel). Just food for thought.....

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, it all depends on how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go. Fish only (FO) saltwater systems and even fish only with live rock (FOWLR) can be extremely simple. It's when you start adding corals and photosynthetic invertebrates that things get tricky.

 

[FlyJumper]

After reading about the faq's I'll probably just add live rock, and try to keep it on the simpler side. Could someone suggest me a good easy to care for live rock, and or live sand.

 

[SkiFletch]

LR is all easy to care for, doesn't matter what or whom you buy it from. Just have some decent flowrate in there and it'll be fine

 

[Musho3210]

I've been keeping fw tanks for the past 5 years or so and I pretty much covered every fw fish out there , and now I think I'm ready to try out a sw set-up.

To begin I need to convince my mom that sw tanks are easier care then fw's are. I've heard that the initial set-up is harder but then once you have it running it's a peace of cake.

-is this correct?

I have an 10g I used to breed in that is empty now and I thought it would make a nice home for 1 clownfish and some anemone of some sort.
Maybe overstocked?

I'd also like to know all the added accessories needed such as, filter, the peice that creates the current, and etc.

That is neither right nor wrong, too many variables, my tank atm is a LR tank, no fish, no corals and it is so easy to take care of (well obviously) and i have a 75 gallon non CO2 medium light heavily planted tank. Now that planted tank is a PITA, saltwater is much easier to take care of.

Switch things around, a freshwater tank with some gravel and ornaments and a guppy or two vs a full blown SPS bare-bottom, calcium reactor, sump, refugium, and mandarin dragonets, moorish idols, harlequin shrimp, and large angelfish.... well the freshwater will be easier to take care of.

 

[FlyJumper]

thanks for the replies, any way I could make the aquarium as much as freshwater as I could, therefore being fw filter, etc....

Just looking at my options (if this is one)

edit- is live rock and live sand necessary?

 

[Musho3210]

no, but it is extremely useful and can help you out a lot, live sand is debateable but many people find it a waste of money since you can just get dry sand and the live rock will make the dry sand live in time.

 

[FlyJumper]

Well I'm going simple, whats the simplest marine set-up with a 10g I could do? As for adding skimmer, filter, live rock (if necessary), etc...

 

[rhysiboy]

you can dodge the skimmer and filter in a 10g. Skimmers are better for bigger tanks andfilters are pretty much only used in SW to house charcoal or Rowaphos. The live rock will do the filtering for you but will require you to get a power head - usualy for live rock aim 10 - 20 x the tanks water volumer per hour so for a ten gallon a powerhead that does 100gallons per hour (thats minimum). Also and instead of using a skimmer just do a 10 % water change weekly.

 

[FlyJumper]

sounds great, a lot less stuff than I originally planned!

Could someone suggest me a good powerhead....

and some reef friendly fish that are suitable for a 10g.

 

[WayneVT08]

a Hydor Koralia 1. It might be a bit too powerful for the 10 gallon, but cant hurt to check,

 

[SkiFletch]

Nah, go for it, a 1 works great in a 12g nano cube at my LFS, no reason it shouldn't work in a 10g

 

[Musho3210]

there not powerful since tehre flow isnt in a straight line. My hydor koralia 2 (600 gph) moved as much water as my maxi-jet 1200 (295 gph) in the tank, only the hydor gives a much smoother flow and it is more even around my tank.