# For my first salf water tank???



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I know nothing about saltwater tank.
I am wondering if I want to start a small 10 gallon saltwater tank without breaking the bank, what would you recommend?
Do I need to have a DI/RO filter?
Do I need to buy a protein skimmer, metal halide...
i guess what I am after is what is the simplest and most economical way to set up a basic salt water tank for the first time...
Thank you.


----------



## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

What are your fish keeping habits like as it stands? Are you consistent? Details orientated? 

That will determine how much stuff you need to acquire for a small tank such as you are considering.


----------



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I am not ready to go to the dark side so to speak but I just want to try to put this little 10 gallon to use and salt water fish seems like a very interesting challenge.

However, I do nto want to spend too much money/time so I am just thinking may be to have a couple fish, some rocks and see how I like it. It is mainly for my daughter as she is always asking me if she can have a salt water fish. LOL

I still want to put my focus on the discus so I dont want to start something that would drive me crazy and becomes a chore, like a full tiem job and takes all the fun away. So far, discus has been quite easy and fun to look after as all I have to do is just water change and feed them. The planted Co2 tank also is kind of trouble free so that is good. The other low tech planted tank is my daughter's and I dont need to do nothing at all, which is awesome. 

I want to have a life but also to learn and experience salt water a bit if it makes any sense.

Thank you.


----------



## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

Being someone who started reef keepig recently. Make sure to qurantine your fish. 10% water change per week. As long as your habits are good then a nano tank wil no be a problem. My tank is currently going fallow right now (no fish) and im changing the overflow to an bean animal style. You can see my journal in my signature. No apgae problems because i have a smal skimmer and a sump. But i have had the tank run w.o the sump and skimmer for two weeks with weekly water changes . Im sure skimmer and sump will be not necessary for something that small. 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


----------



## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

Algae beater had also kept a successful nano reef. He stuck a lot of gobies in his tank as well as beautiful corals. Maybe send.him a pm. 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I have a marineland double bright led, a 10 galon with a glass top, an AC 50. Can I buy soem rock and a couple fish with some crushed coral and just mix tap water with instant ocean and sort of make it work without getting those fancy skimmer, filtration system and so on...or am I being too naive here LOL?


----------



## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

I started about 6 months ago on the salty side having kept fresh water for years. I though I could set up a 20 gallon quite cheap. Or at least cheaper than an all in one unit. In the end I was most likely a little over budget. But I'm delighted with my tank. It ultimately depends what kind of tank you want. Fish only with live rock, FOWLR. Maybe a few mushrooms or easy corals. I wouldn't jump into higher maintenance corals right away. I ran my tank for about 4 months before getting a skimmer. I don't particularly need it because I'm pretty rigid with my maintenance but with it I can now do a 10-15% water change biweekly as opposed to weekly. Keeping only fish will mean that you can get a cheap light. Remember live rock is the basis of your filtration an it can be about $7 a lb. it's recommended as a basic rule to have 1 lb per gallon. Also a 10 gallon will limit you to how many an what kind of fish you can have. 

I'm sure more experienced people here can hopefully bring a little more knowledge to the topic. But these are just some of my experiences.

Edit: I also use RO water from Walmart. About 3 dollars per 5 gallons. It's ok to start but I will be buying an RO/DI unit soon to hopefully reduce my algae a little.


----------



## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

La fish guy. They use tap. I was really shocked lol. I got a ro unit and it gives me 0ppm so i didnt need the di portion. Should start the tank with ro di as the first stages of cycling are the most important. Look up new tank and old tank syndromes 

Do nooooot use fish to cycle. They might ruin your tank.... Unless its from a trusted source with no parasites. Damsels are hardy. Yes use live rock rubble in your hob filter. Its good enough for flow. Our taps... Mmmm i would just go and buy some ro di or distilled water. Better to be safe than sorry. Our taps... For my freshwater for example. Gave me algae blooms

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


----------



## STANKYfish (Apr 21, 2011)

I have a little 14g biocube salty, and i love it. Mine is very low maintenance :lolon my behalf) but looks great. With stock lights and no skimmer i have blastos, pagoda cup, rhodactis, mushrooms and the zoas grow better in the biocube than the 210g. 
So whenever i hear that someone is looking to get their toes wet, in the salty side, I think starting with a 12-14 biocube is a wise choice. These units can found at very resonable prices, new or used and are an all in one and for extra flow a ($20) maxijet 600 could be added. Skimmers can be bought for $20. Rock 12-20lbs, $3/lb, $40. Then some patience, take this time to save some money for corals.


----------



## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

well so you want fish sand live rock ? am i correct? in my mind if you don't want coral you don't want live rock. a fish only system takes the need for a quarenteen tank away so if a fish gets sick you can treet the tank and not wory about reed safe meds so you can kick the dezeeze or parasight quickly reef safe meds dont work as well as normal fish only meds normal meds used in a reef tank will kill coral and live rock causing the amonya and nitrite spike killing the fish.for a fish only system you will need 
a 10-30 gallon tank 
heater for tank 
normal led light or pc light 
live sand 
ornaments 
bucket of salt 
hydromiter 
stand 
water and fish 
most small fish eat mysishrimp not flake or pellet food in the start
please pm me for questions  sory for my bad spelling and gramer auto correct wouldn't work lol


----------



## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

albert is the king of nano id be asking him for advice if possible. i just started my salt experience about 5-6 months ago i think and so far its been great. i have a 65 and did not run a skimmer at first but i have one now i think you can do it with whatb you have but im not sure about the l.e.d. if your interested in corals ive never had one. i would try it out but go really slow and see what works but if you are going to purchace a bunch of stuff like lights and skimmers i go for a bigger tank lets say around 40 gal


----------



## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

i disagree about your h.ob. being enough for flow id get as much as possible i have 5 pumps in my tank causing crazy flow


----------



## whatcaneyedo (Oct 31, 2012)

My first recommendation is always to buy at least one good book if you want to get into this hobby. Something that was published within the last 10 years would be good, but typically the newer the better. These forums are generally only good for people's opinions and experiences which can differ extremely. Online articles (reefkeeping.com and advancedaqaris.com) are better written than forum responses but most are too focused and don't provide a complete picture. A good book will give you a well rounded basic understanding of all of the elements of setting up and maintaining a tank. It will also save you a lot of confusion and silly question asking. 

I too started my first tank (a 20gal) on a tight budget as I was a university student at the time. The most important things I learnt as a result were to research every purchase and don't just buy cheep items. If you want to save money there are a lot of used goods available.


----------

