10 Gallon Saltwater Nano Supplies?

I have the list of supplies below and I was wondering if I was missing anything. I also have some question about some of the supplies.

10 Gallon Aquarium

Instant Ocean Aquarium Salt

Instant Ocean Hydrometer

Marineland Emperor 280 Bio Wheel Filter Will this be too big for a 10 gallon? It is rated for 30-50 gallon... Would and Aqua Clear filter be better?

Power Head What would be the best commonly found kind for a 10 gallon?

Lighting It is not likley that their will be coral Just live rock, fish, and inverts what would be the best lighting? There will be a glass cover.. I would like the light to be $100 usd or less... Also how big of a light fixture for a 20" 10 gallon? The fixtures all seem to be 24" Do the fixtures come with bulbs? Would the Nova Extreme SLR T-% Saltwater work?

Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Reef Sand

Or
Nature's Ocean Premium Marine Substrates
Which one would be better? Are those sands considered live sand?

NLS (New Life Spectrum) Marine Flakes and Pellets

Stealth Pro Heater

Testing Kit

Thermometer

Live Rock

Fish

Inverts


I will eventually get a protien skimmer, another heater, and a bigger tank.

Please Help!!

For the light I'm looking at thise one
For a 20" tank should I get the 18" or 24"? Do you know how these light fixtures go on the tank?

Is there any light I can just buy from PETCO?

 

HI there,
Well the first thing you have to decide is if you are going to keep corals even if it's in the future. Reason being that the equipment will not have to be bought twice (ligthing, skimmer, etc.). If you are not going to go with corals at all, like me ;D, than the equipment you have is fine so far.

Since you are going with salt mix, I am assuming that you are going to mix your own water. If so than I would suggest a refracotmeter in lue of the hydrometer. If you decide to go with the hydrometer and it's a swing arm one, try to keep at as clean as possible. Rinse in RO water so as to disloge any salt water remaining. Reason is that after a while they tend ot give you false readings.

For filter, the 280 would be ok, but I now like the AquaClears better. I like to go with 10x the volume of water (ie, 10 gallons x10 = 100 gph). And I like to keep the water in the tank the same, thus it would need a minimum of 100 gph. Some sugggest a total water movement of 20-30 times the volume. I use 20 but devide it into the filter and powerheads.

Powerhead, I live the Hydor Koralia types. The Nano should be fine, it's rated at 260 gph I think.

The basic lighiting is fine for FOWLR tanks, 18W T8's are fine. They come standard with the aquarium kits or they can be purchased seperately.

The sand is a debateable subject. Personally I think it cost too much for what it really does. Here I will leave to your descration, as I think it makes no difference. I buy mine from a friend that owns a pet store. Not even sure what brand it is.

NSL, love that food. I feed it exclusively to all my fish, I mean all of them. I have come to love it in the past months (2-3 months). I use the 1mm pallets, Thera+A and regular ones.

Heater, I love those heaters. I would recommend minimum of 50W.

I sue the API brand, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH.

Thermometer, any kind you like as long as it gives you accurate readings. I like the old style mercury ones.

Live rock, another debateable subject. Personally I have experience that in a FOWLR tank, the minimal can be used specially in small tanks. I use 0.5 lb per inch of fish (5-10 lb). You can see my videos on youtube.com under , locoyo386 if you like to check them out.

Fish, you will be very limited to the type and size of fish you can keep. In my tanks I only keep max. (now anyways) of 3 fish. No fish 3.5" inches at full grown size. If 3.5" fish are kept, I only keep two per tank and one smaller. No more than a max total length of 10" (but it depends on the type of fish, more aggressive fish I tend to keep less). This is going to be the most debateable subject you will will encounter, well at least in my opinion anyways.

Inverts, one shrimp, about 3 hermit crabs the dwarf ones, and maybe 2-4 snails, depends on need.

My opinion is that skimmers ar not needed on FOWLR tanks, but might be needed in reef tanks, exclusive of tank size.

Ans yes, you can find the light at PETCO, Petsmart or any other place that sells aquariums. Online might cheaper thoug. Also not sure if you already have the tank, but if not they sell the kits forlike $54 at Petsmart (includes tank, lights, filter, heater; not bad price but you don't have the option of the equipment. I have the kits that wallmart sells, and so far I have no problems with them. They aer cheaper aswell, only like $39 or so, but I do not like the light hoods it comes with it.)

 

I should have added a refracotmeter to list of things I will eventually get... Also I will be getting an Aqua Clear filter instead. Thanks for your help!

Also What kid of salt do you use? I think I am going to use Oceanic Salt instead of instant ocean.

 

Oceanic is a good salt. I've used it in the past. If you want corals, I can't say enough good things about Seachem Reef. It's completely turned around a cyano problem that had been plaguing my tank for months with Red Sea salt.

Anyway, I just wanted to add that you can plan on doing weekly water changes and just not using a skimmer if you'd like. IMO most affordable nano skimmers don't work well enough to justify the cost anyway. Also, I agree that bagged live sand isn't necessary. IMO it is just a marketing gimmick, and any dry sand you add will become live eventually anyway once you get your live rock in there.

 

I will definatley be doing weekly water changes. Compared to seachem hows oceanic? I probably won't have any corals.

 

I should have added a refracotmeter to list of things I will eventually get... Also I will be getting an Aqua Clear filter instead. Thanks for your help!

Also What kid of salt do you use? I think I am going to use Oceanic Salt instead of instant ocean.

Personally I use Oceanic, it's cheaper for mo to use it. I use to buy the water premixed. I never asked what brand they used, as I used to buy it from 3 different places. I can't tell if there are any differences, thus I am assuming they all are good enough for FOWLR.

Also an AquaClear 20 or 30 should be fine. If you want to make it into a refugeum, than maybe a 50 or 70, but nt sure about that since they do pump water faster.

 

For a FOWLR tank, I wouldn't worry as much about brand of salt. Oceanic would be great, so if you can get it for a good price then go for it.

 

Well what do you think would be better... Oceanic or Instant Ocean?

 

Your choice. If it were a reef (with reef lighting) then I'd go with Oceanic for sure. For a FOWLR, I'd pick whichever brand was cheapest.