Archivarium 2004

[SSpiro]

I am new to the SW fish tank deal, but want to pick up this hobby. SW tanks are gorgeous (not that all of you don't already know that!)

Anyway, I figured I would get a small tank to learn cycling, etc on, but I'd like to jump into the invert world and get some shrip, a hermit, few lbs of live rock, live sand, and a turbo snail, conch or two, etc..

Would a 10G tank be good enough for small population? I'm talking one shrimp, one or two conch's, one or two hermits, and a turbo. Also how much live sand should be used and how much live rock? I read somewhere the approx amount according to tank size in gallons, but can't find that info.

Also - what about filtration? Is there a protein skimmer that would fit a 10G hex tank? What about UV filter? Do I need to circulate the water?

Thanks in advance. I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I'll post as I think of them.

[SLACkra]

a 10g tank would be perfect for a invertabrate aquarium. you shouldn't need to get a protien skimmer due to the fact that invertabrates create a lot less waste than fish. also a UV filter should also not be nessesary. the best type of filtration for you would be 1 inch of live sand, some live rock(as much as you want to make it decorative and to also provide helpful biological filtration) and a powerhead or preferably to keep the tank clean a hang on the back filter like an aquaclear mini. you will also need to have a heater if you plan on keeping tropical invertabrates.

also read and research! I personally recomend reading some of the articles avaliable on this site especaily the one on fishless cycling as that is what you will want to do to cycle your tank. I personally recomend the prawn method as I used it to cycle my nano reef and it worked well.

for inhabitants just remember that if you do get hermit crabs you will have to provide lots of shells for them as they grow or else they might go homicidal on one another trying to steal shells. for your setup I personally recomend peppermint shrimp, small cool looking and they apreciate being in groups. I could easily see you being able to have 2-4 of them in your tank.

andrew
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32g planted community
7.5g Nano Reef
1 four legged wonder napper
2 winged demons

[SSpiro]

Great news.. Thank you for your input, much appreciated.

I'm going to work on obtaining the tank, heater, and powerhead/or aquaclear mini this week. Tampa Bay Salt Water is headquartered right down the road from me, so I plan on heading in there Saturday to get some rock and sand.

Between the powerhead and aquaclear mini, which one do you recommend?
Also - What would you recommend for lighting?

[SLACkra]

well powerhead simply moves the water. the aquaclear mini allows you to have some mechanical filtration to remove ditrus from the tank. I would personally go with the ac mini.

for lighting it depends on if you are going to keep any corals or anything that needs to photosynthisise. so you have to ask yourself do I want coral? I am not sure what is currently avaliable in north america in the way of lighting. some one else will probably be able to recomend something to fit your tank.

andrew
_________________
32g planted community
7.5g Nano Reef
1 four legged wonder napper
2 winged demons

[Enlighter]

Any other suggestions seing as I am thinking about doing this myself after seeing those shrimp :: ) They are stunning haha and its been ages since I have kept a SW tank. Used to have a moray tank.

Any suggestions as far as sand? And water changes, and pH levels etc etc.

[SLACkra]

[Enlighter]

And the sand also helps to keep the pH around 8.3-8.5 correct?

[Psyfalcon]