Switching to the darkside.

MarlboroMan

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Nov 9, 2005
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I am converting my 10 gallon to a saltwater tank. It is currently a planted, but I will remove everything and give it to some friends.

So far it is only the tank, a decent heater, and 18w compacts (blue and white combo).

Is that enough lighting for anenome and clown fish? Can any inverts be mixed with clowns and anenome in a 10 gallon? Or if clowns are too large for a 10 gallon, I'd stick to live rock and inverts.
 

Danyal

Gambusia
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Nov 26, 2006
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you don't have enough light for an anemone, upgrade to 2x36w or 1x96w and you would. several inverts can be put in with clowns, which ones are you thinking of? if you want clowns then go for the perculas, false-percs or ocellaris clowns as they are the smallest ones, most other clowns will get to big.
 

MarlboroMan

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Nov 9, 2005
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Well, lights I will buy. 96 watts for a 10 gallon? Overkill no? I was thinking around 4 watts per gallon if anything...

As for inverts, I know very little about species. I live in southern california and in reach of 1000's of stores, finding something won't be hard, just need someone to help me out with a species that works with anenomes and clown fish.

This is a tank that sits on my kitchen bar stand so it will looked at a lot, so I just wanted a nice looking 10 gallon I could work on.
 

Danyal

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 26, 2006
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don't worry about overlighting the tank, i've seen a guy w/ a 20k 400w MH over a 15g. over on nano-reef.com there are several guys with 70w and 150w MHs over their 10g. the 96w quad compact is an 18" bulb that will fit nicely over a 10g, granted it will get hot and isn't the most efficent bulb but it works. with the lighting levels you need for an anemone you might as well throw in some corals. clowns don't even need to host in anemones though so you could just stick with your currrent lighting and get some frogspawn or other feathery coral that they could host in and even those aren't needed.
you could go with a cleaner shrimp.
 

MarlboroMan

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Thanks Danyal

I know anenome isn't needed but it's the look i'm going for. I guess I can pick up a 96 watt system.

How long should I cycle before adding anything? Should I add the shrimp first?
 

Danyal

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 26, 2006
935
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this light should be suffecient for something like a RTBA http://cgi.ebay.com/20-NANO-HOOD-SI...ryZ46314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
your cycle time would be anywere from a few weeks to a month or more. basically get ahold of some good live rock(anywhere from 8 to 16lbs) and put that in to the tank ontop of some nice sand and the die-off from the rock will cycle the tank. you should see a spike in ammonia, then nitrites then no ammonia and nitrites and just nitrates, same as cycling any other tank. after it cycles add your clean up crew(CUC) consisting of whatever inverts you want to have in the tank, wait a while to ensure that everything is pretty stable and then put in your shirmp and anemone and last put in the clowns.
 

sweeTang21

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Mar 10, 2007
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Scratch the power compact and get a t-5 HO setup. The bulbs last longer, are more energy efficient and increase light penetration in the water. The dont run hot either keeping the temp of the water much lower. If you go with the Power Compact get legs for it so there is enough air circulation under the lamp. With the power compact u might also want to consider an open top so the heat isnt trapped. just my .02.
 

ShadowBass

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Jan 13, 2007
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I dunno much about t-5 HO, but that tank will definately run hot with that light.
Same light I had on my 20 long and I had to run a fan pointing at it to keep the temperature down.
 

MarlboroMan

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Nov 9, 2005
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Sweet guys!

I was told to cycle longer than 3 months... I'm in no rush either, and plan to spend at least a grand on this thing to make it look real nice and make sure the inhabitants have plenty of room.

Anything smaller than clowns that could live in there for life? Damsels excluded, hate those things.
 
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