What do you guys think

[ninjastar]

First off let me apologize if I came off in a hostile tone. That was not my intentions, I was simply trying to be informative.

Ok, glad to know that you familiar with sumps,etc. On a 10G tank its going to hard to house a number of items. Obviously size is a great concern,but small tanks are easily altered by the smallest of variables. With this being the case, it is important to keep a close eye on this tank in particular. Adding a sump/refugium of even ten gallons is going to make your life much easier. I am going to be adding a 10g sump to my 8g biocube in the near future to further stabilize it. Also, with a sump your going to be able to add a protein skimmer. You wouldnt want anything to big, maybe the biocube protein skimmer?It's small,easy,effective, and affordable. This is just going to make your life easier.
As far as the star goes, a DSB is a MUST! Even with a DSB, its still is going to be hard to house a SS star. As long as he isn't harmed in anyway, your LFS should take him back. How is everything else in the tank looking?

Oh its all good. Well I was thinking of making my tank a dsb and as well as do that mod on the ac filters to make it a ref but ya. I was thinking since I have about 45lbs of LR and 20lbs of LS that the filtration is more that enough.

 

[craig]

You should get a protein skimmer. I had a 15 gallon tank once. It did very well for 5 years.

 

[calpoly12]

Oh its all good. Well I was thinking of making my tank a dsb and as well as do that mod on the ac filters to make it a ref but ya. I was thinking since I have about 45lbs of LR and 20lbs of LS that the filtration is more that enough.

I would suggest doing the mod to make it a REF. It will be worth it!

As far as your LR and LS situation goes I would say that your pretty well set. With 45 lbs of LR and another 20 lbs of LS your pretty much set.

Making such a small tank a DSB would be slightly challenging in my opinion. I have heard that DSB can be somewhat of a challenge as they can harbor nasty chemicals deep within them self. If the DSB is not disturbed enough, these chemicals can sit in wait and once disturbed they can do some nasty damage to a tank. Of course that is all due to not enough flow, etc. Take a look at this link I provided and if should solve your problems.

Here is an extremely good read that I referred to when I was trying to decide if a DSB was for me. It explains your situation perfectly.
http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic48857.html

 

[ninjastar]

Well its been about 2months and I dont know if they would take the ss star back.

 

[FLESHY]

In tank DSB is a nitrate factory. There is no way scientifically you can justify doing that.

It doesnt work that way in nature, it sure as heck wont work that way in your fish tank.

Nutrients in = Nutrients in unless removed by filtration or h2o changes.

You leave a sand bed undisturbed, it will just accumulate whatever there over the years.

Sooner or later these people always have nitrate issues. I am not trying to bash on anything or anyone, but I just want to make some things clear. It is your responsibility to keep the sand free of detritus. The amount of sand turnover on the real reef is absolutely insane. We are talking about moving tons of sand a day. Nothing is accumulating there.

 

[calpoly12]

Well its been about 2months and I dont know if they would take the ss star back.

Well as long as the SS is in good health, I would see no reason why a reasonable LFS wouldnt take it back for store credit. Simply tell them that you made a mistake and would rather not see the creature die

 

[ninjastar]

That is true. But ya I dont know if they would tho. Also what do you guys do for a weekly maintenece?? Heres what I do

-Everyday I turn on my lights from when I wake up to when I sleep so thats about 12hrs or more on.
-Everday I feed my fish 1/4th of a cube of mys or brime shrimp
-Everyother day I add freshwater to maintin salinity(For some reason my tank goes up to 1.26
-Every other day I feed my nem squid that are cut into 1inch strips
-2 times a week I check my water par.
-1 time a week I do w/c

 

[calpoly12]

That is true. But ya I dont know if they would tho. Also what do you guys do for a weekly maintenece?? Heres what I do

-Everyday I turn on my lights from when I wake up to when I sleep so thats about 12hrs or more on.
-Everday I feed my fish 1/4th of a cube of mys or brime shrimp
-Everyother day I add freshwater to maintin salinity(For some reason my tank goes up to 1.26
-Every other day I feed my nem squid that are cut into 1inch strips
-2 times a week I check my water par.
-1 time a week I do w/c

Most people run their lights for 7-10 hours. I am like you,however, and run them throughout the day. Algae growth seems to sprout up every once in a while, but its easily manageable with water changes. As far as what I do:

-Lights are on a timer from 8am-8pm
-Feeding varies from pellets to mysis to brine shrimp
-I test salinity daily, but it doesnt become a problem for me. I rarely have to add freshwater to keep salinity in check. I think it is because of the biocube coverings...
-Water params are done once a week and water changes are done twice a week.
-Supplements are done once a week
-Light coverings are cleaned once a week

Thats about it for me, its not to bad once you get in a habit

 

[Otherone]

Keeping a stable salinity of 1.025 seens alil' difficult for me. I get too much evaporation I suppose and in a large tank it's really difficult to see. I've noticed that the salinity goes up when the heaters are running - I've been told it's the hydrometer reacting to the heat. Maintenance - 2x 30 gal w/c for 180 + 30 gal sump, feed twice daily very lil' amounts of frozen enhanced mixed cubes. Lights 8 hours on daily. Salinity check daily. Nitrate check every couple daze. skimmer check daily empty once or twice a week. Sit back, drink some beer, and enjoy - as much as time will allow.

 

[FLESHY]

Sounds good.

My sump is un-baffled right now, so I feel your pain salinity wise.

I would either invest in an auto top off, or spend a couple days closely monitoring salinity, and topping off. At first it might seem random, but a pattern always emerges. When it does you will know exactly how much water to add every day like I do now with my 125g.