10 Gallon Saltwater FOWLR

Pearl2011

How much would one cost? I have a tetra whisper 10i and play sand, I would need better light and the live would be the 'center piece' of the aquarium, plus any kind of fish that could go in it. Is a UV sterilizer necessary in a such a small tank? And how often and how big for water changes?
Just an idea I've been thinking of for a bit. Thx peeps :p

Reefing Madness

No need for a UV light.
10% water changes weekly.
Play sand has a crap load of silicates in it, I would no trecommend using it.
Cost of marine hobby

kitten_penang

wow good news you wanna do a sw tank :) since its a tetra tank i'm guessing the internal filter is a small one on top of the tank am i right and it come with a cover and a light already fixed inside.if that is the case 2-3 fishes depending on size of the fishes and how much lr is in there coz the amount of lr needed to keep the tank balanced and will take up quite a lot of space and water volume and it will be less then 10 gallons for the fish.marine fish are more sensitive to changes in the water.10-20 % wc just like any other tank will suffice but the time to cycle the tank is way much longer then fw and is necessary. 10 gallons is 37.85 litters. a 1 kg bag of marine salt will make 10 litters of salt water with a 0.21 salinity reading at 25 degrees. you would need at least 3 kg of salt 30 litters of water for starters and depending on how much lr i think you'de either have leftover or need to make more.making extra is ok coz you need time to fully dissolve the salts before adding to the tank during wc. btw you'll need a hydrometer to do the salinity test.you would also need a skimmer but i don't know how you're gonna add it.in a small tank i personally believe a skimmer is important but there are others who beg to differ.so it's up to you

Pearl2011

kitten, I ended up buying everything separately when I had my first Goldfish. Got the tank, then the filter a couple weekes later and then I got a cover for the tank. So my cat wouldn't get in it. . . clearly it was my second fish tank.
I have 4 bettas in it now and am thinking about moving them to by 25 gallon eventually. More like a couple of years down the road, and if the bettas can play nice (yes Ruby, I'm looking at you).
This is the filter: Internal Aquarium Filter | Tetra Whisper: No Hassle No Noise
The light I have on it was a lid for a 2.5 gallon I put on the cover, now I have a lid for my 25 gallon on it with 1 25w bulb.

Reefing Madness, how would silicates affect the water or hurt the fish? Just curious since I have it in 3 tanks.

Pearl2011

OMG kitten!!! How many tank do you have!?

Reefing Madness

Silicates from the play sand will not do anything to the fish. But there is bacteria that grows on that stuff, such as Cyano Bacteria. And, you have it in 3 Fresh Water tanks, totally different animal there.
Cyanobacteria

Pearl2011

So crushed coral would be used for the substrate? And does it have to be white?

Reefing Madness

You could use Crushed Coral, yes. And no, it doesn't have to be white.

kitten_penang

lol i still have all the tanks that is written in my signature list.if you don't want to use crushed coral you could use coral sand.the more expensive ones are rounded and wont hurt borrowing fishes.plus coral sand buffers the water naturally.btw when using this kinds of filters the sponge needs to be changed or thoroughly cleaned.lots of bacteria breeding in fw is good but in sw it's not very good.always change the filter sponges will help in keeping po4 and no3 levels down.this causes cyno and other unwanted.bacterial and unwanted algae to bloom in the tank. regular wc also help top up the trace elements needed to grow a red type of algae "this is the pretty good type you want" if there is not enough trace elements the red wont grow and the unwanted ones will.plus red lr looks much better then brownish dirty looking rocks.having a cover will most probably heat up your tank when you leave the lights on so you shouldn't turn on the lights for a long period of time.putting a digital thermometer will help get a more precise temperature.

Pearl2011

So rinse the filter weekly change it monthly should suffice?
Why do people alway keep clownfish in a 10 gallon? I thought they got to 4 inches, which is too big for a ten gallon, right? Is there some kind of gobie or other small but hardy beginner fish, captive bred fish I could get for under 30$.