new to salt,sand,rocks,water

[varpanus]

ok, i saw the new to reefkeeping forum so i decided to break into the family with a short story. I'm getting ready(with the help of new friends) to break into the artform,hobby,obsession,passion of reefkeeping , so i found this site. perfect. done about 70+ hours of "trolling" through posts and misc. info. k I think i'm ready. nope. no equiptment. so I looked at the old fw stuff I had. then I did some more searching. bingo! i had a lot of stuff already that I could use. 10g tank. 50w heater. hob filter. 2 small pumps. but the lighting. had a 17w n.o. floro hood (cheap at wally world). not enough. ok so I looked for better lightning. WOW. MH bulbs $50 a piece. maybe not. then I found these coralife 10w 50/50 bulbs at my local lfs. so I looked online and found
20w versions of that light. had a regular lamp base. so I took my hood and gutted it down to the plastic.then I went to home depot and bought a $5 lamp making kit. double ended socket bracket. so I mounted that inside the hood. 40W of lighting. 4w per gallon is good right? now i'm not sure what else I'll be needing or wanting to get for this but that's my plan. it's not fancey,but neither is my wallet. i just want the exhiliration of being able to maybe electrocute myself for fun. that, and doing my part to save the natural reefs in the world. 10g is a small start, but in the future I assume I'll be delving deeper into the world of nature in a box. thanks for the warm welcome everyone so far, and I hope to meet more of you soon!

TOny

 

[Brenden]

Welcome Tony. MH is def not a option for a 10 gallon tank. You would be able to cook with the water. The amount of light you need all depends on what type corals etc you want to keep later on. Since you have been reading I guess you have read up on how to cycle your tank etc. Do not think about corals right now. That will be the last thing you add. Ask any questions you might have. That is why we are here.

 

[Krish]

Hurray for Tony! You are well on your way man...Your researching, reading and asking questions will definately pay off As Brian (Brenden) just mentioned, you'll need to cycle first which can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on the condition of the rocks so no need to worry about corals too much yet. MH's will definately cook that tank so no need for them. Pc's will do that tank just fine Just remember...Ask ask ask and don't ever think a question is stupid. We are all here to help one another and so just feel right at home. We'll get you reefin' in no time

 

[varpanus]

i definately wasn't going to use mh,i just used them as a sort of reference to the $ involved in the lighting. the 30 bucks for 40w of light I'm going to spend is right up my alley. when I get some rock it will probably be from premium aquatics. they seem to have very good products. and they're cheap too! lol

 

[NaH2O]

Congrats on taking the plunge into your new addiction! Now, I'm far from a lighting expert, let alone DIY, so I'm not sure about your lighting project. For a 10 gallon, even though its small, I would still urge you to get a protein skimmer on it. AquaC has a new Nano version available, and I use it on my 20 gallon quarantine tank. It works great, and would be a nice "hang-on" version for your 10 gallon. Some other things to keep in mind is water. The water in our state isn't the greatest, so purchasing RO/DI or buying an RO/DI unit will be an asset to good water quality. Bad things happen quickly in a small volume of water, but with some dedication you'll have a great system. Along with my 120 gallon, I'm upgrading a 12 gallon to a 29 gallon, so I understand the challenges of a small volume of water.

Another thing is to definately plan out what you want to keep before you buy. Check old threads, and ask questions about livestock. It will save you alot of frustration and money by asking first!

I look forward to pics of your set-up as it comes together!

 

[varpanus]

as far as water goes,i wouldn't use tap water from anywhere,let alone our state. My grandma bought a $3k water treatment system and it is a r/o unit i believe. it even has a little drinking fountain faucet that goes through a big carbon canister filter too. it's a 10min drive to her house and she says I can have all the water I want so I think I'm good. she uses brine salt in her system,would that be harmful? i don't think the water has much if any salt after it's all done?. as far as livestock goes, I got some time to think about that, but I got a decent Idea of what I really want. i like the zoos and the soft corals. the toadstools are neat too. i think most of those are medium light,medium flow kinda things. i am a beginner so I think i'll go with just the sand,rock,and just a couple of corals to get me started for a while. to see If I can get them to grow big enough that i have to frag them. that's the goal. because if they're growing well enough to have to cut them back then you're doing something right.right?

TOny

 

[ronj]

yeah, fragging is fun!!!! the corals will need to hold off for a bit though!!let the tank cycle and add a fish or two..also, you will need to do some pretty regular water changes with a 10g..i agree with Nikki, you should get a protein skimmer...it will help out alot!!! i almost forgot...welcome to the forum!!! i have some toadstool frags..i might be able to get you one when the tank is ready!

 

[varpanus]

that would be awesome ron. i'm very impatient,but another reason why I want to start a tank is to work on my patience. and by having something depending on you,like my wife and 2 dogs,1 cat, and 2 leos, i'm starting to learn a measure of patience. and speaking of FL ron how is it there? i went on our honeymoon in july to panama city beach. that's what got the ball rolling on this whole thing.i've always been obsessed with the ocean reefs in pictures,movies and such. but seeing the ocean for the first time(i'm 21) and getting to snorkel on shell island with the tropical fish(and a barracuda?); opened my brain to a whole new world I never knew!

 

[ronj]

i hate shell island!! my grandma had never been to the ocean before, so my dad took her to Shell island..he made us go 2 days in a row..we got fried just because she wanted to go 2 times!! i never went back..that was like 10-15 years ago!!!!i have just started noticing some of the neat fish out there..i never go to Panama city anymore..we used to go every weekend..it got old partying as much as we used to!!anyway, patience is the key to the hobby!! just keep following posts and asking questions!!

 

[varpanus]

the only problem with the ocean and me is it's not closer. Is destin close to pcb? i really did not like that place, but it's what we could afford. going to the beach was $3 and we ate wendy's. i dove down on that little jutty thing on the right(where all the stupid kids were) and I got to see some really neat stuff. some of the biggest fish I've seen were right out on the very end about 20ft. down. i took some pictures with a disposable camera,but all I got was pictures of nothing. I wanted to cry. but all in all, city was terrible,but the ocean made up for it all. now to get to ft. lauderdale. or down to the bahamas

 

[ronj]

Panama is like 30-40 min from Destin..it is weird because the sand there is full of shells and nasty..we have some of the whitest and nicest sand of anywhwere(literally)...Panama is for spring breakers..you normally can't even drive down the roads at night ..they are at a complete dead stop!!!!!!!!! there are too many punks there now..evevry time we went , we got into something..the police always told us to leave..we never got in trouble because we were local...the cops HATE tourists there.they target them for everything!!that town is just gross...you should have driven to Destin..it looks like paradise..i will find some pics for you!!

 

[varpanus]

i think destin was where we were going to go. it was 4th of july weekend, so it was packed. but not with the normal rabble of drunkeness. it was filled with families. I waited in line at wendy's one of the days for I think 35 mins to order! i'm going to come back down to Florida,hopefully within the next year. but it's like a 15 hour drive straight through. my wife had to drive the whole way there cause I kept fallin asleep.Maybe I'll swing through destin and check it all out. but you gotta get me to all the good spots!

 

[ronj]

i have worked at all the good spots...it gets crazy packed during the summer..on 4th of july, it is so packed everywhere, you can't move anywhere

 

[ronj]

i didn't mean to hijack your thread!!!! just wondering, what kind of filters and stuff do you have from your old fresh water tank????? also, where are you thinking of getting your rock and sand from????

 

[varpanus]

i got the like $50 tank set in a box form walmart
it had a small hob filter.50w heater.and the cheapo 17w hood that I moded
i'm probably going to get the rock from premium aquatics cause it's like a hour away and it's cheap.people say very good things about them.

 

[ronj]

ohh, you are going to pick it up??? that will be cool...you can pick it out yourself!!!!

 

[varpanus]

i'm pretty excited about that possibility. check out my diy thread and tell me if you think I'm just way off ,or if that seems feasible about the lighting

 

[varpanus]

got a picture of my tank not yet setup,but to get an idea of what it's gonna be.

 

[Krish]

Bling bling! She will be nice when it is all set up

 

[Brenden]

How are you planning to mount the pumps/PH?