# Need Advise On New Salt Water Tank



## milindsaraswala (Feb 28, 2009)

Actually I am familiar with planted fresh water tank.I am maintaining from last 2 years successfully. Now trying to start with another small 10 gallon slat water tank.I am really very new to it and very confuse about it. I have lots of question, Sorry I will ask lot things. 
First of all 

what all things I will need beside it.
Should I do Cycling without putting salt into water or I have to do with salt into water
how salt should in my 10 gallon water
what gravel I should use

I need lots of advice and I am very dumb for salt water tank. I want to put coral reef,live stones and fish. help me please.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

A 10 gallon tank is too small to start a SW tank if you're inexperienced. 
What I've heard is with SW (and FW too for that matter) the bigger the tank the easier it is to maintain proper water chemistry. 
Your choices for fish and corals in a 10 gallon is very limited too, most fish need much more space than that. 
You could maybe do one clownfish, if even that.


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## Guest (May 3, 2010)

milind......SW rule is pretty much this: Bigger the tank: better stability. i wouldnt suggest u do a 10gl at all. ur gonna have to run a very small tank with just corals for that size. very few fish will actually be able to live in that small a tank.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Much biger tank
salt mix
hydrometer
heater
gravel made of stuff called Aragonite

Cycle with the salt in the water already

You use the amount of salt it takes to give the water a density of 1.024 according to the hydrometer.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

1. You will need all the basics of a tropical freshwater aquarium (heater, filter, air, etc) and you may want to buy a protein skimmer, although at such a small size, you wont find much selection. 

2. Cycling in a saltwater tank can be done the same as a freshwater tank, but most people choose to do it with live rock. Live rock is porous rock that little creatures and algae live in. These break down the nitrogens into the safer forms. You can find live rock almost anywhere they sell saltwater fish. Ask them how cured it is. You want it as cured as possible. And yes, you do want the salt in the tank while you cycle it. If you were to cycle it as a freshwater tank, then add salt, you would kill all those bacteria you worked so hard to get. 

3. You will want to buy either a hydrometer (cheaper, but less accurate) or a refractometer (more expensive and more accurate). These devices will measure the salt content of your water. The measurements are usually made in a scale called "specific gravity". As TOS pointed out, you want a specific gravity of around 1.024. The hydrometer will likely have a "safe zone" marked on it. Most salt mixes are 1/2 cup of salt per gallon of water. Use that as a guideline, but still check it with the meter. 

4. You can really use whatever gravel you want, but Aragonite is kind of the standard for saltwater. If you want to keep a reef (with corals) make sure it says "reef safe". Most Aragonite is reef safe.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

If you want just fish, then any old gravel will work, but you'll still do better with a calcium "saltwater" type of gravel to help keep your pH where it belongs.
If you want shrimps and crabs and coral and such, then you'll want to use something called oolitic aragonite sand. calcium comes in many forms, but aragonite is the one form which is readily bioavailable, which means the animals can use it the easiest.


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

Don't waste your time with a 10 gallon saltwater. The larger the better rule is very true in this case! As far as cycling I have found that sea food (shrimp, octopus, etc) in a nylon works good. Also BioZyme bacteria works great, that's what I recently used to cycle my 180 gallon saltwater tank.


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## bobdobs (Feb 2, 2010)

I agree with everyone here, 10 gal.....too small. I will point you in the direction that I have been taking as of late. One word "acrylic." It makes such a difference. I would go anywhere between 30gal -10,000gal tank. The larger the better. Bigger tank means your going to be considered "cool" by people that see it. Acrylic holds heat better so your saving money and if you loose power it stays warmer longer. Could save your fishes life! They are sooooo much clearer then glass too. Salt is harder then fresh but both have their up and downs.
love,
Bob Dobbs


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