# 10 gallon



## TylerFlom89 (Mar 28, 2005)

I know almost nothing of marine tanks, what would I need and what fish could I keep? How much would it cost?


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Fish you could keep--> practically none.

What you would need--> a much bigger tank.

How much it would cost--> a whole lot more than you ever would have thought, and most of it would wind up wasted.


I first made a lengthy post, and a mean-spirited one at that, explaining all this stuff in detail. I decided not to post it, though, despite it being something everyone on this board needs to read. ( I saved it for fun, though )

Just don't do it.


----------



## icp (Jan 18, 2005)

I would agree 50g+ is the smallest i would go for sw ... smaller tanks will be less stable and be harder to maintain imo :mrgreen:


----------



## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

yup, that and its much more expensive to setup and maintain a sw tank


----------



## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

oh and thats not even mentioning the price of the fish!!


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

I would think a good starter would be a 30L tank, gives you good length to play with and volume of water is better. I have a 10g nano, it really is more work then my other bigger FW tanks, as gota make sure water is topped off daily, water changs, the water every week has to be near perfect to not upset the corals and anemones, and then lighting w/o overheating the tank is another issue. Just not recommended for beginners, as can crash pretty easily. 30L run around 40 bucks i believe. Can get lighting for it at 65....


----------



## clemsonfrk11202 (Jan 27, 2005)

even the most experienced sw aquarists have a lot of trouble with a tank smaller than 30 gallons, i wouldnt go with a 10, i have a 55 and a 20, and the 20 is only a qt but its harder to maintain than the 55, save up your allowence and get the biggest you can afford, my 55 has cost me about $1500, and my grandfater has spent about that much on a 7 gallon nano... in the long run if you dont know exactly what you are doing the bigger the tank for the most part can be cheaper


----------



## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

SW is very expensive and at times frustrating, thus why I am not in them yet


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

30 gallons is a good starter tank, and a fish only tank would be least expensive. Here is a quick run down of what you'd expect

30 gallon tank - $50 
Stand - $100
protein skimmer - $80
strip light - $20
power head - 2 X $15
sand - $7 (50lbs bag a Home Depot)
heater - $15
fish - depends on what you get $10-$100's
salt - $20
QT Tank - $10

Thats $330 dollars approximately without fish. So its not horribly expensive when you don't do corals and stuff. A 10 gallon would be a head ache I'm afraid... too much work for such a tiny tank... (although I did keep my first tank raised clownfish for two months in my 5 gallon tank, I wouldn't try it again, I ended up adding water three times a week and doing a water change every week.)


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

that heater be best to get a stealth or something, stay away from glass ones in the SW business....


30L is just fine to start out with, not everyone can afford to go 1500 to start SW, if u do everything top of the line and right prolly would spend that much, but there are ways around it, and makin him do weekly water changes would get his butt in order and teach him he's gotta work more to get successful in sw tanks.


----------



## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

if you use liveaquaria.com they have some cool saltwater fish


----------



## Renee1 (Apr 4, 2005)

Hey,
I have to disagree with everyone who has posted so far.
I started a 10 gallon saltwater tank. Fish only with live rock. At the moment, i have one yellowtail damsel in there. So far, everything has been going really well. I think that as long as you are willing to do hours upon hours of research on the subject, it is do-able. As for the cost, I received the tank, heater, lights, and filter for free so the setup ended up being really cheap. As long as your are willing to give the tank daily attention (checking salinity, temperature, topping off water), it is not as hard as people make it seem although i am sure a lot of people who read this will disagree with me.


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

well the simple fact that most people do not want to top off a tank every day is discouraging to get a tank that small. Also it is a lot less stable, a lot of things can go wrong in a small tank in a very small amount of time. Plus you are very limited in the fish selection when you have a 10 gallon tank. In your example, you have an extremely low bioload... most people would not be satisfied with one yellowtail damsel in a tank.


----------



## Renee1 (Apr 4, 2005)

I agree with you completely Fishfirst. 
Most people will not do the daily maintenance and want to add too many fish. 
However, I think the learning experience alone was worth it.... and im perfectly happy with my one little yellowtail damsel Romi


----------

