Hello

I am such a noob to this and will likely have many questions hehe. I bought a 10 gallon tank to start a small salt water set up. I figure if I can maintain this for a while then I can graduate to bigger and better things! Some questions though..

I use a penguin 150 filter. I read on a site (link here How much for a 10 gallon mini-reef Clownfish tank? The cost to set up a simple 10g Nemo and Friends Reef Aquarium) to use a power head and an under gravel as well. Seems like overkill to me. I bought the under gravel and power head anyway. The under gravel came with these tall tubes and additional charcoal filters but I just don't see how they will connect to the power head. Should I leave those off?

Also the power head was the smallest I could find but does up to a 29 gallon tank. Seems like much for a 10 gallon tank. There isn't really a way that I can see to adjust the flow. It's a Marineland penguin 550. Will that be too much of a current for a couple of clownfish?

I just set up the tank today and will wait a week to cycle etc. Any feedback would be more than I have now.

~Cheers~

I don't think tha powerhead will be to strong, think about being in the ocean wit the waves and rocking. That what the tank should be like, so if anything you may need a second PH to create the random currents in the sea.

as for the UGF and power head, the clear tube should connect to the bottum of the PH so the intake pulls through the UGF and then pushes out the filtered water through the output. I agree though UGF and HOB (hang on back) filtration might be over kill.

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I say ditch the undergravel filter. It is probably just going to cause you trouble later on. Just use the HOB filter and the powerhead, add some live rock, and live sand, and you should be set on filtration. What type of lighting are you planning on?

@Mec102778~ Good point on the power head. I think I will stay with the one for now but may add one. I'm still a good 2 weeks out before I can put fish in. I might do soft coral first though.

@Kaiden~Sounds good to me lol. That UG filter seems to be a hindrance for sand so I should just remove it. As far as lighting the hood came with incandescent lighting. I was going to ask about bulbs. ANy thoughts?

Return the UGF, if you use sand at all, it will be worthless. And, you should use sand. It provides a large surface for bio-filtration. You can use the HOB but you need to remove the charcoal, that will strip some vital nutriants from the salt water. You should only use it if you HAVE to medicate your main tank and only for a few days. The floss filter will need to be cleaned every day to every 3 days or the crud buildup can become toxic. If its still under warrenty, go back and get a clear one. You can set up a small refugium using some cheatomorphia and live rock and you'll have a clear housing to light to keep the chaeto growing. It works well, i use this type of set up. You'll definately need some live rock. that should be the main filtration method in your tank backed up with live sand and the refugium set up i previously stated.
The powerhead is fine, just point it up toward the surface for good oxygen exchange and the amount of flow will be beneficial. I have about 1000 gph in my 20 gallon and i've seen no problems with any fish or coral so what you have should be fine if you point it correctly.

If your tank came with incandescent lighting, go buy some high wattage 10,000K or 50/50 (10,000K/actinic) CFL's to replace them. How many bulbs can it hold? You're more than likely going to have to replace them with a better lighting system if you want to do anything but soft corals if you cant get the right amount of light. You'll need around 4 watts per gallon if you're using a CFL or fluorescent setup.

The nano section may be able to give you even better pointers.

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I returned that UGF lol and happy it's gone! I'm not sure what a floss filter is. I even googled it and found nothing. I removed that blue charcoal thingy and have a fluval sponge filter in at the moment. I hope that does the trick lol.

With this hood I can do 2 bulbs.

I would be careful with the sponge. If you don't take care of them enough they can become a huge ammonia/nitrate factory. Both of which have outcomes which you don't want. You probably know that already though. Your probably going to want to get a different lighting fixture. For your tank I recommend a fixture like this one:
Wave Point T5 HO Lighting Fixtures
Doesn't necessarily have to be this exact one, but something like it. With T5s on a ten gallon you will probably be able to keep most corals. Probably not any SPS besides montipora though.

I was looking at those lights lol funny you posted that pic. I was concerned though. With out a lid the fish will jump out wont they?

Some fish are more prone to jump than others...such as gobies. You could easily solve the problem by just buying some plexiglass and cutting it to fit the top of your tank and add cutouts for cords, filters, etc. Plus it would cut down on evaporation.

Well I've added some live rock. It turned out to have 4 anemone on some of it. they look great. Still small but nice. I changed the incandescent lights to some 50/50 as suggested. the best I could find were 6400k though but there's 2 of them. Changed my hanging filter to a submersible can Fluval. I have added 2 turbo snails and 2 small blue leg crabs. The tank is looking great. I appreciate all of the great tips!

be sure to watch those anomene's in the tank. they coullldd be aiptasia. Aiptasia is considered a pest in tanks because they get large and can sting the life out of any coral that get close to it. Heres a description and some pictures to help you identify them before they get too big to control. Aiptasia
Aiptasia - Invertebrate Information Database - Nano-Reef.com
Peppermint shrimp are used to control their numbers so look into getting one.

Otherwise, it sounds like a good start!

Also, for future reference, you could so one 10,000K bulb and one full actinic if you have separate sockets. It'll have the same effect as the 50/50 but will not look as "mixed" depending on where they're positioned. Your blue legged crabs may end up fighting or killing your turbo snails so be watchful. I've heard a lot of people complain about that. And if you get any large species of hermits (like an electric blue legged hermit), they may also kill your turbos.

The floss filter is the cottony substance that a lot of filters have. Its prolly not called floss filter by many people lol.

Post some pics when you can! it'd be awesome to see them.. that said.. i should probalby do the same haha.

be careful if u use plexi as a top it tends to bend within a week or two

yeah i don't think I will be using plexi. Sounds like a hassle. I can just get a hood with better lighting but will likely end up getting a biocube or something like that.

Interesting. That doesn't really look like aiptasia to me...unless I am looking at the wrong thing...

LOl you guys are stressing me out xD. I appreciate feedback though. I don't want dead fish. These are flat against the rock with no pillars like the pics I've seen on google. Hopefully not aiptasia. I will take pics when I get home and post on a new forum for feedback. they're tiny and hard to photograph. i'll do my best though!

they may not be but its better to be safe. Its somewhat difficult to tell from fuzzy pics at a distance.

Thats 14.1 megapixels from like a foot away lol. They're small anemone, not even a half inch wide. I did crop down the pics from 4 megs to 600kb though.

if you have some kind of macro lens or if you could just get a bit closer, that would help.

Cool. I'm off work in 30 minutes and will take some new pics. Hopefully their tenticles or whatever they're called are out. They get pretty long