10 Gallon Nano Saltwater Journal

[fishlover500]

I am setting up a nano 10 gallon saltwater aquarium. I have emptyied all the freshwater and gravel and washed out the tank really well.

I bought 15 lbs of aragonite and an 80 gph powerhead yesterday.

I have the aragonite in the tank without water. (forgot to buy sea salt.)

Will post some pics later.

I just had genius idea!!

I took an old filter that I forgot I had stashed away. (it was leaking before)

And I took out the electrical box and put the blade in. It is now a fairly good powerhead.

 

[SkiFletch]

Good call on the bonus flow

 

[fishlover500]

Just a quick question:

Can I fill up the tank even though I don't have aquarium salt? I will add it once I get it, and I will have powerheads running when I get it. I know you let it sit when you do water changes, but when I do the whole tank do I have to?

My guess is no but still not sure.

 

[fishlover500]

I'm gonna start filling with freshwater if I don't get a reply. I'm guessing fine when I'm just starting the tank but later for water changes.... no?

 

[SkiFletch]

Correct, fine now, later bad

 

[fishlover500]

filling right now

 

[fishlover500]

I am looking in to buying a hydrometer and a test kit.

What do I all need in a test kit??
One I found has:

ammonia

nitrite

nitrate

alkalinity

ph

I assume this is sufficient?

 

[fishlover500]

I am going to the LFS to look at prices on hydrometers, refractometers, and sea salt.
I am probably just gonna get a hydrometer off ebay tho.

Am I ready for live rock? I have both powerheads running, the temp is 86 F (sorry I tried turning the heater up, it used to be set at like 76 F I set it to about 80 F and it shot up.

Can live rock live in 86 F ? I need answers cause I may be going soon.

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Yep. Should be fine.

 

[fishlover500]

I went and bought 50 gallons of Marine Salt, A hydrometer, and a 3.6 pound piece of Fiji cultured live rock.

I boosted put salt in until the hydrometer said 1.023 and then put the live rock in.

I would like to seed it to more rock. What type of rock would work well and look good? It doesn't have to look good with
Fiji live rock because I will take the Fiji rock back when the other stuff seeds if they don't look good together.

How long will live rock take to seed? Does it need to be touching?

Do I need more live rock for my tank? I know you are supposed to have 1 lb per gallon but I have about 12 lbs of
Aragonite that I used as substrate it should seed to.

Could I use lava rock to get seeded? Does it look weird?

 

[fishlover500]

bump

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, you'll need mroe rock for sure. It takes about 6 months for dry rock to seed and become live rock...

 

[fishlover500]

Would it be okay if I got another 2-3 pounds of live rock then like 8-10 pounds of dead rock?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah

 

[fishlover500]

Haven't gotten more live rock yet but, I did so happen to stumble upon a water pump at garage sale.
I just figured out this is a united pump ap 85 water pump meant for fountains, I asked how much they wanted for and person said 50 cents!! So now instead of having my home made pump I am using this because the homemade one liked to blow holes into the gravel to much and I had trouble mounting. This takes waterflow up to 16 times per hour.