5 Gallon Or 10 Gallon?

[tylermoney1]

Completely new to this forum. I have experience with many frehwater aquariums but have never tried saltwater till now.
I don't have a ton of extra spending money, so keep that in mind. All I want is basic solid nano tank.I want to be able to keep a few basic corals and few small fish. I currently have an empty ten gallon tank with nothing else inside it (no filter no heater no lighting). What I want to know is if I should buy the heater and lighting for that empty ten gallon, buy a new ten gallon kit, or buy a smaller 5 gallon tank?? What would be the difference between maintaining a 5 and a 10 gallon?

 

[HHH]

im no expert on saltwater but isnt bigger always better? im saying this becuase a bigger tank should be easier to control and small chnages wont be as damaging as it would in a smaller tank. I could be wrong since i have not been sucessful with salt water.

 

[Donya]

5gal is way too small as a first tank for fish to have a good chance of success, and even for tanks set up by more experienced aquarists for all but a some very special cases in marine fish-keeping. Marine tanks are not like freshwater tanks in terms of fish stocking. While a handful of small freshwater fish like danios or guppies can go in 5gal, the same is not true in marine. Below 20gal is VERY difficult to maintain. Beginners are usually recommended to start much larger, such as 50gal for the added environmental stability that the increased water volume gives. When new hobbyists can't go that large for space reasons, they are still advised to not go below 20gal. If you are intent on setting up only a 5 or 10, for the stability reasons a 10 will be better but would still be safer and easier to maintain as an invert-only setup. Possible exceptions would be a clown goby, neon goby, or small pistol shrimp+goby pair (which would be all the animals in the tank except for snails). If you want a few fish or fish that are active swimmers, then you really need a larger tank.
 
Have a look here if you haven't already:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/410541-marine-aquarium-faq/

 

[kevingrods]

Hey, wow that article is beyond helpful.  I have actually been going back on forth on this same thing, with a 45 gallon tank.

 

[ncguppy830]

bigger is better

 

[xXLeafeonXx]

I say you do the 10 gallon I have one and it look awesome and very nice.
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro1rBP3dJCg

 

[Ch4rlie]

Extremely useful thread.
 
My GF really wants some marine shrimps and live rocks in a small tank, have ummed and ahhed about it thinking gonna be tricky to control parameters of a small marine tank as well as the fact I know very very little about marine setups and how to care for marine fish.
 
So this has confirmed for me which way should go in that respect. FW!
 
Having enough trouble with FW, never mind marine. Thankfully have now persuaded her to go with some nice FW shrimps as much easier to look after even though tank is only 15 litres (4 US gals). Gonna need some luck methinks!