Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I used to keep fresh and saltwater fish. My entire life i've kept and bred various reptiles including poison dart frogs. So my background is very solid in animals. This isn't quite the case with fish though and if this was a reptile issue i'd solve it myself. I have to admit I need some help here.

I want to set up a 10 gallon salt tank. In it I would like to include a couple pieces of liverock, a coral,and a sea anenome and Clown fish. For lighting I will probably use some sort of metal hallide. NOw I realize that people say the smallest you should go is 30 gallons for salt but I thought that a small little tank like this is possible. Can anyone give me some tips or possible problems I might encounter. I'm a reasonable person and if this isn't possible let em know.

THanks!

nano tanks are possible but very hard to keep without crashing. you'd have to do weekly water changes and constantly monitor amonia, nitrates and nitrites. id use close to 20lbs of live rock and a bio wheel filter.
I have A 20G tank and it is doing good now.
i notice there isnt alot of posts here at all.....
you can always try www.canreef.com if you need more help.....

My first piece of advice is for you not to get turned off from setting up a small saltwater tank. When I frequent a LFS I gave up explaining my tank setups...too much by the book, and alot of "you need a bigger.." I currently have 6 tanks (all sizes up to 10gal), most have been running over 2 years now. In the 10 I have LR (not too much I wanted to actually see the fish), live sand, proper lighting for the inverts (the tanks are shallow no need to go crazy),shrimp, feather dusters, snails, and an assort of anemones-not to mention the two clowns. They're all doing fine! The key is to read up on each fish or invert and know what they need. The tanks get partial changes once every 2-3 week (when I remember).Keep in mind these are established tanks with healthly doses of copepods,& amphipods. Starting out yes frequent water changes were needed until system evened out.
Jeff