unclenedsfishfactory.com

Hi Ned and the everyone else,
I have a small 10 gallon aquarium that I was looking to setup as a mini reef aquarium as I have been reading about on the net. I have a couple of aquaclear minis I was hoping to use as filters. Does anyoneout there have experience setting up an aquarium like this. I am not looking for something too fancy or expensive but I would at minimum like to to keep some basic corals and fish. From what I understand it takes a while to from filling the tank with salt water to being fully up in runnig with critters in it. Any advice is well appreciated.

Mike

It's really very easy...
you need
salt mix, many brands available aprox $20 for a years supply
hydrometer aprox $14
live rock $7 per pound ... minimum suggested 10 pounds

the light you need depends on the corals you want to keep
...brains, star polyps, and mushrooms need a minimum of 2 watts per gallon
....leathers need a minimum of 3 watts per gallon
....bubble, hammer & pearl need a minimum of 4 watts per gallon
....acropora needs a minimum of 5 watts per gallon

there are several ways to achieve this lighting

you could use a standard 20" incandescent strip ($15)
with 2 screw in 10 watt power compacts, now available in actinic ($13 ea)

you could use 2 standard 20" florescent strips ($30 ea)
and change the freshwater bulbs they come with
for 1 10000K & 1 Actinic (15 watts each) (aprox $15 ea)

CUR 20” SATELLITE 40W PC STRIP $67 THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE THE BEST & MOST ECONOMICAL OPTION for a 10 gallon

CUR 20” DUALSAT 2x40W PC STRIP $155