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Whats involved in starting a saltwater tank2007-11-24 23:43:27

I have two 10 gal tanks in my kids rooms and they have been doing very well for a year now. The tanks are always clean and we've only had 1 ick outbreak and 2 floaters so far so I think I have the hang of freshwater tanks. Of course now my younger son wants "Nemo" and "Dory". What am looking at as far as converting one of the tanks to saltwater, other than the obvious salt? Can you do a 10 gal saltwater tank?

Answers:

10 gals is pretty small for a salt water system. The most important part is the bacteria bed you build in the gravel or in the filter, depending on which you use, but 10 gals doesn't give you much of a buffer if it gets close to crashing. Most of the people I know with the wet/dry filters use a 10 gal tank just for the filtration system, to cleanse the water in the main tank.

Use Fritzyme to get the bacteria going, and add the food for the bacteria for several weeks, then test for chemical balance before adding fish. Make friends with the people at the pet store; you'll be seeing them a lot at first.

If you go with 10 gals, be ready to change the water frequently. And don't use tap water to mix with salt, of course, unless you aerate (bubble or splash) it for a couple of days to let the chlorine evaporate.

Don't even think about anemones for the clowns in that size tank. One or two fish is all you can handle.

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There are various considerations you might want to look at.