new 10 gallon tank!

Likely an asterina starfish, like in my post. You will have tiny featherduster worms and other small animals too, just watch them. The green bubble is bubble algae, a pest. It reproduces fast and is not eaten by anything but an Emerald crab ( I have one for that purpose). As I said before, having two damsels in a 10 is asking for trouble. I would stick to just one with other animals. I have an urchin, a crab, an anemone, coral, snails, in addition to my fish, and it's pretty lively.

As for the skimmer, if you do a 10 to 15% water change weekly you don't need it. I did not have one in my 10 for the longest, and just got one recently. The one I got is not good unless you are handy at modifying stuff, but it can be gotten cheaply, and it's a combo power filter and protein skimmer. I have a post in the skimmer section on the modifications.

Good luck. A lot of people are following your adventure!

 

Didn't see pages 3 and 4, this may not be valid.


Pumping too much air can raise the CO2 levels in a smaller tank. Plus having all those bubbles isn't great for corals.

You will always need to do water changes, balance only changes how often you have to do them. With smaller tanks you need to do more frequent water changes. Plus every time you add something new you start another small cycle. Levels will go up and then fall again.

A hydrometer is about $18, but they are very very inaccurate, they are very sensitive to temp changes and I've always gotten bad readings from them.

I would suggest a refracto meter, I got mine on ebay for about $60, very very accurate, it also has automatic temperature compensation.

If you can't afford a refracto meter then I would suggest a bobbing meter. They cost the same as a hydrometer. They look like a thermometer, but they also read the SG.

 

Regarding the bubble algae, if you don't have or plan on adding Emerald Crabs to your tank you can get rid of the algae by using a syringe and injecting the needle into the bubble and remove the insides of it. Just don't try popping the bubble algae or the spores will spread in your tank.

 

ok....
After I got home today I did some work on the tank. Including removing the live rock from the tank that had the algae on it, taking a few photos and then removing it and replacing it into the tank.


I rearranged the live rock a bit, removed the aeration to the advice of others, performed a 20% water change, and took some photos. The blue damsel is hiding probably from the confusion, "the true tiger at heart he is".

 

I also took a picture of the starfish that I found and thought I'd share it with everyone. Apparently they like more heat than what's in the tank because I found them both(found a second, smaller one today) stuck on or near the heater. I found the second starfish today, but it was so small it was hard to get a picture of it. So I only have the larger one which is about the size of a dime.

 

Excellent! Looks like you're on the right track, now!

 

Coug, nice looking aquarium! Nice pictures too.
From your previous post, it sounds like you have found a LFS that is worth holding onto. It's nice when you find someone that has your best interest in mind.

As far as your lighting dilemma, I would suggest a T5HO fixture. For your 10 gallon tank I would suggest this unit from AquaTraders. The legs are adjustable, so the 24" unit will fit your 20" 10G tank. Don't let the fac that it is only 48 Watts fool you. If you read some of the lighting threads, you will find that T5HO is watt for watt brighter than PC.


Mike

 

Your tank is looking good Coug! Such a rewarding hobby can be so frustrating when you get started on the wrong foot. Rushing things is my biggest problem, thats why I'm going to take years to setup my next tank

In regards to your starfish picture, and this is only what I was told, you don't want to take them out of the water, like sponges, as air can get stuck in them and really mess them up. It's a cool little star though, I'd like some that small for my 30 gallon.

 

Great site Mike. I'm going to order the metal halide fixture HQI for $229. It comes with 2x175W HQI, 2x96W actinic, and 6x bluemoon LED.

 

Ok, I didn't buy the MH because than I would have to upgrade my chiller, so instead I replaced my PC 10K with PC 12K, and it was time to replace my actinic. The prices was still great. $53 for all 4 lights.