New to salt could use advice

Hey everyone I see alot of really nice tanks on here you guys have some great stuff and def know what you are doing.... So I would like to know what advice do you have for a beginer I have a small 10 gallon now and am just learning going to upgrade not sure what size maybe a 70 bow front or somthing. I don't even know where to start what type of filtration and stuff I should get right now I have the 10 gallon with a aqua clear 30 HOB with 5lbs of live rock.. inside the tank I have a Green spotted puffer, A clown fish no idea of what kind of clown maybe you guys can tell me, A emerald crab that hides inside the live rock 90% of the time and a much of snails and hermit crabs for clean up as well.... The water stays pretty clean and no amonia or nitrites so I'm good there I was not runing any phosphate remover at first but got tons of algae and learned that I needed to run this so I started running phosphate remover (pura phoslock) with some carbon in the bag in my filter I have been testing for about a week now and it is coming down but now gone yet...... I really have no clue what I'm doing but I have to start somwhere. I have been doing fresh water for a little while now so I do know some about that but there is so much more to salt it's kinda a steep learning curve for me. Any advice on my current set up or on getting the larger tank would be great since I'm so confused on what to do I really am just kinda lost..... Here are some pics of my tank although it's not very impresive.....

 

well, let me say you have a very interesting set-up, and you are correct, you need to start somewhere. if it where my tank i would ditch the red rock thingy and the pebbles for a nice sandbed. and i dont know what kind of puffer you have but it looks like a brackish water puffer?? i cant really tell from the pics, where did you get him? you are off to a good start though, test your water often and fix problems as needed. if you have any questions feel free to ask and welcome to 3reef!!

 

forgot to add, what types of powerheads do you have, and whats your lighting?

 

Frank - I'm fairly new to the salt water thing myself, only been doing it about 1 1/2 years and already have had a catastrophic tank crash - that sucked!

Anyway, I know the things I've learned in the short time I've had my tank (40 gallon bow front).

pH, salinity and temp are the top three things to watch. IMO for FOWLR (fish only with live rock) keep the pH at 8.2 - 8.3, salinity about 1.023 - 1.025 and temp 79-81. Now, I've heard that some fish can be more likely to get parasites or bacterial infections at the lower end of the salinity range but I haven't experienced that one myself.

I just started adding my first pieces of soft corals, so I made sure that I had plenty of lighting and filtration first. I actually am currently running an Emperor 400 HOB BioWheel (keep and eye on your nitrates if you keep the wheel), a Fluval 305 canister filter with ceramic rings and activated charcoal, and I just put in a 10 gallon sump, right now it has bio-balls in the intake chamber, flows into the middle with LR and a DSB, then through more activated charcoal and back to the tank.

For sure don't be afraid to try things out and check out alot of the resources and DIY posts on 3Reef, I made one of the overflows out of PVC after seeing the ideas right here on these forums.

Anyway, here's hoping for the best, and keep pics coming!!

 

Good points on all. The red rock scares me. Is that lava rock? Red usually means iron, which means it can and will leach it into the tank, and no telling what else is in there that could come out. I would also get that one out, and add a little more live rock, maybe get the total to around 10lbs. And definitely add a Koralia Nano powerhead.
As for anything else, it really depends on what you are going for. Is it going to stay fish only, or are you going to be looking at corals soon?

 

Howdy! and welcome to 3Reef

 

Welcome!

 

Hey thanks guys I think it is lava rock not sure I will remove tomarow it was in there from when I purchased the tank and it was fresh water thats what there is not sand in the bottom the tank was fresh water then I got the puffer and converted him to salt from what I read he is fresh water when he is young and then brackish and then salt well I just moved him over a little faster he seems happy been over a month now and no problems he eats like crazy..... I think I will go get a few more pounds of LR tomarow. As far as lighting I just have the standard single bulbe I think its 15 watt. This tank will stay fish only I was thinking of getting a anemone for the clown fish but I am not sure I know how to take care of that yet so we will see. It would not be a good idea to just take out all the gravel and replace with sand would it?? . I hate to spend the money on a power head for this tank when its only temp. The filter creates alot of current its an aquaclear 30 I think its over 200gph not possitive though.. will take pics when I get the new LR

 

O yeah and I got the puffer from my local fish store and get this they have some in fresh water and some in salt asked them about it they said all of them are shipped in fresh when they get there they just divide them up and put some in fresh and some in salt.... So I acclimated him over a few weeks time I felt that was a little nicer...