Spots on FISH!!

I think I want a few fish with maybe a chip and maybe a cleaner shrimp.
I wanna make a 10gal fug/sump. I just need to find out plans for one. I am gunna try to get a 55 or 90 for a full on reef tank down the road. But for now I wanna get my tank all set up nice. Still trying to figure out what I really need for it? I am thinking my sump/fug. Maybe a biowheel for a while. And if I get that sump/fug going do I need all the live rock? How much fish can I fit in their.

 

It would depend on what type of fish. A 30 is small for many marine fish.

I have a 58 gallon with one tang, one yasha gobie/shrimp pair and 1/2 of a filament wrasse pair (waiting on the female). That will be it for me. 4 fish.

If you want those inverts, you need 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. No way around that. That means more live rock, or some denitrator, whether it be a coiled one, a liquid one, or a deep sand one (deep sand is what I use in my refugium to keep nitrates at zero).

Since you plan on upgrading your tank at some point, it makes alot of sense to purchase your filtration to fit the larger tank you will eventually get. It will be less expensive in the long run.

My personal preference for filtration is simple, Protein skimmer to remove organics, refugium to remove more organics, Live Rock to aid the process, and a DSB in my fuge to process the nitrate into nitrogen gas that bubbles up and out of the system. I do use ozone, but I don't feel it is necessary.

Why only a 10 g. for the fuge/sump? Can you fit a 20 high in there? Fit the largest you can under there, you won't regret it. I have a 20 under mine. Wish it were bigger! LOL!

Remember, if setting up a fuge, you will be draining water from the top tank into the bottom. If you have a power failure, there needs to be enough room in the sump to accomodate the excess water overflow. If you look in my gallery I posted lots of pics of the making of my sump.

Tanks that size are relatively cheap, so get the largest on you can fit, IMHO.