Jumping In

[Slick Fork]

Hi there,

I've decided to take the plunge and try out the salty side of things and have am in the planning/aquisition stage for a 10 gallon Nano tank. The tank that I'm envisioning will have about 15 lbs of Live Rock, about 2" of Pool Filter Sand (I know, not as good as "real" sand but a guy can't beat the price!). I've got a small HOB filter (aquaclear mini or similar) that I'm planning to fill with LR rubble, heater of course, and for lighting I'll be swapping out the bulbs on an el-cheapo incandescent hood for a couple of 20 or 25 watt CF bulbs. I've also got a 24" t-12 fixture hanging around that I could probably jerry rig for use as actinic lighting while the 2 cf's will be daylight bulbs (this way to I can use seperate timers!). I'll also grab a power head but am unsure as to what sort of flow rate I should be looking for in a 10G.

I plan on ordering one of those "custodian packages" from JL aquatics with the crabs/snails etc. to use as my clean-up crew!

I know I should be figuring out what I want to keep and build a system around that, however I'm on a rather small budget and have to make do with what I've got or can acquire relatively cheaply.

Looking at my planned setup, have I missed anything? I know I'll need some incidental stuff like a Hydrometer etc. but I think I have most of the bases covered.

Question 2, with the lights I will have, what are some of the coral's/sponges etc that you guys would recommend keeping? I'm leary of taking the salesman's advice when they say "Oh yeah, these'll do fine under any conditions!!" Oh, and when I go to grab my live rock, what should I be looking for?

Question 3, what sort of fish will do well and be easy to please for a newbie into the salt world (I've been running a very successful planted FW tank but this seems a little more intimidating for some reason!) What sort of fish have you guys enjoyed and which ones would you recommend a guy stays away from!

My plan for starting out is to get the tank up and running for a day or two, grab some uncured/partially live rock (for the cycle). After a couple of weeks I'll order the clean-up crew and then what? Can I start adding corals as soon as I have no nitrates or should I wait? Should the fish go in before the corals or vice versa?

It seems as soon as I get one aspect settled, four or five new questions pop into my head!!

Thanks in advance for the replies!

Cheers