10 gallon saltwater tank (too small???)

[DLART89]

I gave a friend of mine a 10gal tank and stand and now he wants to set up a SW tank with fish and corals. Is this a good idea? The smallest SWRT I have set up is a 46 gallon. I always heard that a reef or any SW tank should be @ least 30 gallons. What kinda lights would you put over it? Comments, suggestions, or questions welcome.
Dave

[Bughead]

Go for it! Nano tanks are popular, but they do bare a closer watch than the larger tanks. When things go wrong, they go wrong quickly. A 10 gal with just corals and inverts,(snails, crabs, shrimp, etc.) and no fish can be quite beautiful and relatively simple.

This was a subject that came up last month, so do an archive search, you'll find a lot of info. Have fun.

[DLART89]

Thanks for the "pep" talk! I did research and it looks like its gonna be cheaper and easier to maintain than a big tank.

[Beerman]

It won't be easier to maintain then a larger tank. A 10 gallon tank will be very difficult with anything other than damsels and soft corals, for the most part.

[Reefland]

Cheaper = Yes
Easier = No

The low amount of total water volume gives less room for error so things have to be monitored more closely in my opinion. The smallest difference in salinity for new water used in a water change can cause big troubles when your doing changes. Nano's are doable, just make sure to keep your eye on the critical water conditions.

Scott Z.

[saltjunkie]

i just posted over in tanks and filtration, if you want to set up a small tank, i have a good formula..... i kept all kinds of corals, a clown, strawberry basslet, for a period i had a beautiful copper bande butterfly with them for aiptasia removal..... it can be done, but it is consuming.....
everymorning was new top off water, as was every night....
i had 100 watts of pc lighting and a hang on back wet/dry filter with the media removed and live rock added......
i can post pics here i think, if any one is interested......
it was homemade and ugly to a point on the outside, but it was what was inside that mattered.....
a good wood worker and more patients than i could have made a beautiful tank!!!