10 Gallon corals

ichthyogeek · 07/30/2017, 04:30 PM

I'm thinking of setting up a 10 gallon mixed tank that's hooked up to the 55 reef+sump. Stocking would probably be a small goby that's gotten lost in the tank, as well as a banggai cardinal/cardinalfish for when the banggai pair starts breeding. I'm already planning on adding macroalgae into the tank, but does anybody have suggestions for corals that will live happily in a 10 gallon tank, AND won't eat banggai cardinalfish fry? Are softies my only option here? Would a small clam work? Does anybody have any coral species they recommend? Feeding would probably be baby brine shrimp and/or fish eggs depending on the breeding cycle of the cardinalfish.

taby15 · 07/30/2017, 06:19 PM

Orange setosa

ichthyogeek · 08/02/2017, 10:13 AM

Ok! What else?

ReefWreak · 08/02/2017, 10:28 AM

Something to consider, you don't really need "10 gallon compatible corals", because this will be plumbed into a 55g tank+sump. "10 gallon compatible corals" are mushrooms, GSP, zoos, maybe a few LPS, really hardy corals. You need these hardy corals because in 10g of isolated water volume, you get pretty big and fast changes in water chemistry because of feeding, evaporation, etc.

You could fill a 10g tank with the most delicate SPS if it's plumbed into a large enough system to make its water chemistry stable. It actually has me thinking, I wonder if anyone has made a really nice 2.5g box plumbed into a larger system, to showcase a single individual beautiful coral. That would be a super cool idea. 2.5g might get temperature swings though, but a 10g with reasonable circulation wouldn't move the needle.

So really your only constraints are physical size (almost any coral will fit in a 10g tank), and that it won't eat banggai cardinalfish fry. Also, I think you might want to keep flow down for the fry as well, so you wouldn't want SPS that need high flow to survive.

So within that, sure, you could do a clam. A low-medium flow environment would make a cool display for euphyllia corals, maybe even make a cool garden of different colored euphyllias (torch, hammer, and frogspawn corals). Or do a few rocks in the center with thousands of zoanthids spreading all over them of different colors and do a heavy blue light over the tank.

Hope that helps and makes sense. Lots of options, and I don't think you need to worry about constraining yourself to a traditional "10 gallon tank" mindset.

07/30/2017, 04:30 PM	#1
ichthyogeek Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Arkansas Posts: 742	10 Gallon corals I'm thinking of setting up a 10 gallon mixed tank that's hooked up to the 55 reef+sump. Stocking would probably be a small goby that's gotten lost in the tank, as well as a banggai cardinal/cardinalfish for when the banggai pair starts breeding. I'm already planning on adding macroalgae into the tank, but does anybody have suggestions for corals that will live happily in a 10 gallon tank, AND won't eat banggai cardinalfish fry? Are softies my only option here? Would a small clam work? Does anybody have any coral species they recommend? Feeding would probably be baby brine shrimp and/or fish eggs depending on the breeding cycle of the cardinalfish. __________________ So many fish/corals/inverts to keep/breed, not enough aquaria Back after a 5 year hiatus.

08/02/2017, 10:13 AM	#3
ichthyogeek Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Arkansas Posts: 742	Ok! What else? __________________ So many fish/corals/inverts to keep/breed, not enough aquaria Back after a 5 year hiatus.

07/30/2017, 06:19 PM	#2
taby15 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 137	Orange setosa

08/02/2017, 10:28 AM	#4
ReefWreak Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Astoria, NYC Posts: 10,159	Something to consider, you don't really need "10 gallon compatible corals", because this will be plumbed into a 55g tank+sump. "10 gallon compatible corals" are mushrooms, GSP, zoos, maybe a few LPS, really hardy corals. You need these hardy corals because in 10g of isolated water volume, you get pretty big and fast changes in water chemistry because of feeding, evaporation, etc. You could fill a 10g tank with the most delicate SPS if it's plumbed into a large enough system to make its water chemistry stable. It actually has me thinking, I wonder if anyone has made a really nice 2.5g box plumbed into a larger system, to showcase a single individual beautiful coral. That would be a super cool idea. 2.5g might get temperature swings though, but a 10g with reasonable circulation wouldn't move the needle. So really your only constraints are physical size (almost any coral will fit in a 10g tank), and that it won't eat banggai cardinalfish fry. Also, I think you might want to keep flow down for the fry as well, so you wouldn't want SPS that need high flow to survive. So within that, sure, you could do a clam. A low-medium flow environment would make a cool display for euphyllia corals, maybe even make a cool garden of different colored euphyllias (torch, hammer, and frogspawn corals). Or do a few rocks in the center with thousands of zoanthids spreading all over them of different colors and do a heavy blue light over the tank. Hope that helps and makes sense. Lots of options, and I don't think you need to worry about constraining yourself to a traditional "10 gallon tank" mindset.