Critisism/Help with 10 Gallon Nano Setup

[Ryan98720]

I have an idea for a 10 gallon tank setup and I really want some advice and criticism on my plans.

I have a 10 gallon tank and a stand that i built for it. I plan on using this DIY PVC overflow(youtube.com/watch?v=UZytENJZtJw&t=162s) down to a 10 gallon sump hidden in the stand. I will have a ball valve in line to adjust flow from the overflow and also a ball valve on the line from the return pump.

For livestock in the tank I would really like to get a small clownfish and maybe a goby. I really love the frogspawn, hammer, and torch corals as well as zoas. Maybe pulsing xenias on a rock in the sandbed to keep them from tanking over the tank. Also I plan to put some type of cleaning crew in to keep everything clean.

I cant remember how much sand I will need, but I was thinking about 10 lbs of live sand and 10 lbs of live rock for the display and then more rubble and sand in the sump for filtration.

The want to follow this(youtube.com/watch?v=_-oanakiI7k) for my sump build. Basically 3 chambers, with the overflow pipe running into a filter sock. In that filter sock I want to put chemipure blue nano. In the second large well I want to put the sand and rubble rock and maybe macro algae like chaeto. Maybe even introduce some copepods into this section of the sump. Then the next is a bubble trap and the final section would be used for the pump. I would like to know what size pump would be good for a 10 gallon tank, and also how many times per hour should the water flow through the sump?

Eventually I plan on adding a DIY ATO if this is feasible.

Here are just some of the questions I have so far!

Questions
Where should the float switch for the ATO be located? In the tank or in the sump?
What type of light do i need? I don't want to get too crazy in terms of what corals I want to keep because a.) its only a 10 gallon tank and b.) I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on exotic coral species.
How often should i do water changes and how much water to change?
How do I know what size pump to use in my sump?
Do I need to use a powerhead, or would the return pump add enough to provide enough motion in the tank?
According to the video the pic overflow will be 352gph. Is this too much for the tank I'm doing? I could use a smaller pipe and reduce this, or add a ball valve to reduce this. If i continue with this would a 400 gph pump be good enough or should i go with a 500 with a ball valve in the line to reduce the flow?

 

[kenny sampson]

Ok to answer your question the float valve for the ato should be 8n the sump the last chamber the one the return pump goes in. Ligjts can be anything I like leds there are all kinds of brands look on some of the forms for lighting. Yes a small power head to help keep the bad stuff floating in the water long enough to get sucked into the sump. (No dead spots) I would go with the 500 and ball valve in case you want to increase power later. My opinions hope it helps

 

[Reef2zach]

If your just doing softies for coral and some euphillias I don't think you will need anything special for lights. Some cheap LEDS would probably be fine. I always thought it would be cool to just throw some gsp or some other really invasive softie coral in a tiny tank and let it take over the entire thing

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

With regards to the ball valve on the overflow and the return, you should not restrict the overflow side, only the return side if necessary. Ideally you want to choose your overflow based on how much flow your return pump can push. For instance, if your return pump will run about 300GPH, you want to rate your overflow for more than that (maybe in the 400 - 600 gph range). Generally speaking, it won't hurt the system's balance to have an oversized overflow (within reason). It could potentially hurt the system to restrict the overflow. For instance, if you place your hand in your tank to pick up something, the water level in the display will rise. Since your return pump is still pumping the same amount of water and your arm is also displacing water, you could potentially flood your tank. If your overflow is a bit larger than your return pump can send back to the tank, the displaced water will just spill to the sump. This is only one example, but the point is you don't want to restrict your overflow. If you need to restrict anything, restrict the return pump.

Additionally, I would not place media in a filter sock. Filter socks should ideally be changed out every 3 days or so, and your media may not be exhausted by that point. If you change the sock because it's dirty and throw out the media after 3 days, you're wasting good media. Filter socks clean and polish the water. If you want to run media, it's best to run it in a reactor or in a media bag.

In regards to the light, I would buy more than you need now instead of re-buying later. I thought that I would never want to keep high demand SPS corals because they're just too demanding and expensive. I bought a cheap PC light and called it a day. Now I have a tank full of those SPS corals that are too demanding and expensive. I had to re-buy lights. It would have been cheaper if I would have just bought a middle-of-the-road light capable of supporting anything instead of just buying the cheapest thing possible. My advice would be buy second-hand. On forums or Craigslist, some lights can go for 30% to 40% off retail after only being used for a few years. You'll have to keep an eye out for a deal, but IMO this is the way to go. If that's still too expensive, you can find inexpensive T5 grow lights on Amazon and Chinese black box LED lights on Ebay/Amazon that perform very well at around the $100 pricepoint. They're not perfect and they may not be the longest-lived, but they'll get you started.

 

[Diego Johnson]

Yes, I agree with chipmunkofdoo. I always try to setup soft LED lighting system, it also protects the fishes from highlight radiation as I know. I love to set up my aquarium with different tools. Once I setup a 10 gallon aquarium, but I am noticing day by day my tank is looking unclean and impure. There are live plants, gravels, fishes (tetra, gourami), some aquarium decoration, an air pump in my 10 gal tank. But getting the suggestion from https://fishboxpro.com/best-fish-tank/10-gallon-fish-tank. now my tank looks beautiful. Actually, the water is the main issue. My tank is not cycling properly, so I added a fluval canister filter here and yet it still looks great. I am not sure it will work fast for a long time or not.

Guys, have you any better suggestion about 10 gal tank looking better?