hey well i have a 10 gal with live sand and pool sand mixed half and half. live rock, and the water with a hang on back a power head and a heater still saving up for a uv sterilizer or a protein skimmer any suggestions on which one??? also any other suggestions helpful. this will be my first saltwater tank so all past experiences would help. i have a green spotted puffer that i will be converting to salt because currently its brackish also ill be putting in 1 or 2 clown fish and maybe a crab or something. so like i said before any suggestions or past experiences would help. cheers!!

lol gsp will eat the crab. ive tried fiddlers and mini crabs and they killed them both. you can use hermit crabs IF you put lots of empty snail shells in the bottom. if you just put them in without adding the other shells the puffers will eat them too.i have 2 gsp's in a 10 gallon saltwater tank and any crustacian infact, all the fish i have tried to add, (a true percula clown) were killed by the puffers.

o thats stinks if it come down to it ill probably move the puffer into a separate brackish tank

Yeah GSP are a pain if you want to mix them with other species of invert and fish,
If you can affort and get a good skimmer go for it, you can survive without the UV steryliser, if you water at your location is not in poor quality. Only thing that can change is algae bloom that is annoying ( tank full of hairy algae ) you can get either a sea hare ( slug ) or control the PO. A good cleaning crue is a must too...

ok thanx that was very helpful thanx a bunch. the sad thing is my gsp just died. the reason i got him was the store he was in had him i full fresh water witch isnt very good for them and i tried to give him a better home . but ya thanx very much fo the help anything you guys now about salt i would really appreciate knowing. so far my tanks doing good the hydrometer says 1.22 so far so good!