saltwater setup

Question
I have a ten gallon aquarium that I want to turn into a saltwater tank.  I was wondering how many fish you suggest putting in this tank, how many live rocks and coral to put in it, and maybe a step by step on how to set it up.  What kind of filters and special precautions and steps need to be taken?  Please help me if you can. Thank you.
Shayla

Answer
well 10gal your looking at very very limited stocking. 2 tank bred common clown fish is the kind of thing your looking at. 2 fish would be the max really, also you will need to be prepaired to do alot of water changes as the smaller tanks are very hard to keep stable.

are you planning to run a proteinskimer on the tank?

to start with fill the tank with RO water and get it up to temp. add and mix the salt (this is the only time you will be able to add salt straight to the tank) get it to the correct SG.
add your coral sand/argonite, then let it all settle for 24hours or so. you will probably need about 5-7Kg of liverock. then the cycle begins, you will need to keep testing your water, the cycle will not be finished untill the ammonia, nitrIte are zero. you will have nitrAtes but this is all part of the de-nifrifying process.

as for filtering all i use is liverock, i make sure that i have excelent flow through the rock and this carries the water to the bacteria present in the rock.

also if you could find a filter or something similar to run carbon and phosphate media in it will vastly improve your water conditions.

i hope this helps a little to get you started, at the end of the day its important for you to do it your own way. there is so much conflicting information out there that if you listened to it all you will never be able to do everything to cover it all. all i can sugest is read alot and see which way best suite you and your tankmates.