1. Fill tank w/ chlorine free water (Will PRIME work?)
RO/DI would be the best way to go. Using tap water, even conditioned tap water is going to cause major problems in the long run. THere are so many impurites in tap that cause nuisance algae blooms. If RO/DI isn't an option you can buy bottled distilled at Walmart for 57 cents a gallon.
2. Add live sand and live rock?
Yup, add that in and let the tank cycle.
3. Wait for tank to cycle?
The cycle will take anywhere from 2-8 weeks depending on how cured/uncured your rock is.
4. Test water (Will my freshwater test kits work?)
There are some test kits that can be used for fresh and salt, but IMO they aren't very reliable. Do yourself a favor, and buy good quality test kits. I recommend Salifert.
5. Add coral (what kind are low light And how much light?)
Nope, don't add corals yet. After the tank cycles, you'll want to add in your clean up crew to take care of any accumulated detritus from the die off. Wait another month or two before adding in corals.
As far as lighting goes, there are alot of options. Stop over at
www.hellolights.com for some great prices on lighting upgrades. 2x96 watt PC's would be good, or you could go the MH route.The lights that come with a standard 10 gallon aren't bright enough to keep anything much.
6. Add clean up crew (how many and what kind)
You want to go with some diverstiy in your selection here. Different snails perform different tasks in the tank. Nassarius for the sand bed stirring and general detritus detail, ceriths to stir the sand bed and clean the glass. Margaritas, nerites, astreas, trochus all clean the glass and LR surfaces. I'd stay away from the larger turbos in a 10. They tend to bulldoze frags and topple smaller pieces of LR.
Hermits - your choice. I've come to dislike my blue legs, they tend to be more aggressive and ominivorous than my scarlet reef hermits.
7. Add fish (any ideas?)
Stick with just two fish.
www.liveaquaria.com has a fish section labeled "nano fish". That'll give you some ideas of which fish make good choices for smaller tanks.
8. Top off to the same level with salt free water?
Correct. Top off daily, 10% water change weekly.
For water flow I have a few filters but no power heads.
The general rule of thumb for water flow is to turn over
at least 10-15x gph, so in your 10 gallon tank you'll want at least 100-150 gph flowing through the tank. This can be accomplished by using the HOB filter that you have and adding in a small powerhead. Micro-jets are an excellent choice because of their small profile and the adjustable flow.
Will a filter work with out the media in it?
HOB can be run without the media, but I like to run a poly/carbon pad to catch any gunk that's floating in the water column. Change the media out wekly - you'll be surprised at how quickly the pads get filled with junk.
When I add the top off water I can't add the water and then put then Prime in can I?
Like I mentioned - ditch the prime and use a better quality water.
