OK. First, a little about myself. I have had many very successful freshwater fish tanks. I had one that was so established it no longer needed a filter and I only had to do water changes every 5 months. I have tried a couple salt tanks (one a joint venture with my brother) and they both had some mixed success. After reading some forums and doing some of the podcasts, it appears one of our biggest blunders was not using live sand or
live rock and trying to get it going from “dry” scratch. We also used backpack filters with filter bags and active carbon as the only mode of filtration.
From reading posts and listening to the serious hobbyists, this is what I have, and what I’m planning on going with. Let me know what you think.
What I have:
I have a standard 29 gallon tank. Plain old 2’6” X 1’ tank. (Would like to get bigger, but apartment complex only allows 30 gal or less)
100 watt heater
My plans:
20 pounds live sand + 10 pounds regular sand
25 pounds live fiji rock from
LFS (it will be fully cured)
Instant Ocean in 25 gallons of
RO water
A backpack filter for a 30 gallon tank filled with a combination of
live rock pieces and
Seachem Matrix Biofilter Media I have thought about getting a backpack filter for a 60 gallon tank and filling it with the above mentioned things to make the secondary area bigger.
API Saltwater test kit
Now, that’s my tank and filtration plans. Please let me know what you think about this as an initial setup to get the cycle rolling. I have also heard some people SWEAR by protein
skimmers and other people say they hurt filtration because they remove some cool bacteria. I also will get a powerhead eventually, but without any coral I am hoping to wait on that expense (with all the other stuff I'm getting up front).
Even though we don’t plan on rushing anything into the tank, EVENTUALLY we want to have 1 percula, 1 bicolor pseudochromin, 1 cleaner shrimp, a couple small hermit crabs and either a flame hawk or a dwarf angel of some sort (this will be the last fish we add). I feel this is a pretty low bioload for the tank size (3 small fish, a couple crabs and a shrimp). Are these fish all compatible with a reef tank?
Where I really need help is lighting because for some reason, I can’t understand what people are talking about as it pertains to reef lighting and what I need. I know I’m supposed to have around 3-5 watts per gallon for a reef tank, but there are all these different types of light and stuff that no matter how many times I read it, it doesn’t make sense. I know information similar to this has been posted, but since every setup is different, I'm curious as to what people think about my proposed start.
And one last question. I live in Orange County
CA. This is going to sound either smart or completely insane. Is it advisable to pull a little water from the ocean and put it in my tank to get some good bacteria in there? Like I said, that could sound completely logical or insane. I'm interested to see which.
Thank you in advance.
