Rockwork for 29g aquarium

[littlefish4]

Hey guys, I'm in the beginning stages of setting up my first saltwater aquarium. Like many others I got it as a Christmas gift and it came with just a regular filter (with a bio wheel for biological filtration) a heater, thermometer, and lighting. To my knowledge I am still needing a protein skimmer, hydrometer, salt mix, RO unit, rockwork and substrate. If I'm missing anything, feel free to let me know.
I say that to preface my question. Can I use limestone as a live rock substitute if I use live aragonite sand? Also, is there a reputable dealer of it? Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks!

 

[littlefish4]

Also this is not a reef tank. Looking at fish and mobile inverts only.

 

[exmasonite]

Couple of questions... I'm a relative newbie myself so figure i'll collect more info for the group:

What size tank and type? Is it regular tank with everything hanging on the back or some sort of all-in-one unit like Biocube or nano cube?

Can you be more specific on what type of filter? Any idea what sort of water flow (gallons per hour) the pump that came with it provides?

What sort of lighting does the tank have?


Only thoughts off the top of my head:

1) Water flow will be key... probably will want another power head of some sort.

2) Depending on what you do with filter and how you want to stock it, skimmer may not be absolutely necessary.

3) I recently set up a bio cube and went with a media basket insert that allows a few different chemical filtration options including Purigen and Chemipure.

4) Do you plan on having live rock and sand/livesand? That typically serves as major site/source for your biological filtration. I am not sure if a biowheel allows for adequate biological filtration for a saltwater tank. have run them on my FW tanks but never salt water.

My humble opinion, the key is going to be water flow and live rock/live sand for biological filtration. Everything else we do is icing on the cake to limit the need for water changes... You could probably get away with the flow and substrate and frequent water changes and your tank would do fine. I run all that other stuff, refugium, and skimmer on my tank so I only have to do weekly water changes.

 

[littlefish4]

Thanks for responding exmasonite.
I have a 29 gallon marineland aquarium with the dimensions being 30"X12"X17".
The filter is a Penguin power filter with the bio wheel as the feature for the unit. It has an insert with activated carbon for chemical filtering purposes and it will hang off the back. I could not find the water flow and honestly the pump either but the lighting is going to be an LED bar with 45 bulbs that sits in the top.
As far as live rock/sand goes I would like to do one or the other simply because I'm short on funds being a min wage employee but if that is the smartest option I can save up a little to get there.

 

[littlefish4]

http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-Aq...8-1&keywords=marineland+29+aquarium+bio+wheel

here's a link to the aquariium

 

[exmasonite]

Well... I think your lighting is fine if you're just going for fish.

You should do a search on FOWLR (fish only with live rock) and may want to cross post to the non-nano reef board but regardless, I think you are going to want to get some live rock in there.

My thoughts (again, let's say limited experience but have been doing a fair amount of research). I would say go with live rock, lots of good water flow.

I have no comment on how effective the penguin filter and biowheel will be for saltwater. I think you'd be best to put some sort of chemical filtration such as the purigen and/or chemipure in the filter. Have some basic floss for gross filtration but i wouldn't put much $$ into the filter cartridges. You can by sheets of filter floss for pennies on the dollar compared to the prepackaged filters. With limited funds, I would go with as much live rock as you can afford... shoot for 25-30 lbs minimum.
I would get some sort of subsrate... sand or crushed coral. Ideally, a nice deep bed will complement the live rock and help with biological filtration but if i had to pick one, go for rock. Anything you put in there will eventually become live so don't spend extra on livesand or anything like that.
Lastly, get 1-2 good powerheads to move the water around... at least 200-300 gph each, one for each end of tank depending on how much flow the filter creates.

If you don't want to do the live rock, then you have to get much more aggressive with your power filtration and consider larger HOB filters or canister filter. Personally, i'd go for the liverock.... never had to replace the filter or motor on liverock, LOL.

Hopefully that is helpful... i look forward to others input.

 

[exmasonite]

Also... don't forget a good test kit to keep an eye on parameters such as ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and pH. I have been using the API but plan on upgrading to the the Red Sea ones as I agree about the inaccuracy.

 

[littlefish4]

Okay, ill look into live rock a little more. I hadn't heard anything about powerheads or water flow so I'm glad you mentioned that.

 

[littlefish4]

Do I need a reverse osmosis unit for purifying water before salting it? Or can I get by without it?

 

[exmasonite]

Good question on RO/DI.

I have one at my house now so that's what i use. My last reef tank 4-5 years ago was a 29 gallon and i just bought a 5 gal pal from LFS for my weekly water changes and had a cheapo heater to warm it up.

 

[littlefish4]

How many lbs of live rock for this tank do you guys think? Remembering its a 29 gallon

 

[exmasonite]

I would say as much as you can afford but i'd shoot for 30 lbs as a minimum. I've got 35 lbs in my 21 gallon.

 

[nelix10]

It does not have to be live rock, if your willing to be patient! Dry rock is a quarter the price and will cycle in your system just fine!


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