Equipment list and feeding question

[cplawrence]

I am putting together a 29 gal which will at least initially be FOWLR. Assuming all goes well, I can envision including some soft corals eventually. I was looking to take advantage of Big Al's free shipping order and was hoping to see if anything was missing in this equipment list. I already had picked up three powerheads (2 Maxijet 1200 and a 400 for mixing salt).
1 thermometer
2 200 W heaters (overdoing it, but want to be sure one could handle the tank if necessary--winter is cold here )
1 master test kit
1 refractometer
1 130W CF strip light (sufficient for soft corals, yes?)
1 Aquaclear filter (I was thinking of having it around to run carbon in when necessary, and also about the possibility of turning into a HOB refugium--for that application, should I be looking at a 70?)

Salt will be picked up locally.

As for the feeding question, I have been reading Paletta's book and he emphasized the importance of offering different types of food (flake, freeze dried and frozen). However, I was under the impression here that frozen was used near exclusively. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

 

[cplawrence]

I always hate doing this, but seeing as I was looking to place the order tomorrow....bump.

 

[lando]

List looks good. The lighting you mentioned should be just fine for softies and even some LPS corals. Do you have plans for substrate and amount of LR?

As for feeding...you are correct, a variety is very important. Feed high quality foods and do not forget to add dietary suppliments such as Garlice Extreme, Selcon and Vita-Chem. Frozen foods are popular and there are some good brands. It is very important to thaw all frozen foods and then rinse them with RO/DI water prior to soaking them in supplients and adding to the tank. This will help with water quality issues. Food in general is a common avenue for NO3 and PO4 to work it's way into the tank.

 

[cplawrence]

Once again, sorry about the bump, but I appreciate the feedback. For LR, with liverocks.com out of commission, I was going to go with the 45# deal from liveaquaria. I was going to pick up 50# of aragonite sand locally.

The lighting you mentioned should be just fine for softies and even some LPS corals.

That sounds great!

As for the supplements you mentioned, do you use these at every meal? Would all three be used or would you cycle through them?

 

[lando]

I feed every other day or so and alternate feeding frozen and high-quality flake. I only soak the fozen in the suppliments so it ends up to be once or twice a week.

 

[DragonForce]

I feed frozen blood worms, salifert pellet, and this high quality red sea pellet I found. I feed every other day.