Mattias first saltwater build :)

[SwimsWithFish]

First off I'd like to introduce my self a bit.
I'm Mattias, I live in fort worth texas and I love fish. I've been in and out of freshwater for 10 years and a couple months ago I felt the urge to get salty. It will be a couple months until this thread will be done and my tank is complete(money). So this thread will be kind of like short lived tv series. Haha anyways here we go... I will be doing a 29 gallon Lps and soft reef tank.
Equipment:
Aquaclear 70(refugium mod)
2 power heads(any suggestions? I heard koralias are good)
This light http://fishneedit.com/30in-4bulbs-fixtu304.html
a marineland heater
20 pounds of base rock
10 lbs of live rock

Stock list:
A mated pair of ocellaris clowns
Flame angel
Yellow watchman goby
And an Orangethroat pikeblenny

Corals:
Various mushrooms
A couple zoanthid colonies
Neon green polyps
Australian big polyp Blastomussa
a giant green polyp Duncan
A pistol shrimp for the goby

Clean up crew:
3 porcelain crabs
7 cleaner shrimp
10 turbo snails
Anything else I'm missing with cuc?

I'll be purchasing the tank and stand in a month.
So far I have the aquaclear and a LOT of salt.
Thanks

 

[SwimsWithFish]

Also, will it be safe to add fish after the cycle if not all the rock is alive yet?

 

[carey]

Welcome to the salty side of things.

Your equipment list looks pretty good as does your stocking list. By the time you finish cycling the base rock should be pretty much alive so sure, you can add fish anytime after the cycle completes.

 

[Mjpendrey]

You don't have any hermit crabs in you clean up crew? IMO 7 cleaner shrimp is abit much :/

 

[joy13]

You might want to read up a little more on the angel they have a tendency to nip and eat LPS. Your clean up crew seems a little heavy, the turbos will knock around every frag in the tank. You cold probably do with a couple of nassarius to help keep the sand turned and eat leftover food.

I do like my fishneedit light but the bulbs leave a lot to be desired so when have to change them upgrade them, when I did my corals took off like crazy.

 

[SwimsWithFish]

You don't have any hermit crabs in you clean up crew? IMO 7 cleaner shrimp is abit much :/

Can you recommend an easy peaceful hermit?

 

[SwimsWithFish]

You might want to read up a little more on the angel they have a tendency to nip and eat LPS. Your clean up crew seems a little heavy, the turbos will knock around every frag in the tank. You cold probably do with a couple of nassarius to help keep the sand turned and eat leftover food.

I do like my fishneedit light but the bulbs leave a lot to be desired so when have to change them upgrade them, when I did my corals took off like crazy.

So I should upgrade the bulbs when I get it?

 

[joy13]

I used mine for about 9 months then got better bulbs I think I got ATI bulbs for my tank I went with a special blue, a purple plus and 2 whites. T5 High Output HO / VHO Fluorescent Aqaurium Lamps

 

[SwimsWithFish]

I used mine for about 9 months then got better bulbs I think I got ATI bulbs for my tank I went with a special blue, a purple plus and 2 whites. T5 High Output HO / VHO Fluorescent Aqaurium Lamps

Cool! What do you keep under them? Any sps?

 

[joy13]

I keep LPS and softies in that tank.

 

[SwimsWithFish]

Oh and one quick question... When I start to add live stock can I do it like one fish and one coral at the same time every three weeks?

 

[carey]

I would add a fish or two at a time and keep an eye on your water parameters. every few weeks is a good time frame in my opinion.

As far as corals, I have added several at once, as many as five ro 6 at a time and was fine.

 

[SwimsWithFish]

Cool!!! I'll probably do a few duncans... Do they coexist well? Are they hardy?

 

[carey]

I have duncans and they grow really fast in my tank. I havent had any problems with them at all and they are super cool to look at

 

[SwimsWithFish]

I have duncans and they grow really fast in my tank. I havent had any problems with them at all and they are super cool to look at

Nice! I think there one of the coolest corals!!! Do you target feed yours?

 

[carey]

I have on occasion but not as a daily practice. They still grow like weeds though lol

 

[SwimsWithFish]

I found a biocube 29 with stand on craigslist last night with stand and rock!!! And then it got sold within an hour...
Oh well! I'll just have to keep looking.

 

[joy13]

There might be local forums that you can join and find things too. I was looking at one in NJ and it is a good thing I don't live. My local forums are great I don't belong to a reef club but I have thought about. A nice thing about local forums is someone might have something laying around they aren't using it is to nice to throw out and they don't want to go through craigslist to get rid of it. I got 3 of my tanks off local forums.

 

[SwimsWithFish]

***stock list update***

So I've decided I don't really want to take a chance with the angel fish

So here it is

2 ocellaris clowns
1 yellow watchman goby
1 bicolor dottyback(will that work?)
And I want one more, a big fish that will be the main attraction, one that when you look at the tank it's like BAM!!!(preferably rather big compared to the others)

Any ideas for the "BAM" fish???
Thanks

 

[SwimsWithFish]

Anyone?:0