29G Marine Plan OK??

[fishhooked]

I am in the planning stages of converting my 29G freshwater tank to salt. I am going to take it as slowly as needed to do it right. I am on a somewhat limited budget but that's part of the reason for taking it slow. My basic plan so far is to have a 4-5" DSB, 30-40LBS of base rock, 10lbs of live rock, 2 powerheads, a protein skimmer and obviously a heater. I plan to have 2 or 3 fish once tank is cycled. I plan to leave it as FOWLR for at least a six months to a year before I venture into anything more. My question is am I on the right track and if so is this enough live rock to seed the base? Any suggestions/criticism will be gladly accepted. Thanks

[Trigger]

I would have to say you are on the right track.. Good luck with this venture. And don't forget to stay around here and read. I am New to here and have learned a ton already.

[OrionGirl]

Sounds like you're headed in the right direction. Have you thought about what fish you want? We might be able to help out. And, yes, that's enough live rock to seed your base rock--make sure to be patient and get the really nice pieces for seed. Don't buy it all at one place, either. Try and get a wide variety, since this increases the odds for a wide variety of organisms.

[fishhooked]

Thanks OrionGirl!! As for fish I'd like I'm unsure. I know I am limited with the 29G. I really like the Percula Clowns and I here they are fairly easy to keep. I would like a little variety. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[OrionGirl]

I like perculas, but if I ever have them again, they will be the only fish in the tank. We had a pair, and they were buggers. They look so cute and happy, until you see them pummeling another fish to death, dragging it around so it would get sucked into the overflow box...Dreadful. So, if you want a pair, you can have those two. They will pair up, and get along fine, if you start with them small. You could maybe add a small goby, or chalk basslet, but the basslet would rather be in a small group. Any other member of the damsel family (other clowns, damsles, or chromis) would be out.

Some options to look at: Chalk basslets, tobacco basslets. Both stay fairly small, and will be happy in your tank. You can look into the pygmy angels--bicolors, potters, rusty, and coral beauty angels (a single specimen only) would do fine, and could go with the basslets or a pair of perculas. There's a long list of inverts you can have--shrimp, crabs, stars, etc.

Once the tank is established and has a decent growth of algae, a lawn mower blenny is a great addition. They stay small, and are quite comical--you'd never suspect their mouth is really THAT big! :)

On the odd ball side...A 29 could be setup easily for an octopus. They are really neat creatures, but have a short life span. Very easy to maintain in a stable tank (at least 6 months old). Or, check out some of the small anglers out there. Some are very pretty-brightly colored, goofy little guys who seem to walk around, looking for things to suck down. Either of these options would limit you in some way--octopus eat anything they can subdue (hermit crabs are a great snack, mantis shrimp are delicacy, etc).

[heedicus]

Everything looks great!
One sugguestion, if it were me I would add in one more powerhead. I have a 29 that I had setup as a fresh water but pending on the size of powerhead you could do ok with 2 but if you had smaller powerheads I would go with 3. Reason for that when using smaller tanks with less powerheads its easy to get lots of dead spots (areas with little or no flow) and with a new tank with the algae cycle those dead spots are great for growing cyno and other bad algaes. If your lfs has a used section keep an eye for em. I find almost new powerheads at mine all the time.
Other than that GREAT!
tren

[fishhooked]

Well maybe I will rethink the clowns but I have plenty of time to research that. That brings me to another question. When it comes to live rock, do I add that before during or after cycling? I was thinking of doing a fishless cycle. I had great success with that in my 55G freshwater. I used household ammonia and it took about a month. Is this an option in SW?

About the powerhead thing. I was thinking of useing the powersweeps. Would that be a good option. Also would like advice on which protein skimmer to use. I like the look of the Red Sea Prizm. Again these are just thoughts and I am open to advice. Thanks for all the great help. I have a feeling I'm going to be asking a lot more ?'s before I am done. Hopefully I can be of help to someone else after I get some experience under my belt.

[BrianH]

You can add uncured live rock to the tank to fishless cycle the tank. If you plan on adding cured live rock wait until the tank is cycled then add the rock so you don't lose any of the life on the rock.
Most SW fishkeepers just toss in a raw cocktail shrimp for a fishless cycle. You can use ammonia but it is easier to toss in shrimp once instead of adding a certain amount of ammonia daily and testing the water to make sure your dosing the correct amount.
The prism skimmer is fine for a 29 gallon tank.

Brian

[fishhooked]

Thanks BrianH!! Great pics, they inspire me to get the ball rolling.

Does anyone know where I could buy good base rock to start with. As I said earlier, I will seed it with LR later. I'm having a hard time finding base rock. I'm sure I could probably get some at my LFS but I like to look at all my options before I buy. Thanks

To OrionGirl I wanted to come back to the clown question. This may be a dumb question but is the behavior of the False Clown the same as the Percula. Thanks!!

[BrianH]

I have a powersweep in my tank that I'm pleased with. Most people will advise against powersweeps because they say that they stop moving. Mine usually stops moving about once a month and requires a simple push on the nozzle to begin moving again. I have to do a complete cleaning about every 3 months.
Brian

[OrionGirl]

I haven't had any of the false perculas, so can't say for sure, but I woud imagine it would be similar. Clowns are members of the damsel family, and all of them are territorial little buggers.