Looking for some advice?

I haven't been doing this for long but I can say that for your salt, you said it's enough for 35 gallons of water. Don't forget to remember that every time you do water changes (say 10% so another 3 to 4 gallons at least) you'll use salt, so salt is something to buy in bulk because it's cheaper that way and you'll use it :)

Also, if you're shopping online, http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ this site had a coupon code good for 15% off (coupon code DODGE) that still worked as of two days ago. Have fun with your new tank!
 
aragonite substrate is what i prefer. looks nice. i got the "BIO-Liv Live Sand Aragonite" at PETCO. it seemed to help my cycle go faster, it came with a bit of water in it... who knows, but i like the way it looks! 10lbs did OK for a thin layer in my 12gal. you prob need 30? there are DSB (deep sand beds) if ya do it right, but you're best with 1" thick...

the rule of thumb for rock is 1.25-1.5 pounds per gallon. try 20-25 at first, see how it looks. the different regions it comes from make for different densities. Fiji is very light weight, so 20lbs will take up more room than the same of ... Aquacultured Florida rock or something.

i can't help on lighting. never looked into it. i only am FOWLR right now and mine came with 4W/gal which'll keep the beginner stuff i want.

most people recommend pretty much nothing for filtration in a reef tank. the live rock is a biological filter and that's all you really need. if you have a filter that hangs on the back, put some live rock rubble in there since it'd get maximum water flow there and be more benefit than just the LR in the tank.

most FW tests should work with SW. check the pH one though. should have a 2nd scale for SW. refractometer is best bought cheap on eBay. i think like $30. hydrometer does work fine, prob save $20 but i'd guess it's worth it. i want one ! :)

and the powerhead - that'd be 315gph, not 15. prob typo.. AquaClear 50 or 70, or whatever brand u choose... Hearing a lot about Hydor Koralia's lately. They only are for water movement and are cheap, move lots of water, and suppose to be easy to direct to hardspots.
 
I just got two Hydor Koralias for my 75 gallon tank and they were much, much easier for me to position than the powerhead. I have newbie angst so this was a good thing ;)
 
ryuku32 said:
Frags are what ya add to your live rock. :D
www.thatfishplace.com won't sell to canadians?
20lbs fiji http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/234099/product.web
but thing about buying online, you don't get to pick out the shapes :(
Click to expand...

Thanks for that site! I searched through about 20 others that would not ship to Canada and just gave up. Of course I still have to research the customs policies on brining sometrhing like into the country, may make it worth while to just get it locally, but an awesome site none the less.

Also, thanks for clearing up the live rock/frag thing for me. Im going to assume that if you just gow ith live rock it will eventually grow on its own, but if you want to speed it up you can buy the frags, or is this habby even more expensive than I was expecting?
 
Frags are simply fragments of corals. It's like taking an offshoot from a plant, rooting it, and making another plant...just with corals.

Don't use crushed coral. Sand is much better. If you want the quick cycle, follow someone's advice above about buying a bag of live sand. For a 20g, you could probably get away with a 20lb bag. I used 2 in my 29, but I'm going for the deeper sand bed for some fish I have in mind.

Oh, and a simple google search for live rock in canada pulled up this site:
http://www.jlaquatics.com/static/livestock/liverock.htm

Good luck!
 
You might luck out and get some corals growing on your live rock after some time, but I didn't with 18lbs of Fiji. Got some macro algaes and feather dusters and lots of lil critters (copepods and isopods). You don't _need_ those things, but yes. It's an expensive hobby! :) Probably wouldn't have started if I knew it'd take nearly $600 before I got just a clown fish living in a 12gal! But it's very rewarding and exciting to see what kind of things will develop on your live rock which hitchhiked their way into your tank. Some good, some bad...
Corals overall seem to cost more than fish, to me. A local hobbiest might be willing to start you out with some frags of his overgrowing population of corals. They're definately not required. Is that what you want though? I'm still waiting before I get any, so really it's a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) setup I guess, but hopefully not for much longer.
 
Well eventually I would like to have some live rock with coral growing on it and 2 little clown fish, but by the sounds of it the coral will be aways in the future. May just do the FOWLR set-up until I get a larger tank. May also place an ad in the local paper to see if anyone does have an over growing coral population they would be willing to give me some snippits of.

Thank you all so much for the great information, I have learned more from this thread than I have the last week searching and reading websites.
 
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