New 29 gal

[Burlington Reef]

Hi, I have a new (2.5 week) old 29 gal tank.

So far, I have about 3 inches of live sand on the bottom and 10 lbs of live rock.

Water parameters are looking good, although I noticed some brown fuss on the sand today. Part of the cycle I'm sure.

I'm filtering with a 350 gph canister. No sump or protien skimmer yet.

What are your thoughts on next steps? Please note, I'd like to keep this set up simple and cost effective. Thanks

[SquidHC]

Unfortunately your first tank is rarely cost effective because alot of LFS will sell you stuff you dont need. The canister filter for example, most people will say to get rid of it because they have a tendancy to create nitrate spikes if you dont clean your filter media very very often. I really got screwed on my first tank so the best suggestion I can give you is to research every item you buy before you buy it. Also dont be afraid to ask questions.

Sump-
You dont HAVE to have a sump for your 29 gal, Im setting up a 30g atm and Im electing to add one, but really considered not. Its really nice to be able to add the extra water volume, have a place for the skimmer, and have a smell refugium so if you can afford it Id do it anyway. You can get away pretty cheap and still really help your system. I built my 20g sump, including pumps plumbing and everything else for <$100. I got a used 20g tank for 10 bucks!

-Skimmer
A protein skimmer is alot more important than a canister filter, and does alot more for your tank. Before you purchase one I would decide if your going with a sump system or not, then buy a in sump skimmer, or a hang on back skimmer depending on your needs.

-Lighting
Whats your plan to light this bad boy? Heres a link to a thread that I am discussing the lighting Im adding to mine. Might give you a few ideas. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1093318

- Live rock and such
One way to save money is to buy "dead rock" instead of live. My LFS sells great live rock for like $6/lb and sells base rock for $2/lb. If the 10lbs of rock in your tank is good live rock, you can add the base rock in there and it will become "live" in a few months.

Flow-
You need to create some water movement in your tank to keep stuff happy. This is extremely important. The amount of turn over a tank needs is very highly debated. Some people say 10x your tanks water volume per hour, some say 30x. The fact is diferent corals like diferent flow. Im going to be running about 400gph I think, although Im not sure. A really great little system is the Maxi Jet natural wave system. You can get them cheap at liveaquaria,com. It comes with a powerstrip that switches power between up to 4 powerheads creating water turbulance in your tank and makes a really nice natural flow. The kit also includes 3 Maxi Jet powerheads. You can get diferent GPH setups, the kits are on sale atm and start at 72.99 for the 318 gph version.

Cycling your tank-
Everyone has a diferent meathod of doing this. The brown algea bloom that you just had is one of the steps and should go away in a week or so. Once you have a small green algea bloom on your glass, thats a good sign your cycle is complete. Wait about a week after this before even considering adding any livestock.

Other than that just go very slowly. it will save you a ton of heart ache and you will be much much happier with your tank in the long run. Best of luck, and remember to go slooooowwww or youll kick yourself for it later.

[papagimp]

Add more live rock (and not just base rock, it's not as porous and will not biologically filter as effectively). Minimum of 1.5lbs per gallon! Take any and all biologival filter material out of the canister, run the carbon and/or mechanical filtering sponges but clean often. Get a skimmer. What kind of lighting do you have? Look into DIY sumps, well worth the time/effort to make one for your system. Ignore the fuzzy brown stuff (diatoms). It'll go away on it's own (provided your tank is maturing properly, you don't overfeed, perform routine maitenance, and you have plenty of flow.) And last, wait patiently for the cycle to complete. Do not rush and go stick a bunch of corals and fish in there yet. It's not ready. Key word here is "patiently". Can't stress that enough.

[Burlington Reef]

Squid HC,

Wow - very helpful - Thanks!

The canister filter: I've seen threads that say they are good, and others that don't like them. I'm thinking of keeping it for two main reasons. One, is water flow (currently 350 gph) and the other is ease of adding carbon etc. The filter media does need to be cleaned often. How often is "very, very, often"? Once a week, once everyother week?

Sump/skimmer: I will have to forego the sump for at least a few months. So, that leaves me with a hang on the back skimmer. Any suggestions?

Lighting: At the moment there is the light the tank came with. Thanks for the post - I'll take a look.

Live Rock: At the moment it's base rock, but it looks pretty good. There is some coraline on it. How much more should I add and on what timeline?

Flow - thanks for the tip on the maxi jet system. I will definatley check that out.

Cycling: Should I be doing weekly water changes during the cycle? 25%, 50%?

[Burlington Reef]

papagimp,

Thanks to you too!

Ok, more LR - and get the good stuff. Is it ok to add it a bit over time?

Skimmer - right. Any suggestions for a hang on the back?

[papagimp]

Don't worry bout W/C's during the cycle. Wait till the cycle is over than do a large water change to get the nitrates back to normal levels. Live rock, get all you need and get it in there now while the tank is cycling. Waiting till later may only add another mini-spike of ammonia or nitrite after the cycle is already done. Definatly look into better lighting, standard NO tubes won't do much for corals if you wanna go that route. As for cleaning the canister, at least once a week. with your weekly water changes. May even have to up that to twice a week and possibly twice a week water changes since you have no skimmer running, you'll have to be the judge of that, depending on your water quality tests. As for the test kits, be sure you are testing for PH, Ammonia, Phosphate, Nitrite, Nitrate, Alk, Calcium as a minimum. Doing these test is going to tell you when your cycle is complete as well as alert you to any problems with the system.

[papagimp]

Originally posted by Burlington Reef
Is it ok to add it a bit over time?

I did this with my first system, also a 29g, but I had added at least 30lbs from the start with good rock, then added a smidge here and there as I needed. it's okay to add later on, you just wanna make sure any new rock is fully cured before adding it to the tank. This can be done by letting it stew in a bucket or rubber maid tub, powerhead for circulation, occasional water change, and a bit of time. Uncured rock will have die off occuring and this will pollute the water with increased nitrite, ammonia, nitrate, and other dissolved organics that will harm the livestock. And even if the store lists it as cured rock, depending on the amount of time out of water or travel distances, expect at least some minimal die off to occur.

[Burlington Reef]

Looks like I'm back to the LFS for more LR and a skimmer. WooHoo!

There are a lot of articles about skimmers. Any suggestions?

Also, thanks for the tip on testing - my kit does not include phosphate, Alk, or calcium.

[Burlington Reef]

When should I get snails and crabs?

I've heard 1 snail per gallon and 1 blue crab per 2 gallons.

[papagimp]

haha, read up more on the blue legged hermits. Alot of people really regret them later on in the hobby. Once they learn a bit more about livestock interaction. And snails, just get a nice assormtnet for now, see what's doing what in your tank and what you need more of later. I recommend cerrith snails, nassarius, trochus, astreas, I avoid the turbo's, they knock crap over. Wait until after the cycle and you have noticalbe algae for them to graze on.

alot of test kits do not include those. You may wanna just check what yours all came with. And avoid the "test strips", their crap. As are the petsmart test kits (aquarium pharmacuticles) Best to get is Salifert, but a little pricey.

As for skimmer recommendations. I personally use a Seaclone, so i'm probably the wrong guy to answer that question . Seaclones are another joke, but work okay enough for my uses. The remora skimmers are okay from what I hear, but may wanna second opintion on that. Many people keep succeful tanks without ever using a skimmer, you'll just have to up the water change volume and watch water quality carefully.

[Burlington Reef]

Thanks for the heads up on the hermits - I've started to see some threads about them.

My testing kit is liquid but not either of the brands you mentioned. I can't remember what it is at the moment.

Sounds like the skimmer question is a thread of its own. I'll do some more research first.

Thanks!

[MSU Fan]

Originally posted by papagimp
...I avoid the turbo's, they knock crap over.

I second that - mine are tanks - they don't care what it is or how fragile it is - they bulldoze it!