Newbie about to take plunge into saltwater

Hello everyone, right now I'm still in the planning stages of switching over from fresh to saltwater. I plan on doing a fish only tank with inverts, LR, and LS.

Right now I have a 29g with a Whisper power filter that I plan on using. I understand that I won't need the Whisper if I'm using live rock and live sand, but would it be needed at all in the beginning?

I will be upgrading my light with something a better for a Marine aquarium but I haven't looked at my options yet. I won’t be doing corals so I know that I don’t need to spend a whole lot of money here.

I'm planning getting either the Bak-Pak or the AquaC Remora skimmer. I really like what I've read about the Remora but would it be overkill (dollar wise) for my setup or would the Bak-Pak be sufficient?

I plan on using around 40lbs of live rock, as suggested, but my LFS is quite expensive per pound. An alternative is to buy the LR over the Internet. This way I could easily buy 40lbs at one time. Another concern is how long will it take to arrive, 2 companies that I'm looking at have really decent prices on LR @ $2.35 per lb, but they are in California and I'm on the east coast.

Are there any advantages from buying the LR over the Internet other than cost savings?
How much die off should I expect and would I need to cured it again?
Can I add all the LR directly to my tank and then begin the cycle?
Do I need to buy LS or can I use uncured sand since I'm buying LR?
Should I start the cycle before I add the LR or just get the tank up and running and wait for the LR to arrive?
Will I need Power heads to help aggitate the water? How many? I've heard about having dead areas in tank where the water doesn't flow properly?

After I get what I need, how many fish could I add to the tank after it cycles? I plan on a pair of clowns with an Anemone. I’d like a Yellow Tang but would my setup be too small for it? I also want a Mandarin dragonet but would it eat my inverts? Does any other suggestions on small suitable beginner fish?

Thanks in advance for any advice that I receive.

 

LR for the internet is usually very good (from what I've read). Shipping can be costly because they generally ship it over night.
I wouldn;t be overly concerned about the die off difference form the LFS verses the internet.
I would start with sand (it doesn;t have to be live) and LR a couple of power heads and let the cycle begin.
As for fish. I agree a yellow tang needs about 75G to be happy and a Mandarin needs a large supply of copeods to survive and that won;t happen in a 29G. Sounds like you will quickly learn you want a bigger tank

You could try Fire Fish, Chromis, a Blenny
Check out http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pCatId=15
They have good tank size recommendations on each fish


J

 

Personally I favor the remora skimmer over the bak pak because its rated to 75g and the bak pak is 60g, so if you plan on upgrading in the future the remora is the way to go. You might want to use the whisper filter for mechanical and chemical filtration along with water movement. Ditto on the tang and mandarin, you will want at minimum a 75g tank and 100#'s of live rock for the mandarin in a well established tank for a healthy copepod population.

 

Thanks I'll probally be getting  the Remora in the near future and I've scratch the idea of the Tang and Mandarin.

Well, I started my tank this weekend. I bought 30lbs of Carib Aragamax sand, 30g of RO water, 50g bag of Kent Sea Salt, and a 150w Hagen submersible heater.

The tank has been up and running now for 48hrs and the water is nice and clear now. I'm running my Whisper power filter, temporarily, just for water movement. I plan on installing a pair of AquaClear 301 Powerhead pumps sometime this week before I purchase the Fiji Live Rock.

In a month or so, I plan on buying a AquaC Remora w/ Maxi-Jet 1200 pump. Around this time, after the tank cycles, I probally pickup a 30g cleaning crew.

Would it be safe to introduce my first fish at this point or should I wait an additional month? I am in no rush, I want to do this correctly.

Here's a small list that I'm working on:

Ocellaris or Perculs Clowns (Pair) w/ a Bulb Anemone (I'll wait till the tank matures a bit first)
Sailfin Blenny or Jawfish
Royal Gramma
and perhaps a small Goby (haven't decided which one)

 

Thanks for the karma!
I would wait the 4-6 weeks to cycle the tank and then add 1 fish at a time every few weeks.  Patience is a virtue with saltwater fish.  Don't rush things.  You might want to stick with only 1 clown fish like the true percula clown because of its slightly smaller size for that size tank. To keep a jaw fish you will need at least a 5" fine sand bed for them to burrow and be happy.  The royal gramma will be fine but I would nix the sailfin blenny.  They get about 5" long and may be aggresive in that size tank.  Stick with a bicolor blenny or something similar.  A six line wrasse would be nice for that size tank. Good luck and take it slow.

 

I'm not big on setting times for the cycle to complete. I would go with water tests. Check your Ammonia and Nitrite every couple of days. When both are zero and stay at zero for about 1 week I would then say your cycle is complete. Odds are after that you could get a Algae bloom. It will take a couple of weeks to wait that one out. During the bloom you can add fish but the waste the fish produce do in fact contribute to the algae.

J