Instant Ocean 29 Gal Setup

[thebouldins]

Hey everyone. First post here, so I will tell you a little about myself. I have always wanted a saltwater aquarium and, thanks to my son, I now have one. He is 5 and had a beta in a bowl that he kept in his room since he was about 2. This beta had lived through alot and finally died of what we assume was natural causes. Anyway, my son was heartbroken and my wife took him to the pet store to get a new fish and they came back with a $300 aquarium kit. It is the instant ocean 29 gal kit that pretty much included everything you need. So here is where my marine aquarium experience begins.
I have been reading pretty much everything I can find about setting up a new aquarium lately and I think I have done well so far. The tank is set up and the hydrometer reads normal limits. All my water testing has come back perfect, and my temperature is about 78 degrees. So far so good from what I have learned. Well, we ordered live rock yesterday which should be at the house today to begin my cycle. I read the instructions on acclimating and I am pretty sure I can pull it off.
My question is about lighting. I cant find much about the lighting that was included with the kit and I want to make sure I have the right lighting for what I am doing. Its a 29 gallon tank and we ordered 30 pounds of LR which seems about right. I plan on getting the rock going and somewhere in the next 3 or 4 weeks start looking for our first fish to add to the tank. I would also like to cycle the lighting between daylight and moonlight schedules to make my first tank as successful as possible.
Am I doing OK so far? This is about day 6 of the tanks existence and so far nothing but sand and water have gone in. Like I said, the levels are normal and the water is clear. SG is right at 1.023. Thanks for any advice this early on.
Oh, and I noticed that my LR (Drs. Foster & Smith Select Lalo Live Rock ) says that it needs supplements to the water. Anyone have good suggestions on what to use to make it healthy. Thanks again, and I look forward to sharing our experiences with everyone here.

 

[sk8shorty01]

You sound like you are off on the right foot.. The only thing I will say is not to try and come up with definitive timelines for your fish because they never work out. Just keep testing your water and you should be able to see the cycle happening. First you will test and there will be nothing: no ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates. Soon your ammonia will spike and you will probably get a small reading of nitrites (this is the beginning of the cycle). After your ammonia levels plateau they will begin to steadily fall until they are 0, but your nitrites will then be really high. Soon the same thing will happen here, they will level off and then drop to 0 and your nitrates will be rather high. At this time your about ready to do a small water change (10%). This should bring your nitrates down slightly. After you get them down under about 20ppm, go ahead and buy your clean up crew (snails and hermits). Let these guys do they jobs for a couple of weeks (this will probably put you at about the 6-8 week time frame) and then look into getting your first fish. In a tank that size I would look for maybe a clown (true or false percula) as your first fish. Most people like clowns and they are pretty hardy little fish so this is a great beginner fish. I would probably also get a firefish at some point as those are great little fish for a 29 gallon tank. Just make sure when you add your first fish that you wait a couple of weeks because otherwise you can overload your denitrifying bacteria and cause a spike in ammonia or nitrites again. As far as lighting goes, if you dont plan on doing any corals or anemones then the light that came on the tank would be fine. If you want to do a few basic corals I would look online for a Power Compact light that is the same length as your Florescent fixture you have now. If you want to do corals and anemones (they can attack each other) then I would go with either a T-5 or Metal Halide light setup as these will give you the room to have pretty much anything you want as far as the corals and such go. Keep asking questions and good luck!

 

[caseysimp7]

wlecome!!!

 

[gmann1139]

I have the same tank, so I can fill you in on lighting.
First, write down this phone number: 1-800-322-1266 That's the number to call when one of your bulbs goes out because the ballast went.
I traded out one of the bulbs for an actinic bulb and the second for a full-spectrum bulb. That seems to work for me. They're T8 bulbs, 24" long. Doublecheck what the rating is, I think the max is 15 or 18W.