saltwater tank setup help???

Question

what is the amount of salt you add to a 29 gallon tank??
how do you build a reef?
i was thinking of a cute little fish like a royal gramma??
any other sugestions welcome??

Answer 1

You premix the salt and water in a bucket and use a hydrometer to test the salinity of the water. Once you have the salinity at the correct level you should let it stand for a day. I normally throw a powerhead in the bucket to keep the water moving.

I also put in a heater to preheat it to the correct temperature.

With some salt mixes there can be a pH fluctuation after you first add the salt, so I like to let it sit for 24 hours before adding to the tank.

Typically to build a reef you use a layer of base rock which can be anything from lava rock to texas holy rock, or even a purchase "base rock" that is broken coral. I don't like to use coral as a base rock though because this is coming from the ocean. I'd rather use a land rock that isn't being pulled from a reef for the base.

Then you add a layer of live rock on top of this, which will contain macro algaes, tube worms, etc.

FishGeeks just announced a series of schedule live chats and the saltwater chat will be:

1/10/07 7-8pm EST Marine Beginners
Need help on selecting that first tank? Join this chat and find out what tank size will work best for your particular setup.
Hosted by: Cokeman69
http://www.aquaria.info/x7chat/

Answer 2

29 gallons is not the best size to start with. Saltwater tanks are infinitely more complicated than freshwater. You need more equipment, from protein skimmers to UV sterlizers, and you need a lot of live rock, live sand, etc. SW fish are delicate, and do not handle fluctuations well. 29 gallons is pretty small, and you will have fluctuations - you need to maintain it and test water parameters DAILY, clean up food/poop DAILY, top off water DAILY.
Can you go with something a little bigger? Say, 50 gallons? I know that bigger sounds like more work, but it's actually way easier to care for a big SW tank than a small one. You can also have more fish.

Anyway, the amount of salt depends on the actual brand of salt you use. Some types are salt only, others contain various minerals etc. Buy a reef salt and read the instructions. Get a hygrometer to make sure you have perfect salinity.

A reef tank is Live Rock (which you should have anyway, 1lbs per gallons, as your primary filtration), fish, and corals, and anemomes, along with invertebrates like starfish, crabs, shrimp etc.

Don't worry about fish for the time being. Once your tank is set up with salt water, live sand, live rock, and cleanup crew (shrimp, crabs, etc), it will need to cycle for FOUR weeks. During that time, you can research the types of fish you want in your tank.

Sounds like you have a lot of reading to do. Go to your LFS and buy a SW set-up book; there are many great ones out there. Read it, read articles online, join forums. While you're doing this, look for good deals on used SW equipment (much cheaper that way) and liverock, and set up your tank. Then, while it's cycling, re-read your book, read other books, and then you will be ready for fish. Trust me, SW is not simple, but you can succede if you follow the directions and do not cut corners. If you try to 'make things work' without spending the money or getting all the equipment, your SW tank won't last long, as they are very delicate. Good luck with it all :) Join http://www.fishforums.com - there is some great advice on there.