29 gallon - first saltwater tank

[WombatJuggernaut]

Hi all, I'm new to saltwater tanks and wanted to lay out my planned build to see if it sounds ok. I've done a few freshwater tanks before, but this seems like a pretty big change. I'm looking to start FOWLR and then start adding easy coral once it feels right.

Hopefully you can let me know what I'm missing or doing wrong, and any other options I might not be considering (except for the tank which is the biggest I can fit right now and as long as suggestions aren't way more expensive).


Equipment:

• Tank - standard 29 gallon rectangle from petco DPG sale

• Rock - 20-25lbs pukani dry rock from BRS, 5-10lbs live from either someone like Tampa bay saltwater or a good LFS if I can find one

• Lights - possibly a superlux budget light from reefbreeders, but I'm not sure I need this yet

• Power head - hydor koralia nano 565, adding a second later on when Im looking to start coral

• Protein skimmer - holding off and doing 5 gallon weekly changes for now

Plan of attack:

1. Paint the back of the tank
2. Add water, power head and heater, testing everything out for a couple days
3. Add 2" sand bed and dry and live rock, start the cure/cycle process with regular testing
4. ~4 weeks later, assuming everything looks good, start slowly adding first a CUC and moving toward the following stocking plan:

2 juvenile occelaris clowns
1 yellow watchman goby
1 firefish
Snail only CUC (kinda sad, since I love hermit crabs, but Ive heard they can cause trouble for your fish)

Possibly: brittle star
Possibly: 1 cleaner shrimp like a red fire shrimp

Down the line - look into adding coral, a protein skimmer, a sump, additional circulation, etc.

If I do go the live rock from Tampa route, do you all suggest having lighting set up right away to keep anything on there going?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or feedback.

 

[Katrina71]

Hermits are fine! They only murder each other if you don't feed them or have extra shells. Blue and red legged are fun.