[TonyaPatrick1985]

I am moving my goldfish from their 29 gallon to a 60 gallon aquarium this Saturday. I am thinking about converting the 29 gallon into a saltwater tank. What do I need to know? What does this entail? What will I need to buy? What can I safely fit in a 29 gallon tank?

Thank-you for all your help!

 

[tike]

Are you just keeping fish or will you have corals also?

 

[TonyaPatrick1985]

Thinking about just fish at this point as this would be my very first foray into saltwater tanks. Would adding coral as well be better?

 

[coralbandit]

Keeping fish only is a lot easier.You could still add some live rock to help water quality.
Here's a list from RM on the basics;
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f67/what-you-might-need-start-your-41978.html
Keeping corals demands much better water quality and knowledge,along with some more "expensive" equipment(lights,protien skimmer,circulation pumps...).

 

[TonyaPatrick1985]

Adding the substrate and live/dry rock and without the ro filter It is only about $300 to get a saltwater setup. That is not bad at all. Which ro filter would be best for a 29 gallon setup? Also will I be able to use my lights? I currently have a Finnex Planted + on the 29 and I was hoping that would be good. It gives off such bright light. I love it

 

[coralbandit]

The light will be fine for fish only.Probly won't seem quite as bright because the salt filters light.The K of your fixture is 7000,most marine tanks run 10,000-20,000K,but again for fish only your light should be ok.
You sure won't need a big RO system for your tank so get a good one if you do invest.Have the DI is important to end result of water quality.
I always plug BRS for RO systems.I got mine from them and am very pleased.Maybe not the cheapest ,but also came with ALL the bells and whistles you will eventually blow more money on,along with 3 different options to hook it up(I didn't need to go get anything to start this up besides a storage container).My system came with 2 HM digital meters to measure volume ,TDS and everything else and float switch to automatically controll the unit.

 

[TonyaPatrick1985]

Where can I get these? Do they have an online store? I buy a lot of aquarium supplies off of Amazon honestly. How much can I expect to spend on this? Like you said I dont want to get a bad one. What light would you recommend in the 10k to 20k range that you mentioned?

 

[coralbandit]

4 Stage Value PLUS RO/DI System - Bulk Reef Supply
This looks like a good unit with some of the extras.
Just for reference I got the 6 stage deluxe(you can check it out and see all that comes with it).I even added one more stage in the beginning.The more prefiltering you can do the less you will need to change any of the other cartridges.The one I recommended has a "flush kit" installed also which lets you rinse your filters so they last longer.
As for lights I use current true lumen pros,BUT wish I had seen these first;
Aquarium LED Light Reefbar 24" inch 2ft 453 Actinic Blue 18W 24 Coral Moon | eBay
Aquarium LED Light Reefbar 24" inch 2ft 12000K White 18W 24 Coral Saltwater Tank | eBay
They seem to the very same lights at a fraction of the cost.
I find the page for all these lights by searching"truelumen pros on ebay".
The page has both current and the reef bar lights so you can compare pricing.
Current TrueLumen PRO Aquarium LED Light 453nm 48 | eBay
It will be pretty hard to find a marine light at 30" for a 29g so I just linked you to 24".

 

[TonyaPatrick1985]

I would like to try a saltwater but I think my husband is leaning towards a freshwater community tank due to all of the things we'd need to buy for a saltwater tank. Also, we are moving out of state in November so we may just set up the new tank afterwards.

 

[garzaci]

Yes, I would definitely wait until the move to set up a tank. You can use this time to learn and acquire equipment.

For salt water the 29 won't require a tremendous amount of stuff if you want fish only. Your lights will be fine for fish. You'll need about 30 lbs of sand. I would get rock if you can afford it. About 30 lbs of that. It doesn't have to be established live rock but it can be. It's cheaper if you buy it uncured. I'm pretty sure if you put in in your tank while cycling it a lot of it will die off anyways, but the value is in the rock itself. That's what will hold your bacteria. And it'll repopulate.

A couple decent pumps. One on each side of your tank should be fine. I have been satisfied with Koralia. Just one of my preferences. For fish only a hang on the back filter is fine. And a nice heater.

I'm probably missing a few things, but that should be most of it.