Here's My Saltwater Setup Ideas...

[adpgibso]

I'm staring up a brand new saltwater aquarium in the next month. It's a 30-gallon and currently it's a freshwater set up. For my SW I'm going to use a H.O.T. magnum cannister filter, a protein skimmer, live rock, live sand mixed with crushed coral, and a underwater heater. I plan to have fish, live rock, and eventually coral. I purchased an orbit sallelite compact fluorescent light that's 130 watts total output with 1-65 watt 6500k and 1-65 watt 10,000k bulbs. A lunar light is built in to this. I plan to put all 3 lights on timers. The lunar light will run from about 9pm until 9am. The 10,000k will come on at 9am...then the 6500k at 10 and run together until 8pm, where the 6500k will be turned off and the 10,000k will run alone until 9pm when the lunar light kicks on once again. I plan to put the 3 shrimp in for about 3 weeks while I let the nitrogen cycle take it's toll then add a few damsels for a couple weeks. Will all of this workout? A few main questions: is the cannister filter good with the live rock helping it out? Is the light I have enough for corals? And of course, any input on ANYTHING is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Adam

the only thing i want to ask you is, do you plan on having more peaceful fish after the damsels? if so, you may want to reconsider them as they can be very aggressive.

[adpgibso]

i wasn't planning on keeping the damsels, probably go and sell them back to the pet store. I was only getting them to help in the cycling process...will the live rock and shrimp do the trick?

[TheOldSalt]

You'll almost have enough light. If you put your corals directly under the lights, they might be okay.

You don't have to add shrimp & damsels to cycle the tank. The rock alone will do that for you. If your rock is el-primo like it is around here, it will make your tank instantly cycled from day one. If it's the crappy rock found in most places, the dieoff from the rock will provide far more nutrients than necessary for cycling, and in fact the only cycling it will need will be from the dieoff from the rock anyway.

Otherwise, everything sounds great.