New Aquarium Need Help :-0

[svirid]

Good day,

I am new to the site and very new to the marine aquarium, but I always wanted it,
and for the last year was reading lots of books, checking stores and searching the internet,
Finally today I brought my first small aquarium home. Its 28 gal tank. I dont have a picture yet but
I will post it when I am done setting it up.
Of course I got lost a little and would really appreciate if you guys can help me

Tank is 28 gal, i am setting up a marine tank.
I bought
BIO-Wheel Power Filter Penguin 200
100W Heater

I am going to buy

Protein Skimmer - PLEASE HELP ME HERE, DONT KNOW WHICH ONE TO GET
Power Heads (PROBABLY 2 x 600W ?)
Crushed CaribSea Corals
InstantOcean Salt Mix
Cured Live Rocks (CONFUSED HERE, DONT REALLY KNOW WHICH ONES ARE BETTER)

Also I wanted to ask how can I test my tap water in order to use Water Conditioner, or I dont have to use them? I have a regular water tap filter.
I got some samples of conditioners Tetra Aqua Safe and Big Al's Aquarium Water Conditioner, I also got BIO SUPPORT and BIO CLEAN samples, there is so many of these things, I dont really know, SHOULD I JUST USE THEM ALL and buy more?

Thank you guys, really need help here.

 

[Musho3210]

first of you are on the wrong forum (dont worry, it can be confusing) there is a marine section down the page

Secondly, a good skimmer is tunze nano, but you dont really need a skimmer provided you are willing to do larger water changes weekly.
powerheads, i dont really understand what you mean by 600w lol
Dont get crushed corals, get aragonite sand
instant ocean is fine
Cured rock is great, uncured rock is great, either one works, each with their pros and cons.

 

[alexlark]

Secondly, a good skimmer is tunze nano, but you dont really need a skimmer provided you are willing to do larger water changes weekly.

What percentage are we talking here? Thanks

 

[backtotropical]

Cured rock is great, uncured rock is great, either one works, each with their pros and cons.

Sorry Musho3210, thats bad advice.

To try to help you understand, live rock has all sorts of living organisms in and on it (hence the name). When it is removed from water, some of these things die off as you would expect.

When the rock is then put back into water, it will cause an ammonia spike because it has dead things rotting away inside it. The ammonia will eventually come back to 0 as the biological filtration catches up. This is the process known as 'curing'.

Cured rock should not produce an ammonia spike when put into your tank. Uncured rock has not been put into a tank and allowed to cure so will produce an ammonia spike when added to your tank. (not ideal)

Its easy to tell if rock is cured by smelling it. If it just smells like the sea, it's cured. Uncured rock has a horrible smell.

Also, i would say a protein skimmer is a must for any marine tank, regardless of water change routine.

Hope this helps.