My marine aquarium is all setup, now what?

[qiao]

My 30 gallon salt water aquarium is all set up and i need to know what to do next. Every website or person I have consulted have told me to do different things. My filter has been running for about 36 hours now and I need to know what I should do next. I was going to get my live rock today, but then I was advised not to by an employee at Petco. I also don't understand how I'm supposed to get the nitrogen cycle started. Eventually, in my tank I want two clown fish, maybe two hermit crabs, and one starfish.

 

[seattlereef]

Congrats! I would go ahead and get yourself the rock, you can go live rock or dead there are pro's and con's to both. Then you start your cycle. You want to test your salinity (use a refractometer), and then Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite's. Tons of articles on this.

Here is a good article on parameters:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

 

[tike]

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/threads/61609-Six-Steps-to-Take-Before-Getting-Your-Feet-Wet!
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/threads/23218-Favorite-Links-Threads-or-Websites
That's a start........google also works great for this......
http://www.fishchannel.com/setups/saltwater/reef-aquarium-setups.aspx
http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Marine-Reef-Aquarium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yak372XSck
http://www.fishlore.com/reeftanksetup.htm

HTH

 

[1guydude]

+1 cycle with the die off from the LR.
U can add a shrimp and take it out by weeks end.
HTHs
welcome aboard
-d