I am terribly sorry you bought dead live rock and you LFS was not helpful. I would suggest going back to them and having their manager educate them out the door for the poor information they gave you.
If you purchase dead live rock (the dry stuff), it take at least a month or more to properly cycle in your tank. If you purchase cured live rock (the stuff fresh and kept in saltwater and never dried), this will significantly reduce your cycling time between two to three weeks. It is a bit more expensive, but worth it because you commonly get hitchickers in it.
Live sand has the same standard. If it is straight out of a bag you will have a longer cycling time than if you use that in addition to getting a cup of seeded live sand from a fellow hobbiest.
I have a 24gallon. I purchased my live rock cured and I used the crushed coral because it came with the tank used and while it was dead when I go tit because it was kept in cold water, it still retained some bacteria which helped. and I also seeded the tank. I had a shorter cycle because I was able to set everything up within 24hrs of recieving rock and also was given the tank water to be able to take the live rock home in, meaning I could seed my tank with that too.
Within 3 days I had detritus growing, and I had 5 small featherdusters and a week after that octo polyp corals growing on my live rock. Once my detritus stopped taking over the tank so much, I was then able to add my Cleanup Crew, and a couple coral frags, which are doing great in my system. But for every item you add, you will get a spike and will have to go through another cycle for a couple of weeks.
It is a lot of work to keep a saltwater tank.
Also, do not add stuff to the water. It doesnt need it. If you must add something, ensure your tank is at least 4 months old and corals are growing and you "have to" add it to keep the corals healthy, not to make them grow.
No tangs. Your tank is too small. You can get away with about 4 maybe 5 fish in a 35 gallon. Clowns, Gobies, Cardinals, Damsels, Pygmy Angels.
Read, Read and Read some more. It will hurt your head, but keeps money in your wallet in the long run.
Try not to take offence to the advice given. We were where you were once.
Hope this helps.
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