My 29g Reef Tank

Hi all! I'm starting my first saltwater tank (had a basic 20g freshwater for a long time and I've got a strong background in chemistry... I'm unbelievably excited to get a saltwater tank running now that I'm not living in a dorm anymore!)

I started the tank about 12 days ago using tap water (ugh I know, I only use RO water from the LFS now, and a phosphate remover called Pura Complete):
PURA Complete

I have a carbon pad filter in which I also put the pura complete rated for up to 20 gallons (small, I know... I may upgrade). I bought a red sea prizm skimmer used which I'm still tweaking, don't think I'll start using it for a week or two. I have a maxi-jet 900 rotating powerhead for more water flow, along with 10lbs of nice purple indonesian live rock and 8 lbs of cool looking fiji rock including a piece of dead coral which has great texture. All of this rock is pre-cured. I'm using fine live sand from the LFS (the good stuff), and as of yesterday I've got 5 crabs and 5 snails. I had a tiny stone crab that took a while to catch but eventually I got him out of there. I got a giant diatom bloom from the tap water silicates but it's slowing down now (that's why some of my live rock looks really brown). I saw the ammonia spike, etc, and I just checked my levels:
pH = 8.0 so I added a tiny bit of ph increaser, got it up to 8.2 where I'll keep it.
nitrite = 0.0
nitrate = 0.0
ammonia = 0.0
specific gravity = 1.025 [too high? i hear that it's reasonable for a reef tank]

I plan on waiting another 1.5 weeks to buy my first fish, not sure what I'll get yet (maybe a basic clownfish pair). My water temp varies from 77.5-80 [is this too much variation?]. I also plan on eventually having another 6 lbs or so of fiji rock or indo rock as soon as I can afford it.

I have a 65W 10,000K PC bulb and a 65W actinic PC bulb, as well as two moon light LEDs (which I custom installed pointing from the top corners down towards the middle, so at night my tank has two distinct diagonal blue beams shooting through it... looks pretty sweet). I have a timer turning the PC bulbs on at noon and off at 10pm, while I leave the moon LEDs on all the time (they're 1 watt each so it doesn't affect water temperature or anything non-negligibly).

I bought an ugly wooden stand/hood on craigslist that I sanded/primed/painted/lacquered black... it looks much better now!

Attached are some pictures (I think? still learning to use the forum stuff)

The first picture is some sort of organism that came on my purple indo live rock... no idea what it is! Can anyone identify?
The second picture is very hard to see, but dead middle was the crab I caught/removed from the tank that was in the rock... don't suppose anyone can tell what kind of crab it is?
The 3rd is my tank with the lights on, the 4th is the lighting system with the moon lights on either side angled inwards.

 

Nice pics!! Can't wait to see it progress

 

I'm going to reply so I can have more than 5 attachments... is that frowned upon?

Here are more pictures:
The first is my protein skimmer... I have no idea how many bubbles should be coming out the top, I've got it set that just barely any boil over... should I lower it so nothing comes out?
The second is my messy wiring, gonna neaten that up...
Third is a snail 4th is a crab
5th is the dead-coral live rock I got from the LFS... it's not normally that brown but the diatoms are dominating it at the moment!

 

my answer are in red and welcome to the reef world

 

You want the bubbles to come up. Means it's skimming stuff out of the tank

 

Looks like your off to a great start! If your planning on getting the clown fish pair, they will be the only sizeable fish I would add to that tank. A pair has an adult combined size of about 7", and if you decide to stock your tank on the heavy side (1" of adult per 3 gallons of system volume) you will only have room for 3" more of adult sized fish.

The SG looks good, most run it at 1.024 - 1.026, and the temp swing is normal. The first pic might be an aiptasia, and its really hard to tell, but the crab claw looks like it could be from an emerald. Try to cycle the your lights to have a dawn / dusk effect . . . my blues come on at 11am, followed by my whites at noon, then the whites go off at 8pm followed by blues going off at 9pm. This can only be done if each bulb has its own ballast or power cord tho. I also leave my moonlights on all the time (I use the same kind, only a bunch more over my 125), but I have heard it is good to cycle them also so the tank has at least a few hours of total darkness.

~Will.

 

I would get ride of the prizm skimmer, they arent very good and you will always be adjust it, try looking into a bak pac 2r or aqua c remora both are HoB skimmers and do a Bang up job for smaller tanks

 

I have a 29g as well. I have a 4" algae blenny, 1 1/2" clown, 2" firefish and a mandarin. Everything is doing really well in it so you should be fine I am planning on going bigger though.............:hugefreakingrin

 

If I don't go with clownfish, what do you think are good fish to stick the tank with? I'd like more than just two fish... Anyway, I dream of one day having a puffer fish, but I don't know if any are suitable for a 30g reef tank. What do you guys think of valentini puffers?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...tini_1.jpg/300px-Canthigaster_valentini_1.jpg

 

I would not ever trust a puffer in a reef. Also you can have 4-5 fish including the clown (so 3 more) if your filtration is right. Just, be aware that if they do get to big and might be a burden on the fish. But i dont believe in overstocking as long as the fish stay decent size and you have the filter set up to handle them. That being siad look into some gobys or fire fish, cardinals are also cool as well as a six line wrasse