josh's 29 gallon first ever reef build.

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jwalsh

Aquarium Advice Freak
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Sep 8, 2011
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So I'm to the point now I have 15 lbs of live rock and 80 lbs of sand in the tank. It is all cycled and I just put in a pair of occ. Clowns last night. They are doing well so far. I also have 3 scarlet hermit crabs and 6 astrea snails.

So now for a few questions...
First and foremost once I start adding fish (like I have) can I add more live rock or will the die off cause an amonia spike? I just realized that there isn't a whole ton of room for coral now that I have everything done. But if I can't add I guess I can always rearrange some to make more places for the corals.

And second how many other fish can I add to this set up? I have a aqualife 50 filter on it. No protein skimmer or anything like that. Just the filter. And for now I just have the stock hood for lighting but plans for a big upgrade soon.

I was thing maybe some sort of sand dwelling fish or sand sifting fish to keep the sand airated. Any sugestions on good fish for this job? Or even if this is a good idea.

Any and all help would be appreciated. Ill post a few pictures when I get home from work of the tank and the fish.
Thanks
 
Yea you can add more live rock If you want but I would stick with adding base rock.. Way cheaper and will become live in time. As far as sand shifting fish look at a diamond goby.keep in mind they will jump out of the tank so a lid is a must. If the tank is under 50 gall a protein skimmer is not needed. If you get allot of algae look at adding a ro/di unit for the water, and if that is not an option look into phosphate retractor. For a 29 gall I would stick with 4 fish max.
 
That's a good idea with the base rock. Is there a certain kind of rock I should use for that? I know they sell 3 or 4 different kinds at my lfs. And does anyone know how long it will take to be live rock?
 
Just a few weeks and it will be "live" and within a few months you won't be able to tell the difference. :)
 
Base rock is base rock. The more porus the better as far as filtration purposes. I would say around 4-6 months before you will not be able to tell it was base rock.
 
So if I get a diamond goby that gives me 3 fish. Any suggestions for the last one? I was thinking a flasher wrasse maybe but I would like all the ideas I can get
 
Try looking at different gobys or blennys. Wrasses are another good choice, fire fish, green chromis. Stay away from dragonets or mandrens.
 
Aren't chromis schooling fish? I only have room for 1 more if I stick to 4 and liveaquaria says the diamond hoby needs 50 gallons. My tank is too small then right? Or is that flexible?
 
Or anyone else for that matter ill take all the help/suggestions I can get. I'm still really new at this so the more the better
 
From what I've read it's hit or miss with the pygmy angels. i would leave it out if you intend on going corals.
 
So I was just cleaning my tank and saw what apears to be small bubbles within my dsb. Is this ok? Or even normal? What do I do?
 
I was just looking at my live rock because every time I do I find something new. I saw all of these mini brittle star tenticles out and about like always and then I saw a really cool little red worm it looked like it was half red and half black. It almost looked like a centipede ill attach a picture please help me out. Is it good or bad?
 

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