My 29 gallon dream

Hello, my name is Hiral/beasta and I am a Newbie. so my plan is to have 29 gallon saltwater fish and reef tank. I learned a lot of good information reading the forums here so.. Thanks everyone. My live rock about halfway done with the curing process. Here is what I have:

about 30 pounds of live rock (Thanks Wade McCullen)
Heater
Hob filter rated for 350 gph
Powerhead rated at 300 gph
Purigen
Chemipro Elite
T5 HO lights
tank size: 30x12x18 inches
GFCI adapter

I plan on going bare bottom and doing frequent water changes. My plans for fish as of now are a clown fish and chromis, Shrimp and snails. When my tank gets more stable I will add some corrals. Any comments, questions, concerns and suggestions are very welcome. Thanks.

Sounds very cool. Post up some pics when you get a chance. :-)

I have seen a piece that connects to the intake on a hob filter that converts the filter into a surface skimmer as well. Would be well worth the money if you can find one!

What are you planning on having in the tank as far as corals are concerned?

Also here's a list of articles I put together for anyone new to saltwater.
https://etak.forumotion.com/t168-new-to-saltwater

Here is a pic after i just got it set up. Sorry about the quality, its a cell phone photo.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f69/16/29/87/54/img_2012.jpg

I will look into finding the surface skimmer and post when I find it. As far as the corrals are concerned I would like to have an anemone for the clown fish and maybe a mushroom. I honestly haven't researched corrals too much yet. Do you have any suggestions?

What are the specs on your t5 setup? You need a lot of light to keep an anemone and they are also very large once they grow fully and will take over small tanks. As long as that's what you are going for I think it sounds great. :-)

As far as corals go... I really like lps. Acans, duncans, favias, cyphastrea... Ect. If your lighting is good enough for an anemone it would be good enough for lps also.

The specs on the T5 are 24watts x 4, 2 white and 2 actinic. I don't know how bright the lights need to be for corrals, hopefully this works.

The primary reason I looked into anemone was for the clownfish, but anything that hosts them should be fine.

Beasta wrote:The specs on the T5 are 24watts x 4, 2 white and 2 actinic. I don't know how bright the lights need to be for corrals, hopefully this works.

It will work for corals, maybe not sps, (I've never tried), but softies and LPS would do fine under those lights. I don't keep anemones so I'm not sure about that. If you can, or if you're interested, look into changing out some of your bulbs. I would remove the actinics and add a bulb with some par to it. I have a 4 bulb t5 setup on my 20 gallon softy tank but I don't use any actinics. The ATI bulbs are awesome with a lot of par and great color. I use 2 Blue Plus, 1 Aquablue special and 1 Fiji Purple in my set up and I like the color and growth I get.
Here's a pic of mine. It's hard to get the true color in pics but you get the idea. There are no actinics in the fixture.

I like the lights on your tank. Since this is my first saltwater tank I think I will stick to easier/hardy corals at first. Ritter what is the coral on the right of your tank? I believe I see zonathids in the middle and a mushroom on the left?

Would I need an Auto top off for the surface skimmer to work?

The lights you have now will be good for soft corals and some lps. Check out the ATI or Giesemann bulbs though when you get ready for new ones. The big coral on the right is a green sinularia. I'd be glad to give you a frag if you're interested. The big one on the left is a toadstool, a green polyp devils hand in the middle. There are some assorted zoas and pink Palys in the front middle and some xenia on the back glass. There's also a large feather duster, Kenya tree and blue, green and superman shrooms here and there. You don't HAVE to have an ATO for the surface skimmer but it sure would help you out by not having to manually top off as much.

The surface skimmer that jason has is genius. It floats on the surface of the water so it wouldn't matter how much your water fell. However... An auto top off is always a great idea.

Thanks for the info gents. I would love a frag Ritter678 if that is still cool sir (Sent a pm). I got 2 clownfish today who seem to be doing fine, swimming around everywhere. I've decided to go the sump route. I have a 10g tank that I cleaned for the sump and got a deal on a used overflow box. I will probably have a 3 section sump. I am super excited about the DYI project and I will post pictures when completed.

Noob question: Where will the evaporation show in the sump? I would guess in the water in section or water out section.

Thanks for all the help yall are a great community of fun knowledgeable people.

Depends on how the baffles are setup really. More than likely in the return section.

Beasta wrote:I would love a frag Ritter678 if that is still cool sir (Sent a pm).

Never got the pm. You are welcome to a frag though.

Brain fart. I just sent it, for real this time. lol