My first reef tank

[Reefinator]

Well, I finally bit the bullett and started my first saltwater tank two months ago. Since that time I have read countless websites and several books about the hobby just to get a general feel for general maintenance and upkeep. Here's a list of what I have along with the general maintenance I am doing. Please let me know if I'm not doing something I should be:
Equipment:
30 Gallon glass tank (30" long x 12" wide)
K2 Viper HQI MH 150 watt w/10k bulb
Red Sea HOB protien skimmer
Penguin 250 biowheel filter
2 Penguin 550 powerheads for flow
25-30 lbs of Fiji live rock
20 lbs of aragonite live sand

Livestock:
Snowflake Moray eel (currently for sale)
Gold striped Maroon clown
2 Blue velvet damsels
Emerald crab
Skunk cleaner shrimp (eaten by eel yesterday)
Sand sifter starfish
various snails
Blue legged crab
Bubble tip anenome

New additions:
Torch coral frag
Candy cane coral frag
Hammer tip coral frag

Maintenance:
Check PH, Nitrates, nitrites, Alk, Ammonia about once a week
5 gallon water changes every other week
add Purple Up coraline accelerator every night
Add Calcium as needed
Feed fish twice a day, feed eel every evening
Change Penguin filter once a month


If anyone has any advice for me or perhaps I'm not doing something that I should be please let me know. I'll post pics at some point...

[ckusnierek]

WELCOM TO TRT
Sound like your off the a great start!!!

WE LOVE PICS HERE!!!!! (hint, hint)

Here are a few bit of advice...
IMHO ditch the bio wheels they will become Nitrate havens.
Feeding 2x/day might be a bit much. How's that algea?
I don't like additaves like purple up. ( you don't know exactly what your putting in the tank)
Your adding Ca as needed but you dont mention it as being tested for?

[ckusnierek]

Oh yea, If you dont already you will eventually hate the damsels, they are some of the meanist fish you can buy.

[Loverotties]

Also I feed my fish every 3 days.twice a day will make your phosphate go up.You really don't need the Penguin filter or to add purpule up.Filter will only add nitrates(your filter is your rock)which you should get at least 15lbs and as long as you do your WC it's like adding purple up.

[depitch]

Welcome to TRT

I agree with previous posts that feeding should only be every other day.

Red Sea HOB Skimmer alone may be undersided for number of fish/inverts.

Consider a sump with skimmer rated for 75-90 gallon tank.

[Reefinator]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll dial back the feedings a bit. I do have to feed my Snowflake eel just about everyday though. I skipped a day over the weekend and he ate my Skunk cleaner shrimp. Hope he enjoyed that $20 meal!
As for the skimmer I made sure that it was overrated for my tank (I have a 30 gal and bought a skimmer rated up to 75 gal). It seems to be working well because all of my levels are in check. From what I've read I was under the impression that I needed mechanical, bio and one other type of filtration which is why I was using the biowheel. Won't my levels spike if I remove it?

Chris - you're right, the Damsels are nice to look at but they are *******s. I bought them as a pair but one of them established dominance and has grown to be about twice the size as the other. The larger one gets along with the clown ok but the little Damsel gets bullied pretty good (he hides in the corner most of the time). As for the Ca, I forgot to mention that I also test that. I have some purple algae that formed on the sand which one of my friends said is normal while your tank is cycling. I also have some brownish green hard algae forming on the glass which I'm assuming is the beginning of coraline???

Again, thank you everyone for your advice, it's much appreciated!