[joegen4e]

I have recently purchased a 30gallon w/ a Coralife 36in t5 fixture w/the blue and white light(21watts a piece). So far I have about 2 inches of live sand, 25 lbs of liverock, a hob power filter, fission nano Protien skimmer, a power head and a filter. My salinity is at .023, and the rock came cured, and seems to be coming along fine(a few little animals coming out of it). This has been up for about a month now, and I guess right now I don't know enough about the hobby to move forward from this point. I do know the basics about keeping Aquariums. I have 4 freshwater tanks...one of them for almost 23years. So you can skip some of the general newby stuff and focus on the saltwater newby stuff.

Should I put some corals(nonSPS) in?
What kind of "clean up crew" should i put in?
Should I put in fish now? What are good for this size tank?
Is is alright to replenish evaporated water with dechlorinated water directly in the tank?
Do I need the power filter and skimmer if I am doing 5 gallon weekly water changes?

Thanks for all your help!!!!

[glampka]

Your lighting isn't going to support much in the way of corals. You only have 42 watts which is just over 1 watt/gal. The only thing you might be able to keep are mushrooms & some leathers. Forget using the Fission skimmer - they're not worth it. If you want to run a skimmer get yourself a Bak Pak 2 or AquaC Remora. You could get by with doing regular water changes but I'd get a quality skimmer. Power filters can be used to polish the water but temd to become nitrate problems do to poor maintenence.
Replenish the evaporated water with RO/DI water.. You don't want to use dechlorinated tap water.
You'll want a mix of snails & crabs as your CUC.

[joegen4e]

Cool, thanks for the info!!!. I was wondering how many watts per gallon I shoud have? I was told at lfs tha the light would do fine on anything but sps.

[sarha]

3-5 watts per gallon is the general rule

[joegen4e]

Would it help if I were to put a coralife 50/50 t12 24inch light on here? I have a spare one(the kind that comes with those cheap black tops from like petco or petsmart)

[rlcline76]

CPR BakPak definitely. I had one of those FISSIONS...POS in my opinion. The factory seconds are just as good off of eBay. I have one and I also have a new one that isn't a factory second.

Welcome to RB!