My first marine tank

[surgy]

Tank Log 3-28-13

Tank Log 3-28-13

Specific Gravity - 1.026 -- 35 ppt
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20ppm
Ammonia - 0 ppm
phosphate - still dont have test kit
hardness - /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
PH - 8.0
Temp -80.2 F

notes

the parameters look like im cycled. and the water is crystal clear. the base rock has turned from a bleach white to a dark tan. at night time bristle worms and pods crawl everywhere. i even found a pretty good sized stomatella snail crawling out of the rocks and onto the glass the other night.

questions:

1:
i have a dark brown almost golden looking dust like substance all over my sand bed and on most of the base rock in my tank. someone suggested that its diatoms eating the silicates. can someone confirm this please? also will it go away on its own? its been there for 10 days and getting worse.

2:
how are my parameters looking? seams to me that im getting pretty close to getting the first fish in the tank. what do you guys think? should i give it a few more weeks? or should i go this weekend and get my clown?

 

[squishifishi]

I would suggest mexican red leg hermit crabs(i think that's the name). thet're just like the blues, but more peaceful. they will very rarely pull a snail out of it's shell, and are better algae eaters according to most.
Nassarius snails are amazing, love em! be aware though that they don't eat algae, so maybe add some ceriths to clean the glass.
happy reefing!

 

[OrQidz]

the brown stuff sounds like diatoms, every one of my new setups always gets that in the first few weeks. It will go away on its own as they consume the silicate.

Your SG has gone up just a bit to the high end of where you want it. Are you topping off regularly with fresh RO as you need to?

In my opinion it looks like the tank is cycled. Good job on waiting it out! I would go ahead with a fish, start with one and go slow. Don't add a whole bunch of stuff at once.

 

[surgy]

yeah i noticed in my written tank log that it has gone up. but it could be due to inancuracy of the hydrometer. its actually floating between 1.025 and 1.026 but its closer to six than five now so i recorded it as 1.026 and i think this is due to a small amount of evaporation since my last entry. and i have my sump marked at the " .5 gallons low" and its less than a quarter of the way down. so i think i only have maybe a quarter gallon evaporated.

will diatoms effect an ocellirus clown? if not i think i will go tomorrow and pick one up. they have small (1 inch) at my lfs. everything i read suggests the clown being a good first fish for my tank size. and then ill wait a few weeks and get the citrinus goby that i want