Reef Tank Beginner

[StrongBad]

First of all am I fooling myself thinking I can have a reef tank as a noob? Ideally I would like to populate my 30 gallon tank with a couple of coral, some anemone's, a cleaner crew and a few fish, most likely nemo, a green chromis or two, and a couple of Goby's all on a sand seabed. This is to be my training tank where I will determine over the next couple of years if I can handle a much larger tank. At which point my current tank will become the quarantine tank.

I have been reading the forums for the past couple weeks and even posted a couple questions already. Luckily I am still in the cycling phase and havent gone far enough astray to where I cannot change my current setup. Right now I have a 30gal tank with a power head, a power filter, a heater and tap water. I want to add a protein skimmer (prizm?) an RO/DI unit, and lighting. The questions line up like this:

1- Should I start the cycle over with RO/DI water? Will the tap water bring in bad algea that I can never get rid of even if I start doing water changes at a later date with RO/DI water?

2 - Is there a difference in LS grain sizes. I just bought a fine white argonite sand today (30 lbs) which I would like to seed with some LS which is a little more coarse.

3 - Does a Reef with fish setup need live rock in it?

4 - Anything else you can think of for a Reef with Fish setup.

Thanks for your help!

[Fishfirst]

No you are not fooling yourself as long as you do some good research get a good book and get the equipment necessary. First off, if you want coral, and anemone's, you are gonna need to get a buttload of lighting. I'd say since its most likely a 36" tank, I'd go with either 150-250 watt metal halide lights or 150-250 watt VHO's...
1. No there is no need to start the cycle over with RO/DI water... algae comes and goes.
2. Sand sizes differ greatly, but it is always good to have a variety of sizes in your tank... the smaller size particles usually have more surface area thus more nitrogen fixing bacteria can attach to it.
3. Yes a reef with fish setup definatly needs liverock. W/O liverock there wouldn't be much of a place for corals to attach. Liverock or baserock is the base for your corals...
4. There are hundreds of things I can think of, such as get yourself a nice test kit... this will help you keep tabs on water quality. Also skimmers such as a prism or seaclone work well on smaller tanks, but not so much larger ones, for a 30 gallon it'd be good, if you go with a 75 or something in that order later, it probably won't do much good. Another tip, if you haven't already look at my posts on fish for beginners and fish not for beginners.

[StrongBad]

Thank you so much for the guidance...it is much appreciated. With all the advice, I think I am set up for now while my tank finishes its cycle. I will definitely look into some good live rock. I just dont want it to die off while my tank is cycling. I have a good test kit I think. It is a Saltwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals. Yes I have read your articles and picked my ideal first few fish from it.
As for the skimmer I have looked at the Prizm and Sea Clone. Does it matter if the prizm is the Regular, Delux, or pro variation?
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...xe.asp?CartId=
Also, is this Sea Clone the correct type? It says it's good for up to 100 gallons.
http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...=1120417821116
So much to think about and plan and do, but hey, that is one of the things I like about this hobby. ITs just a really steep learning curve

[Osiris]

you could get away with the seaclone 150 on that small of tank for it to be effective.

[Fishfirst]

I'd also recommend the 150 series... it does a good job with my 55 gallon tank.