Newbie to SW

[emg]

Hello, I've been keeping FW tanks for about 3 years now and finally decided to take the plunge into SW. My budget is a bit tight so I have to use what I have as much as possible.
I took my colony of multifasciatus to the LFS so I could use thier tank. It's a 20long with a very fine reef sand and crushed coral substrate (I removed the crushed coral).
I picked up a used aquaclear 300 HOB and siliconed a baffle in it to use as a fuge. I would have prefered a 500, but the price was right on the 300 (20$) and I didn't come across any used 500s.
I picked up some cured LR at the LFS last weekend...and some rubble for the fuge. They didn't have any macro algae available at the time...dang...I'm looking for the spaghetti stuff rather than caulerpa.
So far I've seen one snail and have already nuked the lone aiptasia that I found (I used lemon juice). I believe the snail is a nascissarious..or however you spell that...hehe.... I have also seen a few smaller snails in the rubble in the fuge. Not sure what those are....someone said they may be whelks..which he said would be bad.. :notsure:
I've only measured about .25 on the ammonia so far. Since the rock is cured I don't expect a huge spike of anything..but I did have to scrub some dead sponge and stuff off the rock.
Here are some pics of what I have so far....
The snail in the fuge

The snail in the tank

The fuge

My tank

The tank has cleared up nicely since I took those pics...not much exciting happening in there at the moment. Waiting on the opportunity to pick up a cleanup crew.
Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated !! ***)

 

[petjunkie]

Looks like you did your research and are off to a good start! Main advise is patience and studying your purchases. Pick up the Pocket Expert guide to Marine Fish, it's a good reference before buying.

 

[saltn00b]

interesting rockwork / aquascaping. i would suggest adding maybe another 30 lbs of LR. also because your LR is cured, it will take a minute for your tank to start to cycle, but it will! i would suggest you drop a fresh shrimp (not cooked, from the super market) in the tank for 24-48 hours. this will jump start your ammo. and start your cycle off. you may lose your inverts at your point, but you may lose them regardless.
you are correct, the snail in the tank looks to be a nassarius snail, i believe 'super tongan' variety. The other snail in the fuge looks like a Cerith snail to me and they are great sand sifters / detritus eaters.

 

[saltn00b]

oh yea and check your levels, namely the ammo every 24- 48 hours to watch for the start of your cycle