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I kept hearing how saltwater cycles can take so much longer than freshwater but instead my tank seems just about done after 12days. Of course I'm not going to rush stocking it any and I still want to add a little more rock but it's good to plan ahead. My stocking choices already changed about 10times from the original plan.
Tank is a 20g long
10lbs live rock(plan to add around 10lbs more of well cured rock)
5lbs reef rubble from premiumaquatics.com
20lbs arag alive indo pacific sand
Penguin 330 filter
small water pump(10?gph, not more than 20gph)
lighting- one 65w 8,000k pc bulb, one 65w actinic, and it gets a little overlap from the 2 actinics next to it since it's a 4bulb 4' fixture over a 30" long tank.

Ammonia/nitrite:0(topped out at 1ppm during cycle)
nitrate:20(doing a water change today and another tomorrow)
SG:1.030(stupid hydrometer, doing water changes with water at 1.024)

Added 1 turbo snail yesterday because Chris really wanted one and the brown algae which showed up 5days ago has made the rocks fuzzy lumps with no view of the coraline anymore along with barely seeing into the tank in the first place. It's quite a happy snail and getting to be a very full turbo snail. I also got a refractometer yesterday because I can't get a good reading with that hydrometer or I would have done water changes already.

Still working on setting up a refugium so I can add the reef rubble to that and some chaeto. I'm thinking of modifying my penguin 330 but it's a bit narrow. How badly do I need mechanical filtration? The cartridges in a penguin filter sit maybe 2" back from the front making the filter even narrower. To make it a fuge I'm going to have to completely remove the cartridges or find a way to move those forward.

So for stocking aside from the turbo:
blue legged hermit crabs- how many?
Snails: I like nerites and what else can I add? I got a cerith and nerite along with some clams with my reef rubble but the heat packs seem to have ran out a few hours before it was delivered. The clams are all dead but maybe 1 which still hasn't opened and I'm pretty sure the snails are dead. They haven't moved in 3 days. There's bits of other life showing up though so it's not a total loss.

For fish Chris wants a blenny so after looking the tail spot seems like a good choice.[link=http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=2229]http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=2229" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link] He wants a starry or lawnmower but they seem too big and potentially somewhat agressive and then he wanted a scooter so I had to spend about 3days compromising and finding him a small blenny he likes.
Then I want a red firefish.
Could we also fit a neon goby(what I wanted originally) or two spot blenny later on? [link=http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1871]http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1871" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

Mechanical filtration isn't a life-or-death necessity, mainly all it does in a live rock tank is remove unsightly floating particles and bits from the water column. Your rock will do all the important stuff.

The number of hermits is your choice, whether you want them for looks or to be a good clean up crew. I'd go with about ten if you want them for cleaning, but more is doable.
Again with the snails, it's your call. There are numerous types which can be had. I'm not super familiar with any of them, so I wouldn't be a good choice for advice here.

The tail spot blenny should be okay, but you should probably wait to add it. I think that most blenny species do best when they have well-established live rock with a good source of algae and tiny invertebrates to feed from.
A firefish sounds okay, but I dunno if another blenny in such a small tank would be a good idea. Both of those blennies are from the same genus, and I do know that some of their related species can be territorial. A neon goby might be a better choice, hopefully someone else can comment.

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