28 gallon bow front

[Oceanjunkie]

I have been collecting equipment for a while now, to start my first reef. Today I mixed my first batch of salt water and added sand to the tank in anticipation of my Live Rock purchase.
There was a problem...

I have a 28 gallon Euro tank from perfecto, its nice with a bow front. Well, I put about 19 gallons of saltwater in and thought the level was kinda high. Then I added 30 lbs (around 1 lb per gallon, I thought) of sand and the water level is very high!! There's only about 2" left until the tank is full! I will probably have to remove water to make room for live rock (I was planning on 28 lbs, but that may change). According to my calculations, the tank could only hold about 24 gallons of water, if it was just filled with water. With the sand and live rock, it will probably only have room for 16-18 gallons of water.

Is this normal? Do companies advertise tanks above their actual capacity? I got about a 1.5" sand bed from the 30 lbs of sand, how much fiji live rock should I purchase (I was thinking 28 because of the general 1 lb per gallon rule, but i guess its not really 28 gallons)?

Thanks

 

[reefhope]

I wouldn't worry. I would add the LR you planned. Yes after adding everything that goes into a reef tank the water volume will be substantially lower than the tank volume.

That's good when it comes to water changes....10% of 29 gal is three gallons. If your tank actually only has 19 or 20 gallons you are down to 2gal for a 10% water change....

 

[Gatortailale1]

If you aren't going to use a skimmer, I would advise more than 1lb of rock per gallon. The rock and DSB are your filter.