Am I doing this right?

Okay,
I removed the carbon packaging and disconnected the lights to avoid any need on my part to turn them on anyways haha. I also forgot to mention that the fish store advised me to put in a bottle of some sort of bacteria thing. Unfortunately I dont have the bottle anymore, but it was supposed to be a bottle of "healthy bacteria".
BTW, what is LR and LS?

Thanks again.

 

Which one is the actinic lighting? The purple of the clear one?

 

Okay, the local store told me today that i should consider already adding calcium to my tank since im eventually putting corals in it. Will trying to keep a solid calcium level screw with my tank cycling?

 

No it is always good to attempt to keep you water parameters in check. Even if you have a "fish only with live rock" aka FOWLR tank it is still good practice to keep the water quality as though it were a full blown sps reef. The calcium level in the water will not effect the cycle. What i would do if i were you would be to get your own test kits so you know how much of what you should be adding. I have brought water samples to countless fish stores to see what they would tell me my parameters are even though i tested them myself This way you get an idea of what stores you can trust and which ones are just trying to sell you stuff you dont need.

 

Thats a good idea. I am a little fishy about the store im dealing with. They keep telling me to add more fish during my cycle, add more shrimp etc. I will be posting some videos of the tank here in a few hours for those who are interested. Thanks to everyone btw for making this experience so much easier for me than last time.

Cheers

 

Turbo Snail Video + Tank at the end:
YouTube - Turbo Snail doing what it does best

Engineer Goby feeding:
YouTube - Juvenile Engineer Goby

 

take your time. read and the first ten years are experimental. happy reefing!

 

Welcome to 3reef!
fish are good, always help the cycling process. Calcium is good, and that bacteria you were talking about is very good for a cycle. When you start to cycle youre basicly growing your own bacteria intell it's safe to add your livestock.

And to help with your algea (you will get alot more) you can direct your jets or currant onto the rocks getting the algea. Also you can limit your lighting per day..

Keep updating this, and put some pictures up when you get a chance.