First saltwater tank

I have found some good things on crags list cheep, but be careful and do research before you buy.. some guys charge retail for well used, out of date equipment. The best thing you can do is spend time on this site and research!! and it s free!! Lots of live rock, a sump and maybe a skimmer are a great start.... simple, not too pricey and can give you a great looking tank!

 

I think the diatoms are starting to thin out a bit. I'm waiting for a ph and ammonia salifert test kits to arrive in the mail. If the ammonia is low could I start adding a CUC or should I wait until I buy nitrite, nitrate and phos kits to make sure everything's level?

 

At this point, testing is a pretty important thing. I would wait until your ammonia and nitrite test 0 before you add anything to the tank. After that a cleanup crew is a good start. As for the skimmer, you probably won't be getting much skimmate out of it. There isn't a bioload on the tank right now. Upgrading it would probably be a good thing, but thats something you can save up for. For the time being, you can keep your parameters in line pretty well by testing and doing partial water changes as necessary. Since you have a sump, a refugium with some chaeto would help keep things in line until you get a larger bioload and get a different skimmer.

 

I want to run an algae scrubber and a refugium after the cycle is over. The sump has a sponge between the chamber where the balls would be and the next area. Is the sponge in there ok or would taking it out be a good idea?

 

without seeing the sump, i couldn't be 100% sure what the purpose of the sponge is. If I were guessing I would say possibly for bubble diffusion and maybe mechanical filtration. Now keep in mind without seeing the sump, this is what I would do. I like the ats and the refugium, those will definitely help with filtration. I would remove the sponge and the bioballs as without constant maintenance/cleaning they will become big nitrate factories.

 

Ill try taking pics tomorrow, its a pretty tight squeeze. Even if it is for bubble diffusion my skimmer is downstream for it. I do have a few micro bubbles in the display tank but they are hardly noticeable. I tried using a tube from the skimmer output to before the sponge but it seemed like the added height the water had to flow prevented the skimmer from working. The guy I bought it from had the sump in a separate room with the skimmer out of the it but there isnt enough room under the cabinet.