starting a reef

so, from my reading and asking questions here , It sounds like to start I should circulate salt water through my tank and sump, then add live sand to tank and refugium, then in a week ( if params look ok) add live rock to tank and refugium, then in a couple weeks( if params good) start adding critters. Which things should a guy start with? when would you introduce the macro algae to the refugium? told ya the questions were just beginning

And the questions will never end. Don't worry about it. I still have questions and issues with my tank.

Actually you can add macro algae any time. You do need a light on a reverse lighting period over the refugium. A small 54 watt light is fine.
You can add some live rock at the beginning also. If it is from a mature system, it will have all the good bacteria in it and you may not have a cycle. I added crabs at the very beginning too and fed them once a week some mysis. After 4-5 weeks water params were stable and I added a couple fish. Not too many all at once.
Dont put sand or rock in your refugium. It is not possible to clean it. If you had a large set-up with a 30 or 50 gal refugium and it was not tucked under your main tank, then yeah, rock and sand and macro algae and even a fish or two, but small systems, its too hard to clean it. I have nothing but cheato in my refugium/sump.

whats cheato?

hmmmm

It is a macro algae. You grow it in your refugium so all the nutrients that the bad algea lives off of is used up by the macro algea and the bad stuff does not grow in your display tank

Dont pay for it either. There are a lot of "reefers" that will give it away. We'll see if we can find you some when you need it.

I've got a bit of acrylic laying about , i might see about building a 20-30 gal sump/refugium--- expensive one looks real simple. should be able to have skimmer well , refugium, and a heater-pump well. need to figure out a safe overflow for non drilled tank. if pump dies what keeps the siphon effect from draining the whole tank into the sump and onto my floor?

aaronfeeney wrote:I've got a bit of acrylic laying about , i might see about building a 20-30 gal sump/refugium--- expensive one looks real simple. should be able to have skimmer well , refugium, and a heater-pump well. need to figure out a safe overflow for non drilled tank. if pump dies what keeps the siphon effect from draining the whole tank into the sump and onto my floor?

A standard u-tube overflow box works great. It will not reverse syphon. I used one for 8 months or so until I got my reef ready tank. As far as your return line. It will reverse syphone if the power goes out. What I did was made sure that the return nozzle was not completely submerged below the surface of the water and I also drilled a couple holes in the return nozzle above the water line right about the level of the top rim of the tank. That way the return line would suck air and not water.

I also built my own sump out of a 30 gal tall tank, glass panes and aquarium silicone.