Diving back in after 7 years

[Enigma42]

Good afternoon all. My name is Jason and I'm trying my hand at saltwater again. I gave up my last one due to some major life changes (good ones) and things have finally settled down a little now. I'm glad I found this forum. It looks very active and looking forward to getting great advice and feedback here!

I have a Red Sea 130D that I got from someone, and in the process of setting it up. Wanting to do some corals, inverts and some small peaceful fish. Just got my RO/DI going last night, so slowly getting it filled up. Planning on mixing the salt in when it's almost full and add live sand. What is the recommendation these days for filter material in a system like this? I only have the stock protein skimmer for now. Stick with carbon, bio block and a sponge as it was originally? What about using Chem Pure or Purigen, something along those lines?

 

[jjfriscia]

Im a return to the hobbie as well

Im running filter floss right now until my cycle is complete then will be running chemi pure blue and purigen. Also running a small refugium just macro algae. Im interested in knowing what everyone else is running and if you think this is overkill

 

[Rob&Gab]

I'm a returner after 4.5 years of being out! Just got back in and dove deep back into the hobby! I have a redsea 260e max a tank I always wanted but I kinda wish I went for a little bigger! I use chemi pure, stock skimmer for my back chamber , sponge block which i replace every two weeks with filter floss i buy both sponges and filter floss in bulk and cut to fit each one. Also i run phosgaurd when needed for 5 days when needed and remove.

IMO: important tip, add sand then rock, put water in after that process also add the clarity packed your sand comes with if your using Caribsea which Is a go to for me (figi pink) it will save you time and hassle of floating debris from the rock and sand!

For salt i use ESV which I have been using for years, a really amazing salt you mix yourself! Other then that I do a water change 1 time a week and that's 10gallons from a 69G system. 54-56 gallons all said and done with fish, coral, rock and 30lbs of sand.

 

[Enigma42]

The tank has been set up with live rock for almost 2 months. Added some additional base rock about a month ago. No livestock yet. Parameters for salinity, pH, ammonia and nitrite are on point. Red Sea test kit. Nitrates are 5 to 10 ppm which I am correcting through water changes. Thinking to add some decorative macro algae to help absorb some of it? Main concern at the moment is the alkalinity which is around 6. Could I add a fish or two, and maybe a snail to start eating algae? Or will the low alkalinity adversely affect them?