what is next?

i have had the tank running for almost 6 weeks now.
but idk what to do next.

skimmer has never been on yet, the temp is ~76-77, never turned on the lights, got 2 koralia 3 running in there. 2 raw shrimps were added in the very beginning and now it looks very small and all brown

i just returned home from a trip out of the country(just left the tank running for the last 6 weeks) and the water level have dropped ( due to obvious reasons), and i was wondering what do i do now?

appreciate any help

 

First make sure you top off with fresh water and not salt water or your salinity will get outta whack. What are your params?Check ammonia, nitrite, and Nitrate.

 

i ordered some test kits that should be coming soon.
but right now i only have test kits for freshwater, can i use those for now?

there is ammonia and nitrite test kit in there but not so sure about nitrate

and i just top off with some fresh water(filtered water from the grocery store) gonna order a RO/DI soon

 

only thing you can really do now , IMO , is wait for the test kits. once you fet those, and hopefully your ammonia,nitrite and nitrates are zero , you can add your CUC. give them a week or 2 and if alls good, you can add your 1st fish.