What order should I add these?

My tank is at the end of its cycle.

I ordered my lights (see sig) and they should be in tomorrow. Ike allowing.

The next few things I need

Power Heads
Clean-up Crew
Skimmer

I believe I have ordered them in the order I should get them. I plan on getting a pair of Koralia 2's.

Can you folks confirm (or correct) the order I should get these? (An explanation would be appreciated if you change the order).

I put skimmer last because, as I understand it, there isn't much in there for it to skim now. I'm not saying I'm going to wait forever on the skimmer, just getting it last. I want to order the powerheads this week and cleanup crew next week and then the skimmer about two weeks later.

(This is an effort to get what I need while being aware of money flows (aka pay day)).

Thanks 3reefers!

 

wow that's a really good question. not sure...it's kinda like which came first..the chicken or the egg.........

 

Well, if you don't have anything in there, I would go powerheads, skimmer, cleanup crew.

Powerheads will do well to keep things oxygenated via surface water movement and help prevent algae blooms.

Get the skimmer next and let it break in. Don't skimp on your skimmer. Get a good one.

Put the clean up crew in and let them go to work. They will generate some waste that the skimmer will pick up. It won't be a terrific amount, but some nonetheless.

 

I would do powerheads,cleanup-crew,skimmer. Just because you wont use the skimmer in the beginning anyways. But it also depends how quickly you start adding things. If you take it slow with fish you should be ok. But still a skimmer is pretty important so dont take too long.

 

Don't worry! After I install my powerheads, you can look for a new thread where I ask for opinions on skimmers! But that'll be a new thread 8)

 

I would suggest a remora c, and in my 46 bowfront I went with a koralia 4 in one corner and Im gonna add a koralia two at the other end. 2 koralia 2's may do it though, the 4 is almost too much in one place...almost...

 

I would go powerheads, skimmer, then clean-up crew also. The tank needs to get going before you add a crew or you will lose a lot to starvation.
Just one question: Your sig says the tank was up and running on 8/15? If thats the case, your tank is half-way through cycling at the most. Start with one fish and let it set for a while

 

It does say that, but it's not exactly true. The tank was moved/acquired from a friend on that day as a FOWLR. It was moved with 1/3 water in the tank and another 20 gallons were moved to jugs and came with it along with the LR and Dead Rock, the fishies/inverts and current hardware also listed in my sig. I added substrate and 25 lbs of LR (and the shrimp:-/) and about 17 gallons of mixed salt water. I'm only guessing on the weight of the existing LR/Dead Rock so those numbers probably aren't right.

Even still, I thought it best to let it sit and watch for a cycle before I did anything. I've measured spikes in my log and am currently at Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate 20 (using API saltwater kit). Other params have been stable throughout8). I'll need the numbers to hang out at 0 before I start asking questions like "what's a good beginner coral"

But I agree I'm not completely out of cycle with my nitrates where they are. Do you feel power heads could cause a problem there? (the other two I wasn't planning on getting until nitrate came down anyway, just seems like that will be soon, so I should start asking).

Karma for watching my back!

 

+1 and +2 good advice, i would reccommend you do as much research in advance on skimmers, there is wide variety and it might be tough to find the one thats right for you.

 

On the point of skimmers before CuC.

Why is that? Are there things from the cycle that need to be skimmed out? Reading on 3reef has led me to believe that there's nothing in there to skim as of yet.

Is it because adding the skimmer later is bad in some way?