Where to go from here?

Hello everyone. I am working on putting another upgrade into my tank and not exactly sure where I should go.

Currently what I have:
- 46 Gallon Bow front
- 4x96w power compact fluorescent lights (new bulbs)
- Marineland C-220 canister filter (with bio-zorb and rowaphos media)
- Red Sea prism protein skimmer
- 2 1050 gph power heads
- 70 lbs live rock

This tank is pretty new to me (4 or 5 months old) and the problem is I am not exactly sure where to go next with my upgrade. I am thinking of spending around $100-$200. I have recently had some pretty nasty algae problems but added the bio-zorb and rowaphos to try to take care of that.

My thoughts are to find a better quality protein skimmer or to add a refugium or sump. I am not sure which is the better move. I was thinking about adding a hang on refugium to add some macro algae to possibly but again not sure if this is the best move.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

You've got the right idea. Adding a sump/fuge will add more water volume to stabilize your parameters, provide a space to store some of you equipment, give you space to grow macro algae and pods and be a fun project well under 100 bucks.

 

I've had a hang on refugium before and really liked it. It's better if the critters can just overflow back into the tank rather than get chewed up through the pump.

A sump and a better protein skimmer is also a very good way to go. The Prizm isn't bad, but has some limitations (at least the one I owned a number of years ago did).