My first tank!

[ImCharlie]

Hi RC,

I'm completely new to the hobby, first time keeping any fish tank in my life. I know reef tanks are the most challenging tanks but they look so beautiful that I decided on trying it out!

The tank has been cycling for 8 days now, and things are looking OK. I've been using 1 lidful of microbacter7 every night, with no light and no skimmer. Checked ammonia, nitrite and nitrates at a local petco and they were all very low. Today I minced up a shrimp and put it in a teabag and dropped it in hopes of feeding my beneficial bacteria with some ammonia.

Here's the equipment I've bought so far:

DC Aqua Excel 6500 pump
Seachem Matrix Rocks
Carbon/gfo reactor + medias
Bubble Magus Curve 5
RODI system
Eheim Jager 300watt (This is going to be way too big, I know)
Via Aqua 200watt (Not working so well)
Tunze Osmolator 3155
Jebao wp-25

I still need to buy a light... I'm leaning towards radions (thinking of buying used ones... bad idea?) or maybe kessils. I want to have those bright orange/red/yellow colored sps corals eventually, and it seems radions are probably the way to go if I want those bright colors.

Now for pictures!

Used the herbie method for quiet draining.
https://s23.postimg.org/zfhuv6j53/drain.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/zfhuv6j53/)

Frontal view.
https://s23.postimg.org/61qptc5t3/front_view.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/61qptc5t3/)

Return plumbing.
https://s23.postimg.org/srpumbp0n/return_plumbing.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/srpumbp0n/)

Sump view. Not running skimmer while my tank cycles.
https://s23.postimg.org/l094nrkvb/sump.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/l094nrkvb/)

My ATO. I love having this thing!
https://s23.postimg.org/xg5uhie7b/top_off_container.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/xg5uhie7b/)

Any tips or comments would be appreciated!

[ImCharlie]

Forgot to mention, this is a 50 gallon cube, 24x24x20 dimensions.

[Duncanr9t]

look pretty good to me!

Just do a test of 'power-out' to see how much higher your water level is in the sump since you have the out-flow nozzle quite a bit under water, and if you have or will add a 'check-valve', still do the test haha.....just in case

Also, get a BRS or MD DIY screen....1) for jumpers like gobies 2) other fish too...like clowns

[ImCharlie]

Yeah, I've done the power out test, it only goes up about 2.2 inches in the sump... I have more than enough room :)

[Cliving1]

Definitely get a screen. You should not have nitrite and nitrate, buy a test kit and see what it says vs petco. You can spike your ammonia to 2 ppm and if it drops to 0 in 24 hours thats a good sign.