Thoughts on my setup and where to go from here

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dfwflyr

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So i just upgraded from a 120 gal to a 210 reef tank. when I did the change over I used about as much of my water from the 120 as I could but that was only about 80 gallons. I had a small cycle (used API quick start) and finished through that and now im getting a little bit of diatoms on the sand bed. One concern is the quantity of junk suspended in my water column and how it doesnt seem to be going away. This is leading my back to question my sump and skimmer. Now the previous owner of this 210 was using it as a shark/stingray FOWRL setup. They had a crystal 30 sump and a reef octopus diablo 160 or ss1000 skimmer. I know its only rated to 180 gallons so that has cause me to raise an eyebrow. I'm tempted to go back to my dosing of NOPO X but not sure if i should start that regimen yet as i barely have nitrates. Im curious to hear from you experienced reefers on my setup and how to optimize it to have a beautiful stable tank for my livestock. (I should also add that i have two returns running an eheim 1260 and a mag 9)
 
I too am in the process of setting up a 210g Build log. I just added water and vinegar to my tank and cleaned it up. tested the plumbing. Everything is good. I had a custom 4' sump made for my tank. using filter socks. For flow, i'm going a different route. 2 MP40 and 2 Jebao WP40s. return is a 1,200 gph DC pump also from Jebao. I think that flow is the most important thing since my tank will be an SPS dominant mixed reef with lots of fish. That led me to a huge nitrate/phos, which I will probably use Bio Pellets to remove and a very very oversized skimmer to skim out all the excess bacteria. I do not believe that your tank has to have a certain turn over ratio to be successful. Reef tanks lately have been more about the amount of flow inside the DT rather than the turnover rate. With that in mind. Once you decide on what type of Salt water tank you are planning, wether it be a reef that is SPS dominant or a Zoanthid heaven, will determine your type of filtration, rock structure, lighting, and most importantly, flow inside your tank. SPS tanks use ULN which requires a lot of dosing! LPS tanks do not require as much and you can get buy with Macro Algae in your tank and a phosban type of media such as GFO. Zoanthid tanks would require even less, with maybe just Macro algae.
 
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