New Reef Tank Set Up

[mrviper]

Not sure if this is the right place, but I am looking for some advice.

I have a new 125 G tank, magnum 350 canister filter, I am putting in a 200 gallon sump/refugium/wet dry filter, Protein skimmer. I have 2JEBO ODYSSEA 48" 260 watt BLACK QUAD Compact Flourescent led lights.

I filled up my aquarium with tap water, the tank has stood for 4 days with nothing in it, I have added the salt and it is in the correct salinity level measured with a hydrometer.

I will be adding live sand in about 4 days and some live rock.

What should be my next step?

I want to set this up as a reef tank, with various corals, small fish like clowns and tangs, gobies, and such, nothing major.

I would appreciate any suggestions that all of you might have. I have had fresh water tanks for well over 35 years. I want to do this right. I have a friend who has a salt tank and he is going to give me some of the sand he has to help start the biological bacteria development. I had read that to help start the process to get a couple of raw deli shrimps and let them rot in the tank first.

[kwdelre]

Utah huh?
You are definitly in the right place. The people on here are so knowledgable it makes me feel like a kindergardner. WELCOME!

I would have used RO/DI water to begin with. Not something you would have used with freshwater though. You can add some shrimp but I like adding mature live rock to start with. You can also try some stuff from the store called "Cycle." It will get things rolling while you stare at an empty tank.

GO ROCKETS!!! (Just got back from the game. Man it was awesome!)

[dobejazz]

Welcome to TRT !

[Caball362]

Welcome ! What kinda Coral would you like to keep ? look at TRTS Sps Lps And Softie threads for mor info on them.
The light wont probly do for SPS but then again i am new also !

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT!

[scoop]

Welcome to TRT! As mentioned above you will want to use ro/di water, not tap water. Do a search and read some information on RO/DI water use, ti'll save you a lot of future headaches w/ algae. Also, the cf lights will not be powerful enough for sps, but they should work for some softies and some lps corals. What type of skimmer do you have? A mantra you will hear often here on TRT is that nothing good happens fast in a reef tank, take your time and ask lots of questions.