Ok, I have a 72gal Bowfront that is reef ready and plumbed to a 29gal sump/fuge. I have a Red Sea Skimmer, a Eheim return pump and 3 marineland powerheads. I have about 70lbs rock in the tank and 20 in the fuge. The fuge and tank each have about a 4-5" sand bed. The tank was setup when I bought it and we saved as much of the water as we could.

I have had the tank setup and running now about 1month. I have had 2 mollies in the tank for the last 2 weeks. I have had snails and a few hermit crabs since the tank was setup. I recently put 2 chromus damsels in the tank about 7days ago. All my levels are testing good and all seems to be going great with the life in the tank except..... I am getting brown everything in my tank. My sand is turning brown and I have found from research that this seems to be caused by not using RO/DI water.

I will use RO/DI when I add or change water as well as cut down on my lighting times to stomp out this algea. I have about 8 snails (1 large, 7 tiny) and 5 crabs (1large, 4 tiny), 2 or 3 mushrooms on a rock and a few other softies that came with the tank.. I lost a torch when I realized that my salt level was way low in my water from when I added my sump/fuge and used freshwater.. But all seems to be striving now..

What should the next purchase be for my tank? I really want to start adding some colorful fish to my tank. I do not want to break the bank, but I want some hardy inhabitants and friendly fish. Help me make my next move.


Thanks in advance