your filtration comes from live rock, if you think the tank cost you alot just wait until you see the bill for the LR as a general rule of thumb you should add aprox 1lb of LR per gallon of water BTW dont be afraid to smell the tank the LR is coming from if the dealer says its fully cured it should not stink if it smells bad that means its still cycling and die off is still occuring in this case you are going to want to set your tank up with the skimmer running full time and do not add anything do a 20% water change atleast once a week and keep testing your water at first you will see a huge ammonia spike followed by a nitrite spike and then lastly a nitrate spike take your time be patient wait for your tank to cycle be religious with the water changes keep a close eye on water parameters when your tank has no detectable ammonia or nitrite it is safe to add a fish or 2 but take your time with the stocking of your tank each fish added will cause your tank to do a small cycle again too many and your LR will not keep up to the increased bio load and you ammonia will go through the roof another thing you may want to do is start with all fresh salt water and not your freinds used water his water or anybody elses could bring parasites into your eco system unlikely but it is always best to err on the side of caution. anyways sorry about the book i just left you but you have alot of learning and reading on the road ahead of you remember there is no 1 right way to approach this hobby and there are alot of people on this forum who know a ton more than I do
Welcome to Canreef and please keep us posted on your progress
