Am hoping people here might point out any oversights, and that I haven't overlooked anything. Either something critical, or perhaps is a lot better to do now, before it becomes a costly upgrade/retro.
Factory ordered 80g Bow Front with sump/skimmer and plumbing. The sump should give it another 25g and T5 for lighting. It should arrive next week and so I will be (hopefully) landscaping and filling it next weekend.
On hand, or also ordered and ready to go.
60pds live rock. (LFS) reading about these issues now
. Initial plan was 60pds LR and other porous to fill in rest
55pds Argonite (aiming for 1-2inches)
Short term (1-3months). fish only and just a few
Mid term (3-6) slowly add fish
long (6-12month) maybe add some soft corals, depending on progress
I am in absolutely no rush. Ive run FW for a number of years and many years ago ran a quasi successful small fowlr. Want to do it "right" from the get go this time. Basic loose thinking is make sure things are running smoothly and stable before any significant changes. Sort of make sure Ive got my routines down pat and thriving fish before adding soft's, learn to walk before I run kind of thing.
Lighting. I'm thinking I might go LED eventually (don't know) I'm just reading about them now (new tech since I last tried).
RO.
Am on the fence. Tap is ok here, plan to test it myself next week to see if that sways me to do it "now" rather than in 2-4 months when the bio load starts to grow. Long term plan is a light bio load, in short less than what the set up can handle...why push it kind of thing.
Am reading as much as I can about different species, and other topics (suffering information overload) so I can plan my additions, measure progress. But for now focus is on the next 3-6 weeks.