Lots of great advice here. And they echo my...
Would you recommend curing in the Brute vs in the tank? If so, why?
Aahhh ok, then i definitley have some researching to do on that. Yeah thats exactly what im trying to avoid as well.
Awesome! Thank you!
Any recommendations on salt and sand?
Mainly because you can start that now and continue to prepare your tank for launch. And while ambient light won't induce algae growth to any great extent, you can basically block out almost all light in a Brute. So I guess my reasoning is two-fold.
With salt, it's already suggested you start with a mix that conforms to what kind of parameter levels you want in the tank. For me, I'm going to run high(er) ALK, so the salt I choose will have a mix that gives me a level of 11 plus or minus. The Ca and Mg levels I'll adjust on my own.
As for sand? I haven't looked into that too much, so I cannot give you a specific idea. The only recommendation I have is to NOT go with extremely fine sand. It gets all over the place and can be hard on powerheads (such as your return(s)). LOL, sand needs to be kept at the bottom of the tank!
Another couple things you may want to consider. Two MAJOR parts of maintaining your ecosystem are the return pump(s) and heater(s). With my tank, I'll have two of each. If one fails, the other can handle the workload (albeit at lesser efficiency) until the issue can be remedied. With heaters, I would suggest a heater with a Titanium Body. It acts as a ground probe as well. But ONLY if it has a three-prong plug. With return pumps, I'm doubling up on that to avoid any complications inherent in a complete cessation of water recirculation. AND I'm gonna have an extra of each on standby. That last part is overkill, but that's how I roll.
