Just some food for thought here. You're only 6 months in so in the life of the reef tank, it's still a baby.
Might I suggest thinking about so long term plans here, and along that line to consider adding a sump and I will explain why. I didn't start with all this and I did not have a plan, It was impulse buying at first and learning from mistakes. What I did was read thread and thread trying to learn from other what they had in their tanks (nothing like copying success), why and deciding what I NEEDED.
First, you don't need a sump, but in the world of reef tanks, they are very useful in that they provide a place to hide all the equipment freeing up space in the display tank (you are already feeling that pain with the skimmer), add a little more water volume (helps with stability) and enable you to do maintenance without disturbing the display. Additionally, If you decide you want to use macro algae or add rubble rock/marine pure (or similar) block as filtration, a space in the sump (refugium) can do that.
Again, not saying these are musts, but now is a good time to consider this. While it my be long winded, trust me, these nest points are are abbreviated and debatable so I will leave them for you to research and consider.
So, heaters, protein skimmers, media reactors, dosing pumps, Automatic Top Offs (ATO) are some of the equipment that you will commonly see in a sump. - never add any of these until after you have properly done your research and know WHY you are doing so.
But my tank isn't set up with an overflow? Not a problem, There a hang on overflow kits available so you needn't drill a hole in your tank. If your tank is not made out of tempered glass, then drilling the hole can be done to the plumb right into the tank.
If I could do it, anyone can. I was not about to drill a hole in my tank - although I must have watched 100 how to videos and stared at my tank for months considering it. In the end I bought a weir (that is the bock that gets siliconed on the insider of the tank with the slots to control the water flow and skim off the oils and debris that float on the water surface and fabricate my overflow box out of pvc and acrylic.
That flows into filter sock in my sump that I change twice week, catching detritus and uneaten food before it pollutes the tank. I have my carbon/gfo reactor there (I run activated carbon more for insurance to remove any toxins (corals might release them) and GFO ONLy IF I need to lower my phosphates - PO4).
My heaters are in that first section as well (I run two heaters on a controller - heaters are often the cheapest piece of equipment and most likely to fail. One is fine to start with, b ut feel free to read up on this topic as it's not uncommon to put your heater on a more reliable controller and add a back up.
The next section is my fuge (refugium). Here I fabricated an open top cube made out of egg crate with some rubble rock and cheato (macro alage) with a light. By using an egg crate I can easily remove it for maintenance like cleaning out detritus that has accumulated. In any case, the cheato helps to consume excess nitrates NO3 and phosphates PO4 and that the rubble rock is making (covering ammonia).
The next section has the float switches and fill line of my ATO - automatic top off. The float switches detect evaporation and turn on an aquaift pump that is connected to a container with rodi water. The float switch turns off when the water level is back.
I don't have dosing pumps nor am I currently running a protein skimmer. but if I did they would go in the sump.
And so the only hardware in my display tank are circulation pumps to create flow.
one last thing. I didn't see it mentioned, but with corals, it's a good idea to get good test kits and learn how to use them. Again, I'll leave you to do your own reading, but test kits are not equal and test kits labeled for saltwater does not mean it's adequate for reef tanks. Some brands you see mentioned as reliable here are hanna, seifert, red sea, and nyos. In almost every problem thread, members ask for parameters, These include Specific Gravity (SG), pH, Temp, Ammonia (NH3), Nitrite (NO2), Nitrate (NO3), Phosphate (PO4), Alkalinity (K or ALK), Calcium (CA) and Magnesium (Mg).
Here is a good article from Red Sea on these numbers (BRS does recommend slightly lower NO3 and PO4 for the first two years of a tank). I am not recommending their products, but linking for the explanation of reef chemistry and why the parameters they have posted make sense.
Red Sea's recipes for easy & successful Reef-Keeping, Our Reef Care Recipes offer easy-to-understand and simple-to-implement instructions for reef maintenance, tailored to each type of aquarium.
www.redseafish.com
