Sump filtration and what's really needed ?

[JJSins]

I've been on and on about tanks and everything but I finally decided on the red sea 425 Xl but looking around and most of the tank setups on YouTube are way to complex, and feel that it is a little excessive.
I like to keep it simple but having 3 reactors, UV sterilizer, protein skimmer, algae scrubber, and sometimes even more doesn't seem right to me. To me that's like stripping the water of all the nutrients and that's why they have to dose so much.

What I'm trying to get at is with a mixed reef with 5-7 fish would running red seas media cups with filter floss, Carbon, sea chem purigen, and chemipure blue. Then some media blocks, and getting a skimmer with a Refugium do justice. I want to keep it simple and not all complex, please let me know what is needed ?

 

[KrisReef]

Start out simple and use what you want and feel comfortable with. Start a build thread and document your progress so others who follow can see what works (or not) for you. HTH.

Your post reminded me of an old saying: ~"Everything not forbidden is required?" I don't know what that means but it's not a good way to live. Specific advice: Don't get a UV sterilizer, and read @Paul B 's thread about 47 year old tank.

Or read this one because it's fun and it might help guide your trajectory.

Moving 47 year old reef 60 miles. OMG

So about six months ago our closest friends got a new Grand Son and he lives in Long Island right near where I live. Of course they wanted to see him all the time and they moved to Key Largo a couple of years ago so they bought a condo 60 miles east from my home out on Long Island in wine...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Edelbims]

Pretty hard to tell...
I've ran a tank with classic LED, skimmer, heater and powerhead, but also ran a tank without skimmer and powerhead.
Both worked fine for me.
You could start "light" and upgrade later maybe?

 

[blaxsun]

I run a protein skimmer, reactor (carbon and GFO), second reactor (zeo) and UV sterilizer. The second reactor replaces the Red Sea media baskets and allows me to instead run 4x 100-micron filter socks (instead of the normal 2) - meaning I don’t have to swap them out anywhere near as often. Other than some MarinePure bio blocks (mainly because they offer more surface sqft and take up less space than rock), that’s basically it.

If you want to start with the basics, just use the Red Sea media basket with some carbon and GFO in media bags in the media basket and a protein skimmer.