Order of Operations

[Drzy]

Is there anything wrong with setting things up in this order?

1. Assemble parts to tank (powerheads, protein skimmer)
2. Put in sand
3. Mix treated tap water and salt simultaneously, pour into tank and mix there until dissolved.
4. Turn on powerheads
5. Once salinity is correct, add live rock and a shrimp
6. Cycle until levels are fine for fish.
7. Turn on protein skimmer
8. Add fish.

 

[Choas]

Was it Live Sand that you used? If you used Live sand I was told to mix water make sure salt is right and heat. Then clean the bags of sand turn off the filters pour in the sand. Let it settle then turn on the filters.
I did not use tap water Because my water is bad here I used RO and UV Water from a Water store.

 

[austinsdad]

I'd also recommend filling with fresh water and turning everything on first. If there are leaks, better to find them then IMO.

I also mixed my salt water in the new tank before I added sand. That way, you can move/stir up water easier IMO.

 

[mp3z24]

i agree with austinsdad. you definately want to fill the tank with freshwater and let it sit for a few days. if you find a leak in those first few days, you can easily empty the tank and repair it.

~mike

 

[cplawrence]

In Paletta's book, he suggests to add the rock first and the sand after. In fact, he suggests not adding the sand until after the cycle! I believe the rationale for rock first is that if the rock is sitting on top of the sand bed, there is going to be a bit of settling which may make the whole thing unstable.

 

[seaham358]

What you want to do is fine. If your using play type sand then you will be fine. In the future you will need to mix saltwater in a bucket and bring to temp when doing wter changes.
Before adding water cover the sand with plastic garbage bags and place a glass bowl on the bag and pour all water going into the tank in the bowl. Leave the bags in until your done filling then remove slowly. You will have no sand storm, if you dump the sand in with water in the tank you will have a hugh sand storm.
Running the skimmer while your cycling the tank is fine, this will allow the skimmer to break in.

 

[DragonForce]

Put on powerheads, heater, skimmer, thermometer. Fill with water, allow water temps to rise to 78-81(temps I prefer) Add in LR and live sand. The water will be cloudy for a week or so depending on how fine your sand is. There are ways to add the sand w/o getting cloudy water but I won't go into detail.

You will want to run all PH, filters etc while the cycle is taking place.

 

[Drzy]

Excellent, thanks all for your advice! In the end though I decided I couldn't wait and tossed the fish in before I left for work this morning, I hope the little buggers are alive when I get home.

Just kidding of course. I'll be very kind to my fishies.