Adding water to my tank for the first time!

[BlueDolphin]

Hello everyone! I am in the process of filling my 60 gallon tank and I have a couple of questions.

1. How long does it usually take for the cloudiness from the substrate to settle. I am using aragonite and I washed it before I put it in, and I have not even filled my tank half-full yet but it is really cloudy and now I am scared that I didn't wash the sand well enough. What do you guys think?

2. Should I fill my sump to the fill line after I fill my tank, then add salt, then turn on the pump, etc.?

Thanks!

 

[quarryshark]

Sounds like a plan. I wouldn't worry about the cloudiness. It will settle with time. I don't know what others did, but when I started I filled the tank up with r/o water and let it run for a couple days. Just to make sure that I had no problems with the plumbing, pumps, etc. After I was confident that things were kosher, I then added the salt.
Have fun

 

[cj10488]

1. How long does it usually take for the cloudiness from the substrate to settle. I am using aragonite and I washed it before I put it in, and I have not even filled my tank half-full yet but it is really cloudy and now I am scared that I didn't wash the sand well enough. What do you guys think?

It will take about 24-48hrs or so for the water to go back to being clear.. It could take less time since you did rinse it.. FWIW I have never rinsed my sand and thats about how long it took for mine to clear up..

2. Should I fill my sump to the fill line after I fill my tank, then add salt, then turn on the pump, etc.?

Sounds like a plan however I would make sure that all the salt is dissolved well.. You might even want to stir up the sand bed some to make sure that the salt that fell to the sand bed gets dissolved as well.. you want your salinity about 1.023-1.025.. I like 1.024 if you are using anything but a refractometer..

HTH<
James

 

[XXFirefighter]

I used my Emperor 400 with the baskets filled with carbon and the floss filters to clear up my water.... 4 hours later, had 6 chromis in the tank...

 

[Anemoneman]

4 hours later, had 6 chromis in the tank...

Before cycling?

You should add salt to the water BEFORE sand. Or put premixed SW in after the sand.

 

[XXFirefighter]

4 hours later, had 6 chromis in the tank...

Before cycling?

You should add salt to the water BEFORE sand. Or put premixed SW in after the sand.

I added the salt to the water a month before... and rechecked it before adding it to the tank with the rock and sand in it...

 

[BlueDolphin]

What kind of problem would I have, say if, I added the sand before the salt?

 

[XXFirefighter]

What kind of problem would I have, say if, I added the sand before the salt?

It wouldn't mix at all ...
The salt would go to the sand and not dissolve for like ever.. just mix before you put it in !

 

[BlueDolphin]

What if I mixed up the sand really well after putting in the salt?

 

[wvdeadhead]

If you haven't already added the salt, I would go to Wal-Mart or someplace and get a 55 gallon trash can. Siphon all the water out of the tank, mix the salt in the trash can. Then drop in a powerhead and a heater and let it mix for a couple of days. Then once it's all mixed up and the salinity is right, just pump it back into your tank. Like the other people have been saying, it's not going to mix too well if you dump it in the tank with sand. There will be a lot of sand that never gets dissolved.

 

[XXFirefighter]

What if I mixed up the sand really well after putting in the salt?

You don't want to do that.. it won't mix....
And your have dirty water for a month !