running salt & water.

[yigosflower]

i had a question...
my boyfriend & i are going to get our tank tomorrow, we dont have the money right now to get the live rock & all that.. but we didnt know if we could set the tank up with just the salt & the water.. do we need the lights, rock , sand, & or any filters going before we do that, or would letting the salt & water just be going be ok??
this may be a stupid question but i thought i'd ask. (im so excited that i would be happy watching just the water & salt in the tank LOL)=]=]=]

thanks again!

 

[Atari]

LOL I know exactly how you feel... you should actually fill the tank up with just water when you get it to check for leaks. Don't bother with the salt for now.

What size tank and what livestock are you hoping to keep eventually?

 

[malkore]

yeah, skip the salt. no biological cycle will occur unless there's some source of ammonia, so having salt water circulate would only teach you how to top-off to deal with evaporation. basically a waste of salt...which is another expense

 

[Overstocker]

Check for leaks then throw the salt in and let it circulate a few days with a power head or filter. Thiswill mix it up and have lots of fun playing with the water patterns/flows.... The next week add some sand..... and so on... Lots of tinkering to be had with just sand and water testing

 

[Atari]

I woudnt waste all that salt for no reason. Plus if it isn't RO/DI water then it will turn green within a week.

I'd drain that tank once you've checked for leaks and played around a bit. You'll be better off setting it up properly once you have all your other equipment.

 

[yigosflower]

hehe *darn* i was hoping we could get that cycling .. if we have a filter on it would it be ok? other than a waste of salt? we do have extra to begin with anyways.. i just dont want it to hurt anything. im sure we will get the sand when we get the tank. we are both too excited to keep an empty tank sitting around! =]
of course a leak check will be in order!!! wouldnt that be terrible to have it all set up & to find out there is a leak! i would be so upset!!!! lol
well, i will just keep asking my stupid questions & having you smart salt people help me out! (if you dont mind) hehe
thanks everyone! really happy this is a VERY nice & friendly forum!!
nice to meet you all! =]=]=]

 

[fishfreek]

You cant cycle with out a source of ammonia. Be that a raw shrimp or some other fish meat.

A glass box with no places to hide will be fairly stressful on most fish so you need to think out some way to decorate the tank. The sand and rock we use is not only for decoration but is also our filtration.

 

[Atari]

Just saw your sig.. that's quite a little zoo you have going there