Salt water in tank. What next

[chase33]

Ok, I have salt water in my tank and I'm ready for the next step in setup. I purchased 100 pounds of base rock from marcorocks.com. I'm more than satisfied with the pieces I received. I will be able to setup many caves, tunnels and hiding places for the fish plus they all look good. Hope it comes out as well as I envision, though with the pieces I've received I don't think I can go wrong.

Tomorrow I will pick up 50-60 pounds of cured LR from the LFS. I expect the sand to arrive in a few days. It's about 200 pounds of Aragamax and 40 pounds of LS. I must say that I prices the sand at a few different places and the shipping costs were astronomical, I mean off the chart. I'm talking hundreds of dollars. Thank goodness for Dr's Foster & Smith for not charging extra for bulky items as shipping from them is on $15. I'm planning on a 4"-5" sand bed.
My question is what is next? Should I wait for the sand to arrive, before putting the rocks in the tank and does the LR require any further curing outside of the tank before being placed in the tank with the sand and base rock?

Also, at what point do I start using the skimmer?

 

[roka64]

I agree with the drs not charging for bulky items. I bought a 6 foot light and 270Lbs of sand and my shipping was only $15.
As for the order, at this point it doesn't really matter. When you add your sand, make sure you rinse it first. If you add the sand first, make sure your rock is placed firmly on the glass bottom. You can cure your rock during your cycle.

 

[chase33]

Any tips on rinsing 250 lbs of sand?

 

[roka64]

Yeah, I had the same issue with 270Lbs. It takes a while. I put one bag in a bucket and filled it with water, stirred it and dumped out the top layer of water, I did it six times for each bag! You could probably use a screen that has very small holes to do it, as long as it is filtering out the silt and not the sand.

 

[melosu58]

Yeah, I had the same issue with 270Lbs. It takes a while. I put one bag in a bucket and filled it with water, stirred it and dumped out the top layer of water, I did it six times for each bag!

This is what I did also. Also thank goodness for the good doctors. They have saved many of up from cruel shipping rates.