New Tank - Bubbles? Sand?

[Mrbill]

New setup, I'm taking things slow and I have a few questions.

I have my new tank set up. (http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=14947)

I set up the filters and filled the tank with water. It is now a completely empty tank with only fresh water in it. The Fluval 304 is running fine. The problem is that the tank has loads of bubbles in it, probably from the filter startup when the water level was below the returning water. Now the return nozzle is completely submerged but the bubbles are not going away after almost a day of filtering. Is this a problem? Should I go ahead and add the salt?

Also, after the salt has dissolved, how do I go about added the sand substrate without creating too much of a sandstorm?

Oh, by the way I lucked out and found (the last) two 50 pound bags of Old Castle sand at my local HD. It says right on the bag "not recommended for aquarium use" but as far as I can tell it is the same sand (southtown?) that everyone is raving about here. It also says on the bag "Not silica based".

Once the sand is in place, I plan on buying LR from www.liverocks.com to start the cycling process.

I guess that is all for now.

Thanks for any and all help, this forum is great!

***Links fixed by Bearfan***

 

[smooth_rivers]

Are the bubbles coming out the nozzle of the Fluval? If they are then you have a bad seal on the cannister. I've had one that sucked air from somewhere and never stopped blowing bubbles. If it's just air bubbles on the glass, you can just wipe the off and they will go away. You can also try to angle the output of the fluval up a bit to make sure it's moving alot of water on the surface.

Make sure you turn the Fluval off when adding the sand. No way to really avoid a sand storm. Put the sand in a bucket and wash it really well. Just keep stirring it up by hand until the water coming out of the bucket is clear. If you use a smaller bucket that you can completly submerge then just scoop it out onto the tank floor. It should settle in a few hours. Do this before adding salt, because you can help the settling process by doing water changes.

 

[cmor1701d]

Are you planning on using a DSB and LR for filtration? Is so, dump any media in the cannister and just use it for flow.

not recommended for aquarium use

That's a contractual thing but it's the same sand sold that's sold "for" aquarium use at several times the price.

DO NOT WASH the sand. You want all the little particles. Yes, that will cause a major sandstorm but it will settle out as the tank cycles. Mine took about 2½ weeks. I couldn't even see the LR for several days after adding the sand. But I replaced my CC with a DSB, but before I had any livestock.

You should remove enough water to allow for the sand and rock. Mix your salt to concentration (1.025SG aprox). Then place any base rock on the bottom, add your sand then place the LR on top of the base rock. Then fill the tank with fresh mix. As you tank cycles and you can see the LR, you can re-arrange it till you're happy with the placement. You should also have some powerheads running at this time and keep the lights off to limit algae growth.

HTH,

Cmor

 

[Zack]

Once the sand is in place, I plan on buying LR from www.liverocks.com to start the cycling process.

I would be a little worried as the life on the rock would proably die in the cycle. If you look around people add this rock right to established tanks with very minamal die off, I think it might be best to cycle first with the sand and a raw shrimp, then get your liverock so you can save a lot of the great life.
Just my $0.02

Keep us updated.

 

[Mrbill]

Thanks

Thanks for all the advice. The bubbles are just stuck on the glass, not coming out of the filter, so I think they'll wipe off ok.

I'm planning it to be a FOWLR tank, so after the sand settles, I'll keep the filter going until the sand and Live rock are up to snuff, then I'll remove the media and use it for flow. Does that sound reasonable? Then maybe I can get some fish!

I had read in many places here that cycling with live rock was the way to go, comments?

 

[cmor1701d]

then I'll remove the media

Which will remove any beneficial bacteria in the media. Better to just cycle with the LR and no media. Let the LR and sand do the job.

Unless you get LR that is in water there is going to be some die off during shipping. Depending on how much you get, this will probably cause a cycle to happen in an established aquarium. Better to use this LR for the initial cycle. It will also seed the sand bed.

You can always do partial water changes while cycling to keep the ammonia levels below lethal levels for any hitchhikers but that will prolong the the length of the cycle. Anything that survives shipping will probably survive the cycle or at least help in getting the cycle going.

 

[Mrbill]

Cool, I guess that's what I'll do, thanks!