finally got my 75g tank

[phongt86]

i just got water in the tank and salt its been running for about a week now.

whats next?
getting ready to buy live rocks in the next couple of days.

i am clueless about what im doing can anyone help me out with everything i need to know

i got a coralife aquapro light 48" but unaware how long or schedule the light should stay on

how much sand will i need and live rocks

just bought a 250watts marineland heater (do i need to buy one for the sump?)

i had all this equipment for free so i am new to all this but have everything running. got water drain from overflow box into sump and gets pump back with a pump with Y shape ends back into the tank (is the water pumping back in is suppose to be slow because if i goes to fast it drains my sump and cause a lot of bubbles)

my previous post have pictures of all the parts i had
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/need-help-putting-my-equipment-together-126820.html

 

[Mitchell0605]

Ok first, welcome to AA.
Second, while your cycling, which is what happens when you put the LR in, you don't need any light. The heater can go in the sump and that way it will heat the whole tank and you won't see it. As for amount of sand and rock, I'm not sure, I'm a metric guy.
Cycling: This means your tank will build up the beneficial bacteria. This happens when you add an ammonia source or if you have die-off on your LR. What happens is bacteria will convert it into nitrite and then nitrate. When your parameters hit:
Ammonia 0ppm
NitrIte 0ppm
NitrAte <20ppm
Then your cycle is finished. This will take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. The golden rule: Nothing good ever happens fast in a marine tank.

 

[phongt86]

that was very helpful. anything else i should keep in mind?
do i put the rocks in first or the sand?
should i go buy testing kits now or can i hold off for another 3 weeks?

 

[Zer0]

As for how much sand you will need, use this sandbed calculator to figure it out:
http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

Also, you can do it either way, sand in then rocks, or rocks in then sand. However, it may be safer to put sand in first so if a rock falls or slips out of your hand, it will fall on to the sand and not the bottom of tank, possibly cracking or breaking it.

Using DRY aragonite sand is recommended, and not the use of crushed coral or crushed seashells. Those last two can lead to nitrate problems down the road because waste and detritus will build up in the areas where you or your clean up crew can not reach. You will also need to thoroughly rinse the dry aragonite otherwise your tank water will stay cloudy for an unnecessary amount of time. Instructions on how to clean the sand SHOULD be on the bag that it comes in, but in case it's not.. It's best to thoroughly rinse a few pounds of sand at a time until the water turns from a milky white, to a cloudy haze.

Also, it is best to buy the test kits now and test your water during cycling. There is no SET time for how long or how short a cycle will be, so if you didn't have a test kit and your tank cycled in a week and you waited three, you would have never known, and it sure would have been a big waste of time to wait that long. Which could also have posed a threat to kill the bacteria that established in there, since there would be no bioload(which comes from your fish and decaying matter) to keep the bacteria alive. So definitely get the test kit ASAP. However, during the cycling you will not have to test your pH levels because they will most likely be all over the place. The things you want to test for during cycling in Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates, as Mitchell already said. After you provide an ammonia source and you see a spike of ammonia and then your levels begin to drop, you will know the cycling in coming to an end. Once your Ammonia and Nitrite levels read ZERO, your tank will be cycled. Then it is best to do a 30-50% water change to lower the Nitrates.


As for the amount of live rock, to create an ecosystem in your tank where the live rock will also count for a large portion of biological filtration, it is best to have at least 1.5-2lbs PER gallon of water.

 

[phongt86]

thanks that was useful. i just got 60pound of live sand and 65 pounds of live rock from some guy off of craigslist it looks like it has a lot of algae on them and couple of little crabs.

Ivebeen using sink water for all the water been in my tank and wont be able to get a ro/di till the end of the month

the guy at the fish shop told me to buy a solution to decloreine he say it a grantee which my water will have and will kill my live sand and rocks. i end up buying pour about 5 of the bottle cap into the water let it sit for like 30 mins and put all the rocks and sand it. i hope the live rocks is still alive and the sand also.
how should i have my light scdeuled for this corlife think it has two bright bulbs which looks like it burns like fire then after 30 secs it really bright and 3 blue led light and two strips of light that is like a black light

i also got a problem with the protein skimmer it doesnt foam up into the container up top