Filling Up My Tank

[teklabs]

Ok, so I need to know if I am missing something. I have live sand, going to get my RODI water from LFS today. I need to put sand in empty tank. Next fill with RODI water. Is this correct?

[ezy33]

IMO if your using premixed salt water your good to go. If your going to mix your salt then you should mix it and let it stand for a day befor adding it to the tank.

[doaz]

Yes you are correct

Put sand in and then add water streaming off the side of glass as not to blow the sand everywhere

[Airgoose2222]

That's how I did it. There are some good YouTube videos how people have done it to help with cloudiness in the water. It still will be, but there are some good tricks.

[erichm20]

I would rinse the sand first then put in the bottom and put a dinner plate on it then pour the water straight onto the plate. It's going to be cloudy no matter what but I did the plate thing and it was a little better.

[doaz]

I would recommend NOT washing your live sand

You will remove the "live" bacteria off the sand that you are wanting.

From the bag to the aquarium then add the premixed saltwater from lfs.

That's what I did and quicker cycle and much healthier tank

Kb

[Grizz]

Originally Posted by craigbooker

Ok, so I need to know if I am missing something. I have live sand, going to get my RODI water from LFS today. I need to put sand in empty tank. Next fill with RODI water. Is this correct?

If you have live sand DO NOT fill the tank with RO/DI water it will kill the bacti fill with salt water also DO NOT rinse the live sand Best way is fill the tank 2/3 full with saltwater or RO/DI then add the salt mix Bring the SG to 1.025 add any rock then add the live sand after things settle finish filling with more saltwater

[erichm20]

I really don't think anything that comes in a bag is alive. It's the little packet of starter that supposedly makes it live sand. I would just buy premixed saltwater from the lfs rather than rodi then mixing it yourself.

[teklabs]

Thanks for the info. Will probably get my premix saltwater today from LFS.

[teklabs]

So I acquired an RO/DI system and premixed my saltwater overnight. I put my Key Largo rock from Marco's in the tank. I have one hydor Koralia 600 - 3200/850 providing flow. What filters the debris at the top of tank? I have an Emporer 400B, should I put that on the tank?

[teklabs]

Photo of tank from end.

[teklabs]

From front. Still some sediment/debris floating at top.

[Grizz]

Fill your HOB filter with poly-fill and let it run it will clean up your water after it's clean rinse the ploy fill and save it. You can reuse it.

[teklabs]

It worked!!

[Grizz]

Now get that puppy cycled. Then get some livestock in there

[teklabs]

So I put Bio spira in the tank to get the coralean growing. What else do I need to do?

[Grizz]

Bio spria wont start coraline growth it helps to start the bio cycle (Cycling a Saltwater Aquarium) that makes you tank safe to add fish. To start coraline algae growth you'll need a small piece of rock that has some on it. This will seed the tank. Keep up with water changes and it will soon become a pain in the neck lol

[teklabs]

So do I need to test for ammonia and nitrate/nitrite levels next?

[carey]

If you didnt use all live rock then you will have to introduce an ammonia source. At that point you would then start testing to see how the cycle moves forward, ammonia, nitrites and then nitrates.

[teklabs]

Should I go to the LFS and get a piece of live rock?