Please help.. Tank setup was a total Disaster....

[Doan]

Hello I set up my tank last night in the very loosest sense of the word. I am having some very serious problems with what is going on in there and ahhhh I have live rock coming today..Ok the biggest problem I am having is I have the cloudiest water ever.. I hooked up the 55 gallon with a fluval 404 and visi jet ps protein skimmer. well the water is so bad that unless my hand is touching the front of the tank I cannot see it. The salt is .026 a little high I know but i left out 10 gallons so the rock can displace it without it overflowing and I can top off with fresh to bring the salt down..Also The salt has collected in a foamy slimy layer around the sides..Also The skimmer well it's not skimming.. just kinda shooting bubbles everywhere...but after 10 hours not a bubble in the cup.. and there is all kinds of crud floating on top of the water.. Crushed coral pieces and such..thought the skimmer would get that...With the rock coming today please help me.. My wife is very upset after 2 months researching and $1200 bucks.. I need to clear this up ASAP and make it Rock safe..

Thank you sooo much

 

[ellisz]

If you just just put the substrate in, the water will be extremely cloudy. This will settle over a few days. It should not be a problem to put the rock in when it is cloudy.

If you cure the rock like the article on this site says, you will need to do 50% water changes every other day. This will help too.

Should not really be too much in the water for the skimmer to pick up really. When you put the LR in, that will change.

HTH

 

[sumphead]

I wouldn't runthe skimmer at all, unless you are going to cycle with uncured LR, then by all mean use it. As elli suggested do the water changes if curing the LR. Either way the cloudy water is expected and will clear even faster once the rock is in there. patience.

 

[Doan]

Thank you so much for the quick response...What about the slimey salty sides?? anything I can do to eliminate that??

 

[reefrunner69]

What about the slimey salty sides?? anything I can do to eliminate that??

Wipe it down, it is just the dust from the substrate. Also the skimmer is not going to do anything for a few days until it breaks in, and with freshly made water and no DOC to speak of, it won't do anything anyway. Once the rock is in there, you may see the skimmer really kick into action

 

[Doan]

Thanks Reefrunner... Ohhh by the way it is your picture of clown and bubble coral that finally made me take the leap into this adventure... I really want that in my living room

 

[fishfreek]

If you want you can take a cup or something and scoop off the stuff thats floating on the top of the tank surface.

Did you use all crushed coral for your substrate? What kind of crushed coral?

If you need to calm the wife down tell her that whats going on in the tank right now is no worse than when a tropical storm passes over a reef and churns up all kinds of sediment into the water. When the sand settles you can use a small hose and blow it off the rock or syphon it off the rock.

 

[pm64971]

As a tribute to the information you got here, I will say that I had the same problem and within a week, the same advice cleared up my tank. The water is now crystal clear... too bad there's nothing but sand, water and salt in my tank.