Hello from SoCal

Hello:

I just put in my base rocks and LS after I mixed my water and salt this afternoon. So the water is pretty cloudy; I hope it will clear up tomorrow.

IN the mean time, do i need to have my sump running? or should i just leave it alone till tomorrow to have everythign clear out. Thanks

ps. nothing is running now so the sand will settle in.

 

Thanks.

I got a protein skimmer today and it's now running in the sump. The water is clearer now and I can see the back of the tank (it was a different story yesterday). Hopefully, it will clear out by next few days and the tank will start cycling. I got some LR as well.

 

Throw some cocktail shrimp in or purchase a yellow tail damsel to start your cycle Keep skimmer and lights off till cycle is done. heck keep skimmer off until you get a higher nitrate reading. run heater, pumps, and sump now and until its torn down

 

Howdy! and welcome to 3Reef

 

Thanks, skimmer is off. I was going to get a live shirmp from the market today, but couldn't find one. I will get it tomorrow. Is temp 85-86 too high? It is pretty hot in the valley these past few days. Hopefully, the temp will go down soon.

 

nah ya don't need the live shrimp, dead is the point. Also the skimmer is the great debate here. You are going to have plenty of stuff in the tank to get the cycle going so I would absolutely run the skimmer. Does it work not to run one??? perhaps but I think you'll end up payin for it in the long run.85 is too high. That's starting to get stressful. You may have to look into room ac, or some fans to blow across the top of the water. Fans aid in evaporation and help the warmest water evaporate. it's usually good for about 3 degrees. Also if you have a glass top on your tank you may want to remove that too.

 

Thanks!!

I will get the temperature down with a fan. I connected a pipe from my RO filter to my sump so I am going to drip RO water into the tank. I did a drip test yesterday, it was like dripping at 1gal for 7 hrs.

Just to be sure, I have like ~12lb of live rock and 1/2 my sand bed is live. Do I still need a piece of shirmp? Is that supposed to speed up the cycle? sorry hehe, really newbie.

I checked ammonia level yesterday was around 1. My salinity is @ 1.023 - 1.024. What should be my water parameters be at this moment? Thanks for all your help again.