Help setting up

I have been in the hobby for close to 3 years but after many errors I decided to break my tank down and start all over. I have a 50 hex with a wet dry filter with bio balls, heater, 1-MJ-900 PH, 1- Koralia nano PH, Rio 2500 Pump/PH, and my lights (may need to change). By the way, my plan is a FORWLR.

I have bleached tank, supplies and painted my back 3 panels. I went down to Big Al's (FL) and picked up 33 lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand...along with some other supplies. Due to convenience, I chose to bring my hose in and fill the tank. I used Prime to treat the tap water.

Today I finished my aquascape and rocks are in place and curing. My water is just now starting to clear up again. How often and how much of a water change should I do? Now at this time I dont have a protein skimmer. A friend told me that if you put one in during the curing process that your tank will depend more on it. He says wait untill the curing process is over...any comments on this?? Also would like some suggestions on which brand to buy?

As far as the PH's I have the MJ-900 blowing toward the front of the tank and the Koralia nano blowing down on top of the live rock...is this placement ok? Do I have too many or not enough PH's?

I have had the rock for over 48 hours now and don't notice this nasty scent I've heard about while curing the LR. Is this common or should I just wait a little longer? As far as curing I've heard 2-5 weeks, once the ammonia levels are down is that it?

As much as I would love to have a few corals I was told that because of my 50 Gallon Hex that the coral would not survive because of the depth...my tank is 30" tall but I do have some rock with 15" of the surface of water...could that be a spot to possibly attach something?

Lastly, I know to be patient and not add any critters or fish, however I have questions concerning "custodians" Is it true that you would need 1 per gallon? I was looking into snails and certain crabs and these sites are saying that.

I look forward to any comments or suggestions to this thread. I will surely be asking more questions soon, thanks again.

Brian

 

Keep asking questions we will help.

 

2 things to add to the above... get an RO/DI unit as soon as possible, the tap water will cause many undesirable hours of headaches eventually. And second the address for reefcleaners is actually .org not .com
ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae

 

For those of you joining us that are new to the hobby - the best piece of advice you'll get around here as a saltwater newbie is 3Reef's slogan
"Go slow, let it grow."
And for those experianced hobbyists joining us - it's still good advice
good luck and post pics soon

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I have not budgeted $$ for a RO/DI system. Untill I'm able to purchase one, what is the best water to get for the water changes?

Brian

 

Either Distilled water from the supermarket, or RO(DI) water from a LFS.

Some supermarkets also have RO dispensers, but I've never seen one in my area, so I don't know how common they are.