im new & need help plz

Yeah kinda sounds like you might just be adding salt into the tank. Are you pre mixing your salt?

 

Hello and welcome..

This is the best advice I can give as I am new as well:

When you do something and you think you have messed up, rather than making quick and unsure changes come to this forum and post a thread stating what you've done and patiently wait for a response as the people here on this forum usually respond within minutes at all times of the day and night.. The people are very knowledgeable, non-judgmental, here to help/want to help and flat out give you the best advice they can to help you succeed... I set my account for auto-email when I get responses and typically I post a question and have an answer before I can even begin to search the web... The advice is solid....

Keep this in mind, next to emptying your tank of water, very few things can happen to your system that your better off making an inexperienced guess at what to do rather than to post a question and wait for a response...

Good luck and once again welcome to the forum...

 

so do u just post what everyone else says or what... i mean i realize it wasnt the proper way & i admitted that... if you was going to post you could have at least answered the questions i had, like the others did, you know instead of basically insulting someone. (Considering you had just established the tank you could have asked around and do some research nothing was going to die because of the turbidity and foam.) again i admitted it was wrong the way i did it & was looking for help to cure it... not trying to be rude but it seems ridiculous to me to post something like that on a post that you know was written by a newbie (you can tell how long the been a member to the site) that just found this site & was looking for help. not helpful thanks..

 

yes i was mixing in my tank... i know its not the best way but i have no plans of putting fish or anything for around a month or so... (low funds)

so it should be fine & circulate good till then...

 

yes i do realize that now... however i didnt even know site existed when that happened... i do now though so i deffinetly will be doing that.. thank you..

also thank you for being polite about telling me to ask for help... 1 person didnt act that way & that upsets me.. especially when people don't think how someone can read & interpret there post before typing it...

 

I had that same skilter 400 on a 29 gallon when I had my first tank years ago, it did alright but I always kept the number of fish/invert's low so it did not have to work too hard.

I recommend a sump/fuge for any tank, you can get one that hangs on the back or one that is specially designed to go under or beside the tank. These make keeping salt water much easier and more enjoyable. Have you thought about what you want to stock in your tank, this will make a difference in what kind of lighting and/or filtration you will need. Don't stress about the live sand, it will come back in a few months, I always buy everything dead and seed it myself, I find I have less unwanted pests (i.e. nudibranch's, worms, snails, aiptasia) that way. When you buy things live, it is sort of like christmas, you never know what you are going to get!

 

Ok, first thing, first. You need a salt mixing station. A 5 gallon bucket from Walmart will suffice.

Second, buy some tap water treatment chemicals (a ro/di unit would be best) tetra aqua safe, etc. You need to remove chlorine from the tap water. Mix in salt. Test salinity. It is also best to heat water at this stage if possible.

Third, put water in tank and heat it. It needs to be between 72 and 81. best use 75 to be safe.

Fourth, test salinity again. It should be between 1.020 and 1.025 for fish only

Fifth, Add live rock and a handful of live sand to seed your existing sand

Sixth, run tank empty for two weeks.

Seventh, test water for Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. If your ammonia and nitrites are 0 and your nitrates are less than 10. You can start acclimating and adding fish. If any of your tests aren't correct you need to wait longer, up to 6 weeks.