Newbie from Stone Mountain GA

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and all of the advice!!! Good point about making him envious of my tank.. I hope to get it beautimous!

 

I have a couple questions:

Why can't I use my tap water and treat it, then salt it?

Second question, won't the Python suck up the salt??

 

In most areas, there are too many other things in the water that will cause algae in reef tanks. I.e. silicates will cause a diatom bloom, Iron, phosphates, nitrates, etc. will cause hair algae, cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, etc.

If you siphon with a python, you don't go deep like with gravel, you would only barely siphon the surface (and that's only if detritus or cyanobacteria is on it).

 

After your salt has dissolved and is in solution you won't beable to suck up the salt.

I would siphon the sand to remove any built up detritus and in a neglected tank it is well worth doing. If you use the gravel attachment (plastic head) you can siphon deep into the sand, lifting the gravel siphon after the plastic head is half full of sand will remove the lighter detritus while letting the heavier sand fall back into the tank.

It is good practice to do this every couple of months to remoe built up detritus.

 

Oops! That meant to be asking if the Python would suck up the sand-- but you guys answered my question. Wow, I really really appreciate the help! I guess I will be sucking out my tank tonight. I'll update on the progress once I'm done!!