Possible Mistakes/Questions - How to proceed?

I am just getting started in the fascinating world of saltwater. The basics: I have a 30 gallon aquarium with a marineland 200 filter for now. We just plan on having a fish only tank until we have the funds to upgrade our lighting and filtration systems. On the advice of the local fish/pet store we purchased the stuff we needed to go ahead and get the setup running. I wish we would have found the forums sooner as opposed to taking the word of the fish store guy, but this is where we are now. As a substrate we got 20lbs of live sand and it was suggested we use 10lbs of crushed coral because they did not have the remainder of live sand we needed. We also purchased the salt mix, hydrometer, chemicals, a new 50/50 bulb, etc. Not knowing anything and going off their instructions we went ahead and started. We decided to go ahead and set the tank up with water, let it run a few days, add live rock and go from there.

Here comes the first two problems. No one told us we needed to wash the coral and it said pre-washed on the bag so we assumed we could just dump it in. We added the sand and coral and then started to add water. The water would be our second mistake. We are on a well and the pet store guy said it would be okay to use our well water since we had the conditioner and stabilizer chemicals. We mixed the salt in a food safe Rubbermaid bin and filled the tank. It was then we realized our mistake of not washing the crushed coral as the tank turned very, very cloudy.

In retrospect... knowing what I now know from reading, I would not have used any crushed coral and used all sand. I also would not have used tap water because I have read it can cause algae issues later. However, this has all been done. My question is where to go from here. Should I let the tank set and clear up over a few days? Should I stir it up and do a half water change and try to get some of the dust out? Should I get rid of all the tap water and start over with distilled or filtered water? If so, should I try to sift through the substrate to remove the coral and replace it with sand?

I know these are a lot of questions, and I am scared I know the best answer would be to do the later. However, I hate to have wasted all the salt, chemicals, time, and money on coral to start over again being we are on a budget. However, I don't want to setup an issue that will lead to more problems down the road. Any suggestions?

 

IMO and experience. let the dust settle, it is some sand as well. Do a water change with some RO water and keep it going. You are fixing your mistakes in time to have a great tank. Are you adding LR soon?

 

So change out the crushed coral with sand.
Change out the majority of water with RO/DI.
Seed the tank maybe.


Next sit back and wait for it to cycle. We have all made similar if not the same mistakes, it's all good. !

 

I plan on adding about 10 lbs of live rock and 20 lbs of dry rock as a base when all of this gets settled and let it cycle.

As for as taking out the crushed coral that is mixed with the sand, is there any reason to do this besides the fact it is harder to maintain, keep clean?

 

If you decide you do not want crushed coral down the line, because of what ever reason, looks.....When you want to replace it, you end up removing or disturbing the biological filter which is the back bone of your system. Just a heads up that it can cause issues later down the line like decline in water quality. Replacing it now without any rock, corals, fish or inverts is the ideal time.

 

If you diddnt rinse the crushed coral first then it may be a full week before the tank fully clears up. I'd you plan on switching it would be better to do it now then later.

 

I guess right now I am more worried about the tap water I put in and not using RO/DI water. I know above half a tank change was suggested. I am new, but have read about non RODI water causing algae promblems and such. If I go ahead and do half a water change distilled or RO/DI water then should I be okay?

While the water is lower I plan on taking a new kittie litter scoop and sifting out most of the crushed coral. I do not have a RO/DI unit so I am off to see what I can find. My local pet store does not sale RO/DI water to my knowledge. I plan on investing in a unit some time soon... my wife has been wanting one anyway for drinking water.

 

You can buy RO/DI water at any Walgreens, Walmart......It is just bottled water that is labeled Reverse Osmosis and Di-ionized.

If you were talking a 75 gallon tank or larger than I might be concerned but in a thirty gallon tank you should be able to change out a decent amount of water in a couple days.

Hope that helps.

 

Since this was all just put together yesterday, would it be best to go ahead and change out all the water or just half of it? I figure the more I change the more dust will be removed, as well as portions of bad stuff from the well water.

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to proceed the best way possible to avoid problems.

 

It's difficult to say how much better replacing your water with that made with ro/di water would be,not knowing the quality of your well water.If you're willing to do the work,as in draining tank and lugging home the ro/di you will know you're starting with good quality water.Your only loss would be the cost of 30gal. worth of salt mix,not much.