salt additon???

following many peoples advice on how to set up a tank should i trust the directions on mt salt manufacturers table. what if i mis salt to those guidelines and it isnt correct. will it effect my LR.

I read that i was to add my rock then water then sand. ????

do i need to make sure water is at right gravity first before adding LR.

 

Mix water in buckets if possible and get your gravity correct first. Most mixes give directions to give a SG of 1.021. If not mix in the tank then, add your sand and then the rock. Rinse the sand and keep it in the bags, place the bag in the tank on the bottom then slowly empty it out, this should keep the cloudiness to a minimum. Good luck.

 

+1 on above
if its live rock you dont want to be adding it to fresh water and then adding salt in your tank
if its dry base rock, then it does not matter

add rock to base of tank after salt water is mixed and finally add sand is also a good idea
as that then means there is no sand under the rock base, which could later be undermined by the activity of fish or inverts causing your rock work to tumble

Steve

 

Agreed mostly, I think 2in10 meant to say it the other way around - anywho, do not add add sand before your rock. You want the rock on the glass and NOT on the sand as it will eventually be undermined by critters and shift.

As noted, if this is live rock mix the water in buckets first - if its base rock make your life easier and mix it in the tank.

 

I wouldn't worry about directions too much, read them to get a general idea of how much you need, but don't kill yourself trying to get exactly the required amount. What I usually do is put a bunch of salt in, come back the next day and test it, then add more or dilute with RO/DI water if necessary. (This may sound very haphazard, but after you've done this a few times, you get a very good idea of how much salt to add to get the right salinity, I can almost get right on 1.026 with just using a one cup scoop.)

 

True, but I don;t think he would want to do this if he has live rock and his first post said "LR" -- granted, that very well may mean base rock.

 

im using mostly base with a few pieces of live rock. ill mix out of the tank .

 

Im going to disagree with the crowd and say not to put the rocks directly on the bottom. The reason is the water can not flow under the rocks. What I did to keep from having an unstable foundation but yet keeping the ability to let water flow is make feet. I accomplished this by buying 4" PVC from Lowes. I then used a mitre saw ( a hacksaw would work) to cut 1.5" sections of pipe. I then used a 1" drill bit and put three holes in the side of each piece. Next I layed out the pieces (11 total) in the shape of my aquascape (in my case a "W"). Next I scooped each "foot" full of sand so they wouldn't slide. I then placed my base rock onto the PVC pieces and finally filled sand around these. This enables my tank to get good flow all under the rock without the fear of a pending rockslide, plus you dont lose the few inches of your sandbed depth of viewable rock. This has worked well for me for almost a year now. Just an idea and suggestion

 

or you could just use eggcrate