switching over to salt water from fresh water

welcome to 3reef and the salt world

 

Adding live rock may cause a small cycle if you add it after the tank gets setup. Adding dry base rock wont cause any problems. I would try to get the largest pieces first or at least design the base of your reef before putting sand in. You need to ensure that the rock is stacked on the glass, or eggcrate if you prefer, and not stacked on the sand. There are a lot of cool fish and critters that can cause rockslides if you dont get the base rock securely stacked.

 

thank you all for great advice!! i was wondering about the effects of adding more rock later, i will be adding more dry base rock later like suggested. the thin acrylic sounds like it would work, maybe just a little piece to spread the load a little. but i guess i feel a whole lot better now that so many people put the rock right on top of the glass with no problems. yes ive read about critters causing rock slides and not to put the rocks on top of sand if u wanted them. i definitely want some critters, i think theyre the coolest! researching all i can at the moment and definitely taking my time. there is so much great info on here.....

so now my rock is sitting in a bin with the water that was in the tank it came out of. i have a heater and power head in it till i order my ro kit. i didnt want to start out with tap water, some people did good with it, but i dont wanna take any chances. i dont want any weird stuff happening later. i would like to get an ro kit asap, but where could i get one locally with out having to wait?? would grocery store water work?? 150 gallons is much to be carrying outta there, lol!!

 

Have you run your copper test yet?

Cuprisorb is what is used to remove copper. It is not a quick process. Easy, just not quick.

Return pump: What are you running. A freshwater pump may contain copper bearings. Need to find out.

Otherwise, you seem to have a very good start.
Welcome to 3reef

 

gonna take some water i saved to the lfs in a few min, i figured i could do the cuprisorb to remove it while im cycling or till whenever its all gone if i have any, no rush, as long as its removable.

didnt think about the freshwater pump maybe having copper bearings, gonna take a look at it when im redoing my sump today. whats the best way to find out? tear it apart? hopefully ill be able to find something on the pump..

ran into a lil snag, my sump doesnt come out with out cutting my side panel off, doh!! gonna cut it out nicely and go ahead and make the cut out a door...update tonite...

ordered my ro/di system today off ebay today, i thought the system was pretty nice and for a great price!! its one from filter direct..be here in a week. til than, gotta make sure everything is straight with the rocks..

 

Very nice..... RO/DI is the way to go. My water sucks around here. More heavy metals than I like to think about.

 

couple of pics


cutting the panel, fun!!

i missed the tank!!

my bros helping me take stuff out of it and draining it

there it is

almost cleaned, scraping off all the old stuff

 

i started to clean the silicon off the old baffles but changed my mind after running out of brand new razors and a soar finger

the new baffles siliconed in place after a good cleaning with acetone of course, wish i had books, now i gotta cut those boxes out. didnt realize it till i siliconed it in, doh!! the box on the bottom is my salt that i just bought. i think its bagged up in there.

pic of whole thing

i got a 33 gallon trash can from lowes. rinsed it out and started to add my rodi water in it. i checked it an hour later and saw a puddle of water on my floor!!
poured the water that was left in a trash bag and i looked into the can and saw a pinhole. filled the thing backup to the pinhole to confirm thats where it was leaking. yup, gonna exchange it today..

 

got some bad news.... my pump that i was using is a pond pump from lowes. the rubber washers in the impeller housing dryrotted and let water in and rusted up everthing. i got the parts to fix it but probably not gonna use it, ive think it has metals in it. prolly gonna use it as my water change pump. its kinda big though.....pump hunting now...