SETTING UP NEW 30G SALTY TONIGHT!

chevyguy86

chevyguy86

AC Members
Mar 4, 2007
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Setting up first salty tonight any advice would be awesome!

This is what I have so far

1 - 30g tank....duh
30lbs of live carribean live sand
1 55gallon bag instant ocean salt
55lbs of cured fiji live rock
1 whisper 200 filter
1 penguin 150 filter
1 200w heater
1 air pump
1 bubble wand
1 large and 1 medium sized powerhead
1 36" T5 lighting with a 18k bulb and a actinic bulb (brightest thing I have ever seen)
1 custom built tank stand
1 light timer
30gallons of fresh RO water
(just placed a bid for a HOB 90g octupus protein skimmer on ebay)
1 150 gallon bucket of patience :headbang2:
1 salt water level thing...I forget the name of that thing...hydrometer...refractometer..super gravitonal measuring device...something - meter
1 bright blue backgroud

only other thing I know that I need is a piece of glass to make a cover for the tank. The tank is going in my 2 year old sons room...

any other advice on how to "start" er up or anything else in general would be much appriciated.

*EDIT* I have had a 50gallon bow front freshy, and a 100g freshy for about 10 years already so I have test kits, python...and all the goods and extra parts and stuff.

Also I love this site, lately I have been on in for hours a day reading your expert advice on saltwater tanks, and I want to tank everybody for the support, I have problably printed out 200+ pages so read when I am not near the computer or on lunch at work etc etc...


Thank you in advance.
Craig in Ontario
 
Last edited:
Almost there

I got the sand bed, live rock, and all of the equipment hanging in there respective places,the timer setup and the lighting hung....although wrong size for tank. I think I can make it work. I seemed to have lost my large powerhead, so I will have to get another to circulate the front of the tank. I will take pictures of it tommorow, it's getting late here now, the only thing left to do, to start the engine sort of speak is add water....minor detail LOL....oh ya and mount the background. The only nervous part I have is adding the water, do I put the salt in the tank and then add the water. I don't really want to add salt to the water jug because we use those same jugs on the water cooler. I would rather add some salt into the tank then some water repeat etc etc. Can this be done? Or do I have to xfer the water to another container mix the salt then pour...this would be a pain in the butt!! :swear:
 
Late Night Pictures

Ok so I decided to take out the camera since I had to charge the battery anyways for my sons's 2nd birthday tommorow, so I took a few pix.

Yes the room is bright red, Lightning McQueen Red actually, I wanted to get his new room done before his birthday and all the family came over. Even thou the tank doesn't have any wawa in it...I think it looks....ok!
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Yes BUT The only nervous part I have is adding the water, do I put the salt in the tank and then add the water. I don't really want to add salt to the water jug because we use those same jugs on the water cooler. I would rather add some salt into the tank then some water repeat etc etc. Can this be done? Or do I have to xfer the water to another container mix the salt then pour...this would be a pain in the butt!!
 
Ok so I added water salt water salt etc into the tank, and the level is at 1.022 but still cloudy and the hydrometer has not been "seasoned" yet
 
Generally, if you are going to mix water in the tank, you don't put the live rock, etc. in first. It makes the salt much, much harder to dissolve and it is very harsh on the life in and on the rock. If you followed the instructions on the bag verbatim, 1.022 is actually probably correct. Since I am assuming you have one of the dip and fill style hydrometers, you may want to invest in a good refractometer. It will save you the headaches associated with these kinds of hydrometers. Refractometers can be had fairly cheap, as well. Check out here--notice it comes with the calibration fluid, which is a MUST.
 
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