New 40g SW Environment

[sandiegan]

just a quick thought, but you might want to make sure you have a hydrometer/refractometer, test kit and lighting for the tank. Also, I highly recommend a protein skimmer.

About the water, since this is the first time water is going into the tank you can mix the salt in the tank, but this might stir up the sand too. In the future though, it's definitely better to mix the water and salt in something else (5gal bucket, huge rubbermaid tub, etc) and heat it/aerate it for at least 24 hrs before it goes into the tank. hope this helps.

SD

 

[woodyblueeyes]

just a quick thought, but you might want to make sure you have a hydrometer/refractometer, test kit and lighting for the tank. Also, I highly recommend a protein skimmer.

Thanks SD, I do have a hydrometer, got that in my first batch of purchases. I'll add the protein skimmer soon after I add the LR after the cycle.

About the water, since this is the first time water is going into the tank you can mix the salt in the tank, but this might stir up the sand too. In the future though, it's definitely better to mix the water and salt in something else (5gal bucket, huge rubbermaid tub, etc) and heat it/aerate it for at least 24 hrs before it goes into the tank. hope this helps.


On the advice of a friend, I am pre-mixing the salt/water before putting it into the tank. I have run into a problem though. The directions on the Red Sea salt give me 1.4lb of salt to 5 gallons of water. I have 15 gallons of water in two totes, but I don't really have a way of measuring 4lb of salt for each tote??? Any thoughts??

 

[theop]

Generally 1/2 cup per gallon of water is a good starting point for mixing salt. Since you are going to combine the two containers of water, it doesn't matter if a little too little or too much salt goes into each of them as long as the total amt of salt is right for the total amt of water.

 

[OrionGirl]

Raising salinity isn't an exact science in my house. I add the 'about right' amount, test, then add smaller amounts until it's right. Do a rough mix, a little less is easier than more than you need, then tweak from there.

 

[woodyblueeyes]

Well I fiddled with it for awhile, and actually ended up with a salinity rating of 1.023

I think that's in a good range to start, yes?

Put in 21lb of LR last night...clouded the tank a bit, but this morning it's lot less cloudy, and I caught myself staring at the LR for quite a while last night.

 

[RJJ_EXPERT]

their are also R.O.'s made for aquariums from corallife and kent which you can get cheaply online and flow a alot more GPD than ones a lowes
but make sure not to get a crapy skimmer althought a smaller one may cover a 40 gallon if you ever upgrade to a big tank you wont have to buy a another skimmer if you go larger now.