Finall starting getting ready to setup my reef

J

Jon

[Hey all, after what seems like an eternity I am finally adding my DSB and water to my tank tomorrow!! I am currently filling up a 45 gallon rubbermaid with R/O. I wanted some suggestions on salt brand to buy and the best method of mixing it. Also, should I wait and put my LR on the glass bottom before adding my sand?? Any advise here would be greatly appreciated, this is my second tank so I'm not as newbie as I sound, I was buying all my saltwater bottled at my LFS so have yet to mix any myself :D]
 
[Woohoo, Jon's gonna have a new reef! :D

I mix up my saltwater in whatever container I'm using to collect the water. Trash can or 5 (or 6) gallon bucket.

I really like Kent's Sea Salt and have been very happy with the reaction my reefs give me. Everything dissolves completely. It takes 1/2 cup per gallon, roughly. You might have to add a little more salt to get to 1.026, or add a little more RO/DI water to bring it down to 1.026.

Btw, I think I saw you ordered/bought a refractometer last night. :;): Very good decision. (This coming from a guy that didn't use one for 4.5 years, but now loves it!)

As soon as the salinity and temperature match my tank, and the water it absolutely clear, I use it. You can mix it several ways:

Big pump (Rio 2500) to circulate the water. It will mix up 5 gallons in 5 or 10 minutes.
Small powerhead. Same principle, but takes way longer.
Stirring by hand. Hey, it works. Heals all those cuts on your fingers and arm, btw.
Mxing propellar on a cordless drill. This is a great method to mix and aerate water in under 5 mins flat.

Some people like to age their water 24 hours, even putting an airstone in the container to oxygenate the water thoroughly. I tried this myself, and after testing saw zero difference, and don't do it anymore.

When I do mix large amounts of saltwater (30 or more gallons), I let it mix with the Rio 2500 over night. You can put a heater in the barrel to get it to 78 degrees if you like, but I usually get about a gallon and put it on the stove to bring it near to a boil, and add that back to the bucket and mix. That is one of those things you just get a feel for. And if you overheat the water, icecubes will bring it back down.

Are you going to have fish that dig in the sand? If not, add all your sand at first, then some water, then your LR, then the rest of your water.

If you are going to have burrowing fish, put some LR on the glass, add more sand around it, then more rock, more sand, then your water. This will prevent your rockwork from shifting.

Others have put large PCV pieces on the glass and balanced their LR on the PVC, with sand everywhere else (even in the PVC 'feet'), so the rockwork will stay in place. I put my LR on the sand myself.

When adding your water, put a large platter on the sand (or trashbag) and add your water slowly to avoid a sand storm. Your LR will help settle the sand over a period of a few hours as well.

When you turn on your pumps, some sand will blow around, but as it matures over the first couple of weeks, it will being to 'stick' to the rest of the sand, and not move about much.

Got the SCWD hooked up too?]
 
[Marc, thanks for your advise, guess I need to go get a bucket of Kent tomorrow then. I am going to order some LR off the net and hopefully will get it this weekend. I wanted to maybe get a Blue Spotted Jawfish and they burrow, but lately I have read they are jumpers and may be a pain to keep.

Check your email I sent you a couple pictures of my setup, also, how do I post pics here? Thanks :p]
 
[As Keith knows, I feel they are evil vile creatures that are only worthy to be kept in the ocean. :angry:

You're gonna need to put LR to the base, and pile it high. Don't be surprised if you come home and find your LR buried under a mountain of sand.

On a regular basis . :so sad:]
 
[Would you consider a jawfish more of a challenge to keep in the home aquarium than a mandarin? I may pass on the jawfish anyway.]
 
@Jon wrote:
[Check your email I sent you a couple pictures of my setup said:
[You need to upload them somewhere online, and then post the URL (link) to where that picture is located. If you want the pictures to be seen by many people, try reducing the size of your pictures somewhat, so they aren't too big.

If you have a 100,000 byte file and 10 people view the picture, 1 meg of bandwidth has been used. Put a few pictures in a post, and you can easily use my megs left and right. My old site allowed 6 gigs a month, the new one allows 30 gigs. And I seem to be slowly increasing that usage all the time.]
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@Jon wrote:
[Would you consider a jawfish more of a challenge to keep in the home aquarium than a mandarin? I may pass on the jawfish anyway.] said:
[I would say that if you don't care how your reef looks different on a daily basis, the jawfish will be fine. It will eat anything, too, which is a plus.

However, mandarins are beautiful to observe, and people love them when they gently appear in their view. If you can find one that eats frozen food, even better, but if not, you can still feed them with a refugium. Grow your own brine as well, if you must. I bet they might even like rotifers, something I've not started to culture yet.

I've had to mandarins and love them. They both eat anything, so I scored. :D]
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@Jon wrote:
[Would you consider a jawfish more of a challenge to keep in the home aquarium than a mandarin? I may pass on the jawfish anyway.] said:
[Don't get a mandarin until your tank is at least a year old. They won't have enough of a food source. And unless your tank is pretty big, they will devour your copepod population anyway and leave your sandbed pretty dank and full of detritus.

Jawfish are wonderful fish, but you really need to read up on them. They almost require special needs because they are so shy. If you can't find one that is a little agressive with feeding, he may just not ever want to come out and eat. Also, many types of fish will harass them with the same effect. I have three in one tank and they are great if you set up the tank correctly for them, but if you don't they are doomed to die.]
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[I loved my Blue spotted Jawfish, I lost it in the crash :( I am starting all over now. I dont think I can afford to buy another blue spot for a while :(. Though on a good note my water is getting back to normal very quickly! My Ammonia is .25 after being over 1 on sunday and everything else is still 0. Sounds a bit weird to me. I thought I was going to have to recycle my whole tank. I have to say my marcoalgae is growing like crazy! Has anyone every cared for Chalk Basslets? I am thinking about adding 5 or 6 to my tank as soon as it is safe again! (oh and I did keep my blue spot in his very own tank with about 6 in of sand, which is really close to the min of sand I would use for a jawfish so plan ahead if you do want to get one SOME DAY. :alien:

Keith]
 
[Thanks for the replies, I am going to try a Mandarin later I am growing lots of coepods in my refugium and have hundreds in my tank, but I wil allow it to mature some more.]
 
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