reef set up

I always keep 30 or so gallons of both RO and fresh saltwater on hand. Plop a heater and at least a powerhead in there (an airstone wouldn't hurt too) and it'll hold for weeks so long as the water is in motion and no debris can can in there.

IMO SW mix should be allowed to age for at least 3-4 days before use (I prefer a week). This allows for very thorough mixing as well as good O2 content. Just be sure to clean out yor container(s) each month, same for the powerheads.

indefinately. just make sure that your using a food grade storage container, i.e. rubbermaid brute trashcan, or an instant ocean bucket works good if you only need a few gallons.

Thanks for all the help guys! I was gonna start a new thread for this question but decided to keep this thread going. Kind of a complete reef setup thread.....

I have rock coming in tomorrow morning and was wondering exactly how I should proceed with it. The lady on the phone said to pluck all the sponge, chicken liver, and sea squirts (whatever that looks like), because those will certainly die off and by taking them off now it will help cycle the tank faster. So what's the best method to do all this? Should I take and lay all the rock out on newspaper, clean them up, and decide which piece should go where? She also said you shouldn't have to scrub the rocks with a brush. But it wouldn't hurt to brush under the sponges to get them completely cleaned off.

Thanks again guys! :-D :D :) :-) :lol: :razz: :mrgreen:

I thank ID rinse it of in some Ro water to get the trash of.

dont rinse in anything but saltwater. freshwater will kill all of the stuff growing on the rock, making it pointless to have spent 160 bucks on it. you can dip it a large container of sw to rise off the funk and dead and dying things and you can pick off the sponges and such or you can leave it on there and just put it in the tank and let the skimmer take care of it as it dies and falls off the rock, its pretty much up to you. if the rock has lots of mud on it you may want to scrub it some and you can scrub off the sponges and things but other than that, put it in the tank, you'll be suprised at the things that start appearing after a few weeks.

BJ is right i shod have stated it instead of taking it for granted about the salt

How do you post photo's on here? I got some live rock today for you guys to look at.....looks like a bunch of dead stuff to me...all brown, white and green!

click on the post reply button and at the bottom of that page you'll see the file attachment area.

Oh I see now..... I was hitting the image button (img)....... lets try it....

Does this stuff look ok? I have no idea............ I was going to cycle the tank with just this 44lb box but I think I will get another one tomorrow. Might as well cycle the tank with all the rock, right? If I buy it later I will have to cycle it in a trash can or separate container and that would be a pain in the butox. Might as well get'r done....

Is it advisable to leave the lights off? It is so tempting to run the lights and just gaze at the mysterious wall of rocks!