Setup Questions

[jbjints]

Well things seem to be lining up with quite a few hitches but it looks as if I am getting there. I hope to set up my tank this weekend but we'll see if it all works out this week. I have a couple of set up questions.

1. I bought a new bag of sand and was wondering how I should rinse it? I think in the past someone mentioned to use a regular garden hose and to turn it off when the water looks clear.

2. I have read in quite a few threads that rock should always go down before the sand. Does this apply? If this is the case how do you all handle the rock if you want to aqua scape a new rock design?

3. I have some base rock that has been sitting around for awhile that I want to reuse and I was wondering how to rinse it? If I was to fill a bucket with ro/di water and add a power head would this be enough to prepare the rock? How long should I rinse the rock for?

4.Tank Fill: Yesterday I installed my ro/di unit underneath my kitchen sink and to fill the tank I was going to let it run continuously until its full. Other than spillage is there anything else I need to worry about?

5. I know it will be at least 6-8 weeks from when I set my tank up before I add anything to my tank but I was wondering what you all do to acclimate and quarantine if you cannot set up a QT tank? Drip method?

I am sure I will have more questions but if anyone has any recommendations I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Lokii_37]

Yeah If you just rinse it until its clear that should be ok. But from what I have read regular old sand will add silicate to the water which may cause diatom growth. However I had also read that other people use regular sand with out a problem.

I believe the reason for adding the rock before the sand is so that if you get a fish that moves your sand around you don't have to worry about the rocks shifting if the sand does get moved.

Because you will be cycling your tank with the rock you already have you should be able to just add it to the tank. And any "die off" will just help with the cycling.

I wouldn't worry about a QT right now. Your DT will be your QT until you get stuff in there. If there is nothing I there uou don't have to worry about infecting anything.

Please take everything I have said with a grain of salt as I am still new to the hobby as well

 

[skinz78]

First off, rinse your sand in a bucket of RO/DI water, unless you start off with RO/DI then you are wasting your time. All the nasty's in the hose water will stick to your sand, some hoses even have lead in them...

You are correct, place your rock in the tank first, if not you are more prone to have a rock slide in the future. If your tank is already full of water just place the sand in a cup and slowly add it to the tank dumping it near the bottom.

I would do the RO/DI rinse on the rock but also get a toothbrush and give it a thorough scrubbing too.

LOL keep an eye on the tank when filling, I don't know how many floods I have caused with my RO/DI unit when forgotten...

Agreed about the QT, add your first fish and then see how they do, I would QT everything after them though. I drip acclimate all my livestock for a min one hour with a slow drip via airline tubing.

Keep the questions coming! HTH