This might wind up being more than a few questions, bear with me. Some of these questions might be really dumb and I apologize ahead of time - we're kind of overwhelmed. I think we're over-thinking and over-mad-scientisting.
We put water (tap, yes we know it's a sin and it will not be repeated) and salt in our tank this past weekend. We have not added any sort of water conditioners to the tank because we planned to leave the tank running and circulating for a week, at least. It looks like this bad boy is going to run for at least another week without any addition of substrate and LR and/or DR due to finances and other unavoidable stuff. The skimmer (AquaSea Urchin Pro), the overflows (Tom Aquatics) and sump (Mag 9.5) are all running and seem to be functioning properly. We do NOT yet have a heater and I think this is a large issue (buying one tomorrow). Current temp is way low - 72ish degrees. The heater has not been purchased because we had incorrectly assumed the lights would heat up the water a good bit - they have, just obviously not enough.
1 - We have a lot of undissolved salt (we think it's salt) lying on the floor of the tank. I have been extremely concerned about this salt and I have been attempting to suck it out with a turkey baster. Am I correct in thinking we do not want any of these salt granules lurking around the bottom of the tank and that it's not a good thing to drop substrate on top of this stuff?
2 - Our sump, overflows and skimmer came with various large-weave foams to cover intakes/outflows, etc. Are these worth using and should we continue to use and clean them on a regular basis? It seems they really slow down flow and we are concerned that the 2 in line after the refugium will filter out pods and beneficial algae. Anything to be concerned about?
3 - Moderate amount of white mist in the tank - I read in another thread, this morning, that this could possibly be calcium and that proper water temp may resolve this issue. Should I not be concerned with the white mist until we attain proper water temp?
Or am I actually staring at chlorine/chlorimine particles reflecting light?
4 - Our salinity is low, 1.019. We have not added additional salt because we haven't attained proper water temp (again, heater being bought tomorrow). Is this the correct attitude to take?
5 - On a whim, we tested Nitrates, Alk and Ph last night. Ph is reading 8.6, Alk is 0, Nitrates are 0. Other than salinity, should we be concerned about any of these other parameters until after substrate and LR are added?
6 - How long can this thing run with nothing but salt water in it? Like I mentioned earlier, the original plan was to start adding substrate/LR this weekend but due to unanticipated events, we're going to have to hold off.
7 - What in the world should the water level look like in the refugium? Here's a shot of our current configuration - you kind of have to hold our tongue right and squint to see the water level in the refugium.
I know I'm forgetting something. Thanks for your time, Ladies and Gents! (Don't poke fun at our awesome lime green carpet, you know you want it!)
We put water (tap, yes we know it's a sin and it will not be repeated) and salt in our tank this past weekend. We have not added any sort of water conditioners to the tank because we planned to leave the tank running and circulating for a week, at least. It looks like this bad boy is going to run for at least another week without any addition of substrate and LR and/or DR due to finances and other unavoidable stuff. The skimmer (AquaSea Urchin Pro), the overflows (Tom Aquatics) and sump (Mag 9.5) are all running and seem to be functioning properly. We do NOT yet have a heater and I think this is a large issue (buying one tomorrow). Current temp is way low - 72ish degrees. The heater has not been purchased because we had incorrectly assumed the lights would heat up the water a good bit - they have, just obviously not enough.
1 - We have a lot of undissolved salt (we think it's salt) lying on the floor of the tank. I have been extremely concerned about this salt and I have been attempting to suck it out with a turkey baster. Am I correct in thinking we do not want any of these salt granules lurking around the bottom of the tank and that it's not a good thing to drop substrate on top of this stuff?
2 - Our sump, overflows and skimmer came with various large-weave foams to cover intakes/outflows, etc. Are these worth using and should we continue to use and clean them on a regular basis? It seems they really slow down flow and we are concerned that the 2 in line after the refugium will filter out pods and beneficial algae. Anything to be concerned about?
3 - Moderate amount of white mist in the tank - I read in another thread, this morning, that this could possibly be calcium and that proper water temp may resolve this issue. Should I not be concerned with the white mist until we attain proper water temp?
Or am I actually staring at chlorine/chlorimine particles reflecting light?
4 - Our salinity is low, 1.019. We have not added additional salt because we haven't attained proper water temp (again, heater being bought tomorrow). Is this the correct attitude to take?
5 - On a whim, we tested Nitrates, Alk and Ph last night. Ph is reading 8.6, Alk is 0, Nitrates are 0. Other than salinity, should we be concerned about any of these other parameters until after substrate and LR are added?
6 - How long can this thing run with nothing but salt water in it? Like I mentioned earlier, the original plan was to start adding substrate/LR this weekend but due to unanticipated events, we're going to have to hold off.
7 - What in the world should the water level look like in the refugium? Here's a shot of our current configuration - you kind of have to hold our tongue right and squint to see the water level in the refugium.
I know I'm forgetting something. Thanks for your time, Ladies and Gents! (Don't poke fun at our awesome lime green carpet, you know you want it!)
