Started new tank, added salt to tank directly

[Leyth]

Hey guys, I started another tank yesterday and it's 17 gallons. I decided to mix my own salt/water this time and the salinity was low after I got everything in the tank(rock, sand, water.) I added a half cup of salt directly to the tank and then immediately realized that was probably something I shouldn't have done.

Did I just ruin my tank or will things be alright? Anything I can do it fix my mistake?

Currently the params look like this:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .25-.50 ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Salinity: 1.025

I set it up yesterday, but it looks like it's already cycling right?

 

[fijisrfr]

Read up on the cycle. You should have ammonia first then the nitrites & trates will follow. Salt won't be a problem.


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[rustyjames]

I'd be wary of undissolved salt in the sand or rock crevices. Stir the sand, if you have it and use a power head to blow the rocks off.

 

[Sk8r]

Bail out some water, add fresh water until you get it right. You want the bacteria that live in seawater. I'm not sure they're the same in hypersalinity.

The proper amount is usually 1/2 cup per gallon, for reef salt. Read your instructions. If you added another half a cup of salt, math could work this out, but not MY math. Just keep dipping and adding, but ALWAYS give salt a chance to fully dissolve.

 

[CStrickland]

Looks fine to me. Once you have animals in there you def want to dissolve the salt before you add it, but i think you're fine this one time.

It does look like your cycle has started. Congrats!

 

[Dave0331]

Never mix salt in your tank. I did that mistake on my 125 when I first set it up. ( first saltwater experience ever). It messed it up so bad that it nearly killed all my live sand and started a crazy ammonia spike. My tank was so cloudy for days that I couldn't even see 1 inch into it. I almost had to start all over and respend money on live sand.

 

[jml1149]

Really? I'm pretty sure I've seen this done before. Mixing 120g in 5g buckets is going to take a long time hah. I imagine if you added it to the sump etc. before rock and sand it would turn out ok, no?

 

[Leyth]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I took a turkey baster a few times to all the areas of the sand and rocks to knock off the undissolved salt. When attempting to do that now, I don't really see much coming off the rock and you can't really tell with the sand because it's pretty fine.

I should have mentioned that I am actually transferring my cycled 5.5 gallon tank to this tank. Any ideas when I could start adding the rocks from the other tank?

 

[Sk8r]

SHould add base rock before sand, sand before water. And if dry sand, WASH IT. Definitely. THen live rock, ie, your rock from other tank set topmost of all.

 

[Leyth]

SHould add base rock before sand, sand before water. And if dry sand, WASH IT. Definitely. THen live rock, ie, your rock from other tank set topmost of all.

Sorry let me rephrase, I have some new live rock that I set up as base rock, but there are some pieces from my old tank that I want to add. They are smaller pieces, but they are cycled so I thought they might be beneficial to add.

 

[Dave0331]

Yes of course add all the rock and sand in the bugging to get you bacteria going only thing you cannot add right away is livestock

 

[Sk8r]

Rubbermaid Brute cans come in various sizes and can store in a closet: they're great for mixing big lots of water all at once.