which order?

[fernalfer]

Ok so i have 140lbs. of Marco rock inside of a Brute container with RODI saltwater, heater, and powerhead. I'm getting all of the phosphates out of the rock using Phosfree. It is working well and the Phosphates are going down. Once down to respectable levels i will start the cycle of my 120 gallon tank. Now i have an additional 44 gallon Brute i will be using to mix the saltwater going into my 120.

Since i can't make all 120 gallons of water at once what is the best way to proceed?

- Put 40 or so gallons of mixed saltwater in the 120 while i start making an additional 40 or so gallons repeating this until i get the desired amount of water for the tank? When should i add the sand (which will be livesand) and when should i add the rock?

- Should i put a powerhead circulating the first 40 gallons while the rest of the water is being made?

Lots of questiond just not sure of the order in which i can get this done the easiest

Any suggestions would be very helpful..

 

[ghellin]

I filled my 180 with RODI and added salt to a high flow area of my sump. I added sand right before I filled the tank, but I started with all dry rock and sand. You can add sand after water is in the tank but it isn't as easy as just dumping it in when empty. You can take a 1" or bigger piece of PVC and put a funnel on the side out of the water. It will let you add sand without too much getting into the water column.

 

[Marinenthusiast]

I bought a few brute trash cans, mixed all my water up in them, then when i was ready i aquascaped the tank. Once all the rock was the way i liked it (you can still play with it after) i put all my sand in and filled with water. It was cloudy for about a day before getting perfectly clear

 

[fernalfer]

Maybe I'll just go out and buy 2 more brute cans so I have 3 44 gallon cans. Fill 3 with RODI water and mix in salt. Aqua scape and then add live sand. Then figure out a way to put the water in from the 3 brute cans while trying to not stir up to much sand. I could always take back the brute cans when done because they are not really needed after the initial fill and will only have water in them.

 

[RonMc]

I have 3 brute cans full of RODI water that would be hard to live without.
1 is for ATO (in closet that has common wall with tank). 2 are in the garage and always full of RODI. This allows for easy salt mixing in garage and then drop pump in and pump water to tank for water changes.
I'm maintaining a 165 gallon DT, with a 75 gallon sump, and a 28 gallon QT tank using this method and it works great.

WOW....I really went off topic. My point is I hate to see you return the brute cans when you are more than likely going to wish you had them later on.

 

[Marinenthusiast]

I returned mine too after i used them lol. No need for them with my setup, theyre too big for the space i have and all i needed them for was to mix the initial water

 

[BrokenSpoke]

Like ghellin said, mix it up in your tank. I started my tank with dry rock also. I set up the rock, added the sand, filled the tank with RODI water, and then added salt gradually into a high flow area in the sump. After a couple of days I had the water at 1.023 (it's where I like it) at a steady 78 degrees. No need to buy multiple Brute cans.