Got All My Equipment, Now What ?

[MrBrown]

Hi all As you may have guessed i am a newbie in the marine world ..

I have all my equipment and have hooked everything up in my 5ft tank, sump underneath protient skimmer, powerheads etc, but im interested in the next steps !

1) Do I have to wash the sand first before I put it in the tank ? I just got an ordinary bag of what looks like play sand from my LFS ..

2) Do I add the sand first, then RO water, then live rock ?

3) I have two tunze streams which way should I have them pointing, towards each other, high or low in the tank ?

4) When I need to do a water change, do I take the water from the main tank or sump ?

5) Also when I come to top the tank back up with water, how do I get it to the right temperature ?

Sorry for all the questions but any help would be grateful

 

[ben1987]

1) Do I have to wash the sand first before I put it in the tank ? I just got an ordinary bag of what looks like play sand from my LFS ..

Try washing a bit, if the water runs cloudy wash it all. If its clear then you should be ok. Safest would be to give it all a quick rinse

2) Do I add the sand first, then RO water, then live rock ?

I added water fist. Salted it up and got it to the right temp. Left it for a day or so to make sure all the equipment worked ok. Then added rock and sand last of all. The rock wants to be on a firm base so nothing can burrow under and cause a rock slide.

3) I have two tunze streams which way should I have them pointing, towards each other, high or low in the tank ?

one wants to break the surface so you get good gaseous exchange as fish breathe oxygen. I have my rock sat a few inches off the back glass and a powerhead shooting all down the back so i get good flow around most of my rock.

4) When I need to do a water change, do I take the water from the main tank or sump ?

thats upto you. I have to take mine out the main tank as i cant get it any other way. i just leave the sump return on a few mins so that the main tank fills back up a little.
You need a bucket or container to mix the new water in, powerhead to mix the salt up and a heater so its at the same temp as the tank. Bucket to empty the water out with aswel

5) Also when I come to top the tank back up with water, how do I get it to the right temperature ?

little heater in a bucket. if you top up regular so its only a little it wont make much difference to the overall temp anyway