Finally filled my tank

[ibefishy]

Saturday was the first time I filled my tank and got everything running. I built my first stand, made my own overflows and with some questions answered by members of this board along with hours of research and reading finally got my first reef tank started.

I have tested the water for the last 2 days and this is where it is at:

Ph 8.8
Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Specific Gravity 1.028
Temp 79
Calcium 440 ppm

Is the Ph a little too high? If so what is the best way to bring it down?
I have no substrate or rock in the tank at this time.

I do have 50 pounds of rock that has been sitting in some water in a rubbermaid tub for about a month. It was given to me by my brother when he had to tear his tank down due to moving, now he cant have one so I have some rock. I have kept it with a power head for circulation and a heater. How soon could I put this rock in the tank?

As the tank has been up for only 2 full days, it is pretty cloudy. I read some posts that say it may take up to 3-4 days for it to completely clear up. My question to this is what if it doesnt? Should I be running my protein skimmer? I ran it for a short time to get water levels adjusted, and to make sure in the event of a power outage everything would be ok. Everything came back on and didnt overflow.

This project has been going on for the last 8 months, with the buying and building and planning. My brother used to laugh at me and say I was over thinking everything. Maybe so but at least it didnt overflow on the floor with my simulated power outage.

If anyone has some answers for my posted questions a reply would be most welcome.

Thanks to all who answer questions on this board and those who post questions. I have gained a lot of knowledge but still know that there is lots to learn.

[weez1959]

Congrats on the filling!
PH and gravity is high, bring those down a bit then you can add your rock which I hope has been in SALT water.

[ibefishy]

Congrats on the filling!
PH and gravity is high, bring those down a bit then you can add your rock which I hope has been in SALT water.

Yes it has, Thanks for the advice.

[Minh Nguyen]

Consider buy a Refractometer. IMO, this is a must for reef tank.
Do you have your light up yet? How big is the tank? What kind of light? What is the circulation to the tank? Does it have a sump?

1. For now, don't worry about the pH. Once you got rock and fish in, will need to worry about pH too low.
2. You can put the rock in now.
3. Don't worry about cloudiness right now. Once the tank is no longer sterile, everything will clear up.
4. You should start to run the skimmer now. It will help clear up the water.

[ibefishy]

This last weekend I added my rock back into the tank. Everything looks pretty good right now.

The tank is a 55g with a 30g sump underneath. I have a mag 12 return pump with the tank being drilled for the returns in 3 places. I have 2 overflows, one in each corner connected to seperate drain lines one goes to the skimmer and the other into the refugium. The drain lines are both 1 1/4" id lines. The return pump is in the middle and the skimmer is on one end and the refugium is on the other. Circulation is good but will become better with some more work on placing the rock where I want it. As far as the lights go I have the Orbit CF lights, 48" with lunar lights.
In the sump I also have two heaters one for back up set at 2 degrees lower than the main heater. I also put in a grounding probe, I have heard pros and cons about those but figured if it helps great if not oh well.

Does anyone think a cleanup crew is needed at this point? There is a little algae on the rock left from when I got it. I dont want the hair algae to get out of control, seen that happen, not cool.

Thanks for the replies, any other suggestions would be most welcomed.

[ibefishy]

One thing I forgot to ask is, Can I put the sand in the tank now or do I need to wait? I was planning on using live sand.

[Minh Nguyen]

You can put the sand in now and seed it with live sand later.

[ibefishy]

Everything has been going great in the tank until this morning. I woke up and the tank was a huge cloudy mess. I can barely see through it. I checked water and all of the levels were fine. I dont have much in the tank so I only run the skimmer for about 6 hours a day. Up until now that has been fine.

Is this and algae bloom of some kind?

nate

[ibefishy]

Also 1 more question, Should I turn off my skimmer when adding things like calcium or iodine?

Nate