Few questions about setting up my new tank

[woody189]

So i just got the equipment for my 46 bowfront. I think i connected everything right, but have a few questions...
1) i have a canister filter and the hose that the water comes out of is only a few inches from the top. Is that hose supposed to be fully submerged, or slightly?
2) My hydrometer is very inconsistent. It gives me readings from 1.02-1.023. is this good enough?? it'll give me 1 reading and then i'll move it a little bit and it'll give me something else, but it's roughly the same, always w/in that range. I can't afford a refractometer.
3) my tnak came w/ a tube light (i'm not sure what kind) it says eclipse natural daylight. is this bulb good?? i'm going to get LR soon w/ fishies,
4) I got a protein skimmer and now my lid won't close. The back 1/4 of my lid is rubber and flexible, and allows the hoses to fit. But when i put the skimmer, it wouldn't close. What should I do?? without it closing, I can't put the light bulb on there if i can't fully close it. (i have a coralife Superskimmer 65)
5) I have agra-alive substrate. This is what the website says:
Functional and beautiful aragonite substrate for all types of marine aquariums
* Contains millions of beneficial marine bacteria to enhance biological filtration
* Slowly releases calcium, carbonate and beneficial trace elements - great for coral
how would I put this into my system?? just put it in? It's says packed w/ seawater and it's somewhat vacuum packed
6) I'm going to cycle with live rock. its going to be form online so its going to have die off so that means that once i introduce it to my tank and my levels are back to 0, i'm ready for fish. There's no need for me to add damsles, or a dead shrimp or anything right?? My book was a little confusing when it came to this.
thanks a lot.

 

[natclanwy]

2) My hydrometer is very inconsistent. It gives me readings from 1.02-1.023. is this good enough?? it'll give me 1 reading and then i'll move it a little bit and it'll give me something else, but it's roughly the same, always w/in that range. I can't afford a refractometer.
I would highly recomend saving for a refractometer you can find one online for about $50 shipped these hydrometers are very inacurate for the reason you are seeing and any little airbubble will cause an icorrect reading. Plus a refractometer is so much easier to use it used to take me 5 minutes to check my SG with the hydrometer now it take me about 10 seconds.

 

[trigger11]

So i just got the equipment for my 46 bowfront. I think i connected everything right, but have a few questions...1) i have a canister filter and the hose that the water comes out of is only a few inches from the top. Is that hose supposed to be fully submerged, or slightly?
It should be fully submerged. But closer to the top of the water column is ok. Maybe keep it down just below the point where you would need to add water to cover evaporation.
2) My hydrometer is very inconsistent. It gives me readings from 1.02-1.023. is this good enough?? it'll give me 1 reading and then i'll move it a little bit and it'll give me something else, but it's roughly the same, always w/in that range. I can't afford a refractometer.
For the initial set up you could get by with just a hydrometer. But really you should invest in a refactometer.
3) my tnak came w/ a tube light (i'm not sure what kind) it says eclipse natural daylight. is this bulb good?? i'm going to get LR soon w/ fishies,
If you are having a fish only system any kind of light is ok. You will want to check lighting requirements though if you plan to keep any corals.
4) I got a protein skimmer and now my lid won't close. The back 1/4 of my lid is rubber and flexible, and allows the hoses to fit. But when i put the skimmer, it wouldn't close. What should I do?? without it closing, I can't put the light bulb on there if i can't fully close it. (i have a coralife Superskimmer 65)
I'm not real sure on this one but it will be a good thing to get the skimmer going.
5) I have agra-alive substrate. This is what the website says:
Functional and beautiful aragonite substrate for all types of marine aquariums
* Contains millions of beneficial marine bacteria to enhance biological filtration
* Slowly releases calcium, carbonate and beneficial trace elements - great for coral
how would I put this into my system?? just put it in? It's says packed w/ seawater and it's somewhat vacuum packed.
You will want to fill the tank up about halway with pre-mixed water. Add in the substrate. Add in the live rock, fill the tank up the rest of the way with pre-mixed water. Get the heater going along with pumps to get the water circulating. Probably will have cloudy water for a couple of days.
6) I'm going to cycle with live rock. its going to be form online so its going to have die off so that means that once i introduce it to my tank and my levels are back to 0, i'm ready for fish. There's no need for me to add damsles, or a dead shrimp or anything right?? My book was a little confusing when it came to this.
Since you will be getting live rock online there will be some die off so I am thinking you will still have some cycling time to go through. I would go with the dead shrimp method anyway. Be sure to check the ammonia levels.
~Trigger