I Need Help Quick!!!

[ntvflgirl]

Please help me. I just found this site, and it is midnight here in Florida. My husband and I just bought a 55 gallon tank, and various accessories and he wants me to set it up...TONIGHT!!! I just can't do it. We've had a saltwater tank before, so I know pretty much how to take care of one, but I have never set one up before. I can't get my tank level, and I have 6 gallons of salted water already in it along with the crushed coral. I don't know if I can leave the salt water in the tank without the filter running, and also, I am using filtered tap water...I am in for a lot of hurt, I can see it coming. Please don't lecture me...just help me. Can I leave the water in the tank till morning? Is the filtered tap water okay to use for initial setup? Another question...do I have to mix the salt in the water before adding it to the tank? That's what I've been doing so far. Me and my 2 helpers...12, and 10, are not doing so well. Hubby works nights, so he's not here to help, and probably would not know the answer to these questions, anyway. Help me!!! Fast!!! I'm usually a very patient person, and will have to be to get this tank in good condition, but right now I need help
I'll be checking every 15 minutes...thanks!!!
Rory

 

[jake22]

Why do you have to set it up tonight? I would wait till tommorow or later today now that i think of it. Why not buy the water from your LFS i also live in florida the water only costs 50 cents per gallon. Thats like 28 dollars on water and it saves you alot of your time and money. I would also recomend unless you it is to expensive to forget the crushed coral and a get a dsb. I think you will like it better in the long run. Good luck.

 

[almarktool]

rory,
my advise is this turn off the computer and get some rest this is not something u want to be doing at the end of the day , yes u can leave your water in there for now, since u will be recommend to take it out along with the crushed coral anyway , here is what u do u got 6 galls in there now which is fine your hubby will be able to use that as a guide when you tell him to level it for you tommorrow, next once that is done,drain the old water out and put the crushed coral in a bucket, now fill it up with ro/di water if u have it, if not u might want to pick up some kinda of ro/di unit , once that is taken care of fill up the tank plug in your heater and let it run ( there is no salt in it yet ) for a day to get water temp up then go ahead and start to add your salt slowly untill u get the right salinety, now it should be almost 2 days from now, during those 2 days do a search on this site for live rock, and also for DSB when u search for the DSB put a tar after the b DSB* since u need 4 letters to do a search, read everything u can on the 2 and determine if u want to go with a DSB and liverock, once u reach that point ask more questions and everyone hear will be able to give u more info