oldie but still a newbie

[crew]

hello,just a brief history before i get to my questions.i've been in the fish keeping hobby for four years now and i'm about to plunge into saltwater (hopefully)one toe at a time.i've been keeping tanganyikan cichlids (some exotics) for some time now and have had great success. i find reading as much as you can on a topic, gets you only so far.so of coarse i have a couple of questions about salt.i have a 72 bow front i would like to convert to reef/fish tank. nothing is up and running for now because the more i learn now, hopefully,the less mistakes i make later.(learned that the hard way)so,is it better to mix the water and the salt in the empty tank or use a bucket(one bucket at a time)? and i'm guessing room temp water? when do you add sand or argonite and is live sand better? of coarse live rock. should all alergi be completely removed from the tank before i turn it into a salt tank ? are there any sure fire short cuts that i could use and any helpfull hints would be greatfully appreciated.thank you in advance

 

[fshhub]

i would first do a wet run of hte tank, but this is probably a tankyou have been using(from what i have beeeen reading), then remove about half o f the waterr and replace with a high saline water(adjust until you have the desired level), instead of mixing in the tank, then add the dry aragonite for a 4 ot 6 inch sand bed, if you want you can add some ls on top to seed the sand(one or 2 bags would be plenty)
EITHER:
then throw in a couple of pieces of raw grociery shrimp to get the cycle started, and then near the end of the cycle add the lr(especially if well cured)
or add some uncured or not so well cured lr to cycyle the tank with
i ouwl remove most of the algae first, but not worry too much, it wil probably just die off anyho in the sw
welcomea board and HTH

 

[kris]

i would empty and clean your tank thoroughly before starting your new adventure (and that truly is just that) for your first fill it's ok to mix your salt in the tank, once it is inhabited though then it must be mixed in buckets and added. Short cuts will almost certainly get you in trouble sorry to say.
Good Luck

 

[crew]

thanks fishub and kris for your advice