rinsing crushed coral??? VERY new!!

[ljurnett]

Hi! This is my 2nd post on here, and you all helped me so much I wanted to ask you all something else..
Should I have rinsed the crushed coral before I put it in the tank? I know you all are laughing right now, but we are sooo clueless on this!! Well, needless to say, we didn't (we added water, salt, crushed coral, and live rock to a brand new tank yesterday). The water is foggy, and we don't know if it's b/c the salt hasn't dissolved fully yet, or we should have rinsed the coral.. HELP!! It has gotten a LOT clearer as the day went on today.
Also, How in the H*ll do you use this stupid hydrometer??? I am sure it is sooo simple, but I need some guidance! Wherever I put the water level to, the stupid meter goes!!!
I hope I have brightened someones day with a good laugh, but this is serious!!
Thanks a bunch,
Leah

 

[nofish]

take the crushed coral out and use live sand much better. your on your own with the tool.

 

[bgriff]

I made the same mistake as you have, and you will probably hear from several folks.. Take the Crush Coral out as it is not the preferred substrate anymore and sand is.
Crush Coral down the road may lead to Nitrate problems while sand will become "live" with critters that help your tanks bio-process. It is preferred to start with Live sand, There is "dead" or normal sand you can also use (Like play sand or something, but I've never found exact match of what folks here say you can use, so I've just bought live sand.) If you can locate "dead" sand, you still want some "Live" sand to get the process going faster.. (even a cup or two from a friends (healthy) tank.)
If that is not an option.. Do you have your filters running yet? I started my (Hang on back type filter) with the intention that after everything cleared up, I would stop the filter, rinse it out, and replace the filter pads since it probably just filtering the CC (or sand) dust..
As far as the hydrometer, have you tried plain water? (needle shouldn't float at all in plain water) Not sure what kind you have, I have two of them, one is plastic and has a needle float.. and the other is a combo model that looks like a long floating thermometer which the top floats out of the water, and there is a "green" section when is the area that has the appropriate salt level. I tend to use the plastic box one most of the time with the needle.. and it doesn't float in plain water, and will start to float based on the level of salt.. You want something near 1.024.. Could you have added too much salt? Try plain water.. and slowly adding salt to it and it should rise.. (Unless there is an air bubble stuck to it..) The preferred tool for testing salt is a refractometer, but are expensive..
Good luck!! and Welcome to the hobby!!

 

[ljurnett]

Thanks!! The filters are running (the back of the tank hanging thing). Do you get live sand from the fish store?? The hydrometer is a clear, thin plastic box with a needle in it. So i just fill it up with waterand the needle should float in between the red numbers if the water is correct, right? It just wan't doing that!! The needle went however high I put the water in it!! I am sooo close to giving up!! Thanks a bunch for you help!! Off to try again.......

 

[ljurnett]

ok, got the hydrometer thing working... just took a few tries and patience.... the needle went to the normal range.. whats next??

 

[scotts]

First off I have to agree that now is the time to switch to sand. Now let me introduce you to my little firend.....the search button. It is at the top right of the screen. You should do a search for a couple of things. One is for "cycle" or "cycling". Another your should search for is "southdown" and "vinegar" Sure sounds stupid now but these last two will lead you to many threads that alk about sand for your tank. You will learn more about sand than you want to know. Also at the top of the new hobbyist screen is a sticky thread that alks about how to set up a tank and the steps needed. Good genreal information there. Although every bodies tanks are different.
Welcome to the boards, you will learn much here.
Now before I forget, I need to get on my soapbox here, research EVERYTHING before you buy it. Never impulse buy a fish. Many fish are not compatible with what is in your tank and some just grow huge.
Did I scare you yet?
Scott

 

[hot883]

Welcome to the boards. Research and patience is the key now. What size of tank? You will need some type of filtration. You said you hav a hang on back. Good start as you have no live stock right now. Live rock (LR) and live sand (LS) are wonderful. The average amount of LR is 1-1 1/2 lbs. per gallon. You also want enough flow (current) in the tank to turn over about tank size x 20. I have a 55 gallon. I have 2 hang on back (HOB) filters and 2 (PH) power heads. That gives me about 1,100 gallons per hour (gph) turn over (55x20=1,100). Now lights are a different story. Th cheap lights that come with the tank are like 14watts maybe. You will need to research those on your own and decide how much you want to spend. Fish do not need high dollor lights, corals do. Corals are for experienced people (ppl) and seasoned tanks.
Newbie mistakes:
1. Crushed coral (cc)- traps poop and extra food -detirus
2. tangs do not go in any tank UNDER 100 gallons. PERIOD!!!!!!
3. Dragonettes or Mandarin fish do not go in a young tank
4. Do NOT listen to your Local Fish Store (LFS) they will lie and cheat ya, they just want your money.
5.Do NOTcycle the new tank with DAMSELS, Cruel and harmfull and or deadly to the fish
6.Research, read ask questions before buying anything.
7. HAVE PATIENCE!!!!
Hope that helps (HTH)
Welcome and enjoy, Barry

 

[oreo12]

I have the cc in my 29 gal and sand in the 75 gal I realy think the crushed coral is beter the fish stir up the sand then it gets sucked up by the power heads and locks them up burning them up dose the same thing to the filter box hanging on the back with the charcoal in it. When I do water changes in the 29 with crushed coral I can suck it up and clean out the setement the nitrates are lower in the 29 than they are in the 75 Go figure just the opest of what they say on hear. I have small star fish some type of worm and somthing that looks like an ant in the crushed coral when you feed you can see them come up by the glass to eat.