water displacement from Live rock and sand

[advocate777]

I am setting up my 75 gallon tank. it is 48'' long, 20" deep and 18" wide. I am setting up my sump below it. Not sure what it is called but it is the type of tank that has a chamber with the outflow and inflow. Goes right into the sump.
It is the kind of tannk that you can't really fire up the pump until it is filled all the way up.
Anyway, I am making my saltwater and want to know how far i should fill up the tank before I add my live sand and live rock. I do not want to add too much water and have it overflow from the sand and love rock. I will be adding about 150lbs of live rock and 75 lbs. of live sand.
I also do not want to add too little water to the tank before put the live rock, etc. in because then I will have to add more water and I am not sure how to heat the water after I get it from the RO/DI unit as it comes out pretty cold.
So...based on the above can anyone give me a rough ballpark as to how much water I should add to the tank...half? 75%?
Thanks-

[Sk8r]

Whoa. Reverse course.
Add rock first. Then sand. THen water. Wash your sand thoroughly to remove dust before you use it. Use some base rock (which will be buried anyway). Some people put eggcrate lighting grid under the rock to stabilize it. I do. To avoid kicking up the sand (use medium grade aragonite for that: CaribSea is a good brand.) put a mixing bowl down and pour water into that.

Poke the blue number under my avatar: my blog will help you. So will the stickies atop this forum. Plan to quarantine; plan to maintain water quality. Don't worry about heat at first, just let your tank heater handle it. Live rock can take cold ok. The rock stays warm longer than the water.

[rerr001]

I'm new to the hobby also and SK8r is correct in the order to setup your tank. My tank is on week two of cycling.

[TL1000RSquid]

What Sk8r said, though if its wet live sand I've never bothered rinsing it I would think its counterproductive.

[advocate777]

thanks for your input - I will also check out your blog-

[advocate777]

The reason I asked is that the place that I am getting the Live Rock from said to put it in a tank that already had some (didnt say how much) of water at 75 degrees because evidently this live rock is very 'live' (Tampa Saltwater).
So, it seemed like the directions want the live rock to go right into warm water as it is loaded with sponges, life, etc. as opposed to the dry rock i have gotten in the past from the LFS that only starts to look 'live' after it has been in the tank for awhile.
So, if I was gonna have some warm water already in the tank- I'm thinking that half filled is plenty.
Along the same lines, how does a reef keeper warm up RO/DI water when they make their water changes?
Thanks-:spin1:

[Waddleboy]

If you put the live rock into not ready made water your going to kill it so having it half full is good idea. or at least a bucket with water to house it. To answer your question about water changes, get a bucket of some sort (garbage can, tub, anything) fill it with water and drop a heater in it till it heats up to the temp that you want

[MJNTWise]

Why so much Live rock? I did 50/50 with dry and put dry on the bottom then add the sand and then the live rock after I got it going, So it would not die....Just what I did.....

[advocate777]

thanks waddleboy- got a question regarding lights.
I have a Coralife 48 inch double linear strip with two 65 watt Actinic and two 65 watt 10,000K Compact Fluorescent Lamps. Total 260 watts.
But I have been looking at a Maxspect Razor LED which is a 20" 16K fixture with 160 Watt LED lighting.

Question: is my old lighting sufficient for soft corals and maybe a few hard corals?
Could I combine both lighting systems. But since the LED is only 20" I would have to position over just half the tank or something...not sure. Too get two 20" LED's is kinda expensive....plus since I already have the old Coralife (bought it in 2006).....dont know what to do.

[Lukel]

Do you have a large rubbermaid tub of some sort, a second heater, and second power head.... it is really nice to have, and required for ease of water changes down the road anyways.....

[Waddleboy]

lighting i personally find is always tricky. I have leds on my tanks personally but thats not the only option obviously. Your light should support softies and maybe some SPS at the top of your rocks. You could combine the systems but i dont know how you would move the Coralife light over enough to put both lights on, maybe im envisioning it wrong

[advocate777]

Yeah.. Gotta figure something out

[skeeter_ca]

The reason I asked is that the place that I am getting the Live Rock from said to put it in a tank that already had some (didnt say how much) of water at 75 degrees because evidently this live rock is very 'live' (Tampa Saltwater).
So, it seemed like the directions want the live rock to go right into warm water as it is loaded with sponges, life, etc. as opposed to the dry rock i have gotten in the past from the LFS that only starts to look 'live' after it has been in the tank for awhile.
So, if I was gonna have some warm water already in the tank- I'm thinking that half filled is plenty.
Along the same lines, how does a reef keeper warm up RO/DI water when they make their water changes?
Thanks-:spin1:

You're gonna love that Tampa Bay rock and you're gonna hate that Tampa Bay rock. There is so much life on it you will be looking at it all day long from the first day you get it. You are gonna hate it because some of the life on it is just absolutely terrible. First off follow Tamp Bays instructions on curing the rock and most all of the life will stay alive. Make big barrels of fresh new saltwater because you will need to do quite a few water changes to keep ammonia levels low and not kill the life on it. Inspect each rock carefully and closely for unwanted crabs and get rid of them before you put the rock in the tank. Next learn what a mantis shrimp is. They hide deep in the holes of the rock and can even borrow deeper into the rock if needed. They are the the smartest meanest little boogers you will ever see. Get rid of them. Look them up on how the catch them you will need it. I had six in my rock and they where nothing but trouble. Even with the crabs and the mantis the rock is well worth it. IMHO.

skeeter:bounce1:

[advocate777]

thanks for the update on the tampa rock - i will definitely check it out and watch for those bad critters-
Question: this might seem dumb and maybe the answer is just 'siphon the water out' but on my reef-ready tank the water level has to be at a certain level (basically the whole tank filled) before you can fire up the pump.
So...if I get a half shipment of live rock first, along with the live sand, then I have to add water to the whole tank to fill it up all the way and start the pump-
but then when the second shipment of live rock comes....i guess :rollface:he first rocks without knowing the shape of the second batch?
Thanks