dumb move!!

[LGB76]

Well I put all my dry rock and sand into my tank. Filled it up with ro/di water. Then I realized I cant mix the salt into my tank with all the stuff in there already... crap!!!! Well atleast i got to test everything... still pi$$ed though. Guess I will drain it and start all over...

[bnumair]

why cant u mix salt in it?

[bnumair]

everything is dry not live so fill it up and fill the sump as well and turn on the pumps and mix salt in sump or tank. i do this all the time.

[LGB76]

Ive been reading all day that its an awful idea bc it will settle on the rock and sand...

[bnumair]

salt will mix it wont settle. settle for the moment till it dissolves in water. as long as there is any type of movement in water it will mix. thats why its best to put it in high flow like sump or near power heads.

[Bpb]

Correct its ok to mix salt in an uncycled and uninhabited tank. Once its established and has things living in it...bad to put salt directly into the tank.

[LGB76]

I knew it was bad to put it in an establised tank, but from everything I read, it is an awful idea to put it in with the rock and sand... maybe I will dump it into my sump because it is like a raging river in there haha.

thanks!

[rogermccray]

You are fine, just don't dump a huge amount of salt in at once and if your sump has tons of flow definitely put it in there. I filled my tank with straight RO and then added salt after, it is just easier that way than mixing it in a container and moving it.

[Northside Reef]

if you are planing on using the sand bed as part of you biological filtration you're going to have to stir it really well. the reason you do not want to put fresh water into a tank with sand and rock is fresh water will inhibit the bacteria that turns nitrates into nitrogen. That bacteria will not grow in fresh water, so any fresh water that is trapped in the rock and sand will not grow that bacteria. Once the rock has absorbed the fresh water it is really hard to get displaced.