My first SW tank is setup. How am I doing?

[TCKTME]

First off, wow. What a site. It would take me years to read all the info here.

My setup is a week old. Here's what I have:

75 gl. 60 gl RO actually in it
80# crushed coral
2 Aquamaster 400's- one is a skilter
Aquaclear 70 PH
A few fake decor's
87 dg water temp
1.023 sg

This is a FO tank. We (wife and I) need to see if we can keep fish alive before going to anything else. The tank was cloudy after the coral install. I washed that stuff for hours. The result is a badly burnt back. I could barely aquascape is was that bad( tank being cloudy, not my burnt back). Tank was clear the next day.

I added some baking soda to bring up the alky. It's aroung 120-150. I then added some ammonia to 5ppm. Tank started to cloud up. I tested the water 2 days later and noticed a slight drop in ammonia, 3ppm. I then decided to add some CYCLE(bad idea?). Water tests at 1ppm today. Water is cloudy, no worse or better, but I can see the background.

Is the cloudy water from bac bloom? Or is the decor not getting along with my tank?

Should I be usuing the Skilter part yet? I don't think I should be.

Should I have bubbles going? Or is what the HOB's waterfall enough?

Should I be topping off the water level?

Is the high sg hurting me?

TIA and I'm sure I'll have many more questions.

Jason

[Amy83820]

Do you have any live rock? Your temp is pretty high...you will have a lot of evaporation so definitely top off (use rodi water). Temp should be around 78-81....as long as it's pretty consistant.
You can run the skilter or not, doesn't matter.
You don't really need any bubbles, but you do need some sort of powerheads for circulation.

[reefer_for_life]

your doin ok so far. ill try to help.

60gl RO not bad, good job there

80lb crushed coral. not a big deal, but it will be a pain to keep clean. you youll need to vacum it regularly.

lose the aquaclears, aquamasters. get about 60lbs of live rock. i dont like the look of fake corals, but there not gonna hurt anything.

temp is too high. bring it down to about 80 and try to keep it around there.

get yourself a protein skimmer. if you want a hangon skimmer, i would recommend a remora pro or a deltec. if you have a sump you have alot of skimmer options.

get 2 maxijet 1200's, put one in each corner, and you should be good for circulation.


so get your live rock, maxijets and skimmer, let your tank cycle, keep testing your water, and in about a month you should be ready to roll. if you have any more ?'s , just ask. good luck.