just stupid questions

[seahawks96]

I lost the book on how much salt to put in tank 130gal.
do you have to mix a little at a time or just add it to the tank
how long should it run before putting anything in

[Invigor]

1/2cup of salt per gallon of water (for instant ocean) once it all dissolves use your hydrometer to see the specific gravity, you want it to be between 1.020 and 1.025. As for how long, all depends on what you're going to use to start the bacteria cycle...if you can get your hands on some sand from an already established tank, that helps quite a bit. Filterfloss or a sponge running in someone else's system works quite well too.

Adding cured live rock to your tank will help it cycle faster too..in a tank that large you could probably get away with a few chromis to start off with..I don't think the ammonia and nitrite spike will be large enough to harm them. after you start adding something "live", monitor your nitrites and ammonia -- this will give you an idea of when the cycle is over so you can start adding fish.

some people I know also get raw shrimp and throw them in the water and let them degrade to cycle. Personally, I used established sand.

as for live rock, your best bet is to order a box or two from J&L aquatics..however I don't think their's comes cured, which is a really stinky thing to do yourself ;) but I 130 will accomodate a lot of rock :)

hope this helps.
fj.

[jasonkozey]

if it were my tank, i would not put anything in but rock for at least a month and after a month it would only be damsels. You are only going to be asking for stress if you rush it. John is correct adding rock will help speed the cycle up another good option is to take some dirty water from someone that just cleaned their tank and dump it in. That helps too.


Jason

[Stasher]

If you are going to add damsels somewhere along the process, make sure you really want them. Most are real buggers and if you want to get them out, good luck. If you do go the damsel route, choose the chromis' as they are the most peacefull of the bunch.

I agree completly with Jason. Setup your tank, add lr and let it cycle. Don't rush the initial cycle period is the most important thing.