Hi,
Well I think I now have a real Saltwater tank. The Live rock, Reef sand and saltwater went in this weekend. It has been 30-35 years since I have tried this. Man have things changed in all those years.
My tank is 20 gal. with thru the back overflow going down to a 10 gal. refugium. About 2" sand and 20 lb live rock, small amount of live rock in sump. I am getting about 400-500 gph flow thru sump and have a 190 gph powerhead in display tank. I used RO/DI water and Instant Ocean salt, mixed overnight with powerhead, and checked with a refractometer. It has been running for 24 hr. and is clear as a bell. I plan on adding the shrimp to start the cycle tomorrow night. I checked the water parameters tonight using a RedSea test kit. It has taken me about 3 months to get to this point.
Here are my parameters:
Temp. 79 deg. F
SG 1.026
Alk 2.9
Ph. 8.6
Amm. 0.25
Nitrate 2.5
Nitrite 0.1
Now the wait begins
Thank You for letting this new guy rattle on.
Oh forgot the live rock was from Salty Critter, nice place and a lot of help-Thanks