Help need setting up new reef tank

[tampavii]

At the present time I am in the middle of upgrading from 110 with fish only to an 225 with live rock and fish.

Right now I have added 200 lbs of Southdown sand and 50 lbs of live sand to the 225 along with some sand from from my 110. I am running wet dry with bio balls. I just added 1 gallon of bio balls from my 110 .The last few days water was very cloudy from the sand. today i built i stand for the rock. I have about 25 lbs of sand in the 225 and another 200 lbs of rock curing in a large cooler with my Aerofoamer 630 skimmer running. Today I placed a stand I built for the rock and after moving sand around its very cloudy once again. I am also running a fluval 404 and keep cleaning the pads and carbon.

My ammonna is in the middle range on both the cooler with rock and 225 nitrite was in middle range few days ago and after testing today its very low. No nitrate yet in both. PH is aroun d 8.3 in both water temp 78 in both. Should I add few demsel fish to help cycle?


When should i add the 220 lbs of live rock ? Should I run the skimmer after placing the 220 lbs of live rock into 225 tank. Or just run for few hours? When or how long should I run my UV light ?

I have not tested for Calium or ALK yet What is best kit on the market to purchase? What other stuff along with names should I added to the tank. I am new to reef setup

Once everything is calm and test OK then I will add my fish ,sailfin tank,Hippo tank. tomato Clown, Sohol tang, Kole tang . I have few trigger and lion fish that i am going to trade or sell .I want to setup this tank with shrimp ,crabs ,easy coral ,feather duster ,mushrooms.

Any help or suggestion.

I have read alot and hope I am not getting in over my head .I am so confused I dont want to do anything stupid and kill my fish which I have for 2 yrs . What is best stuff to feed corals? What other trace stuff does this tank need ?

I wait your reply and help

PS As for the cloudy water in the 225 there is alot of dust on the rock that is in there now. Will this kill all the good stuff on the rock ?

Should i add more stuff from my 110 to help cycle and bio filter?

thanks Capt Gene

PS I bult the rock stand out of plastic rod and egg crate stuff for lights . This way most of the rock will be few inches off the sand but the stand with be covered with the rock .If anyone wants to see the stand I have few pictures. However I cant see the stand in the tank as I make this post because of cloudy water. i have turned down my ampmaster 3000 pump so it doesnt blow the sand around . Cant wait until the sand settle once and for

[absolut]

I dont know much but I will tell you this,
People on this site oppose cycling with damsels, they like rotting a shrimp or dying off a lot of live rock.
Also many people say a good reef tank temp is about 80
I've also heard not to run your skimmer until you have cycled your reef.
I would add all the live rock at once, If you are in the beginning stage so you dont have to deal with a ammonia spike later.

I am on the same track as you, is that I want to have a few fish and some Lps and soft corals. I've been asking what to get , but haven't heard much in the way of beginner coral/ anemones.

Dont know if you left your mechanical filter in you fluval (floss filter) , but I have been told to take it oput and have my filtration be a skimmer and LR.
From what Ive heard all the things you listed are low light organisms.
Sounds like you've been in it longer than me so I hope I'm not telling you things you all ready know.
Later

[crumbdav]

I was advised when curing my LR, in a new tank, just to put the LR in the tank. Let it cure in there. Its been doing fine.

I rank my (crappy) protein skimmer during the process (I upgraded to a Remora) , but I would advise against using your protein skimmer during the curing process. The bacteria will always be in balance with the amount of nutrients in the water. Therefore if you take out the nutrients (with the skimmer), you will have less bacteria created during the curing process.

OTOH, since these bacterias are aerobic, a skimmer might not be a bad idea. Hmmmmmm

If you take it slow (when adding livestock), then it probably wouldn't even matter whether you used a skimmer during the LR curing process.

Best,