Quote:
|
Originally Posted by spikehs
I was planning on putting all the sand in (most anyways) then place the rocks and get em like i want them, then put in the water...I figure this way I know the rock structure will be sturdy and if I want to move stuff around I dont' get massive sand storms..anything wrong with doing it this way? thanks.
|
Sean,
The way I put together a new reef is to first make as much saltwater as I can and store it (aerated and heated) until I'm ready to use it. Then I place the sandbed into the bare, but clean, tank. Once the sand is in place, I put a dinner sized plate on top of the sand where the water will spill onto reducing, but not completely eliminating, the sandstorm. Powerhead(s) and heater(s) go into the tank to get the tank working like a tank should work. If possible, throw on some mechanical filtration to filter out some of the fine debris from the water column.
After the water has cleared, stack your rock. Take your time stacking it. There isn't any hurry to get your rock stacked, so stack it, then walk away for the rest of the day. If it doesn't look the way you want the first, second or third time, try restacking until you get it the way you want it.
As for how long the rock should be without water is hard to say, imo. If it's uncured rock, it will already have been out of water for awhile, so a little longer isn't going to hurt too much. However, if you can have a couple of buckets of water to pack the rock into while you're stacking, all the better for the rock.
I rearranged a well cured tank today and some of the rock was out of the water for 10-15 minutes at various times with no harm done to the tank or its inhabitants.
HTH.