yeah, gravel and undergravel filters are the favorite arguments. I've
decided that both have their merits and drawbacks and that I'll go with
whichever one suits my needs better.

I got the tank set up today, or at least I filled it with water,
substrate, and a few peices of live rock rubble.
Despite washing the crushed coral substrate the water is stil
ridiculously cloudy, I can't see more than a few inches into the tank!
The LFS owner assured me that it was just particles of crushed coral
and that it would not harm the life on the live rock, but it does make
it hard to see any of the cool things/critters that might be happening
on my live rock.

Is there anything I can do to help clear this? I know they sell
chemicals for freshwater that help clump the particles together so they
are more likely to get caught by the filter. Are there similar things
for sal****er? Although I've always been of the "dont add chemicals to
a tank unless you NEED to" mindset, so perhaps I should just wait for
it to clear on its own?

One more thing I have yet to understand about the sal****er cycle
despite reading...
I've read that you're not supposed to "feed" the cycle the way one
might feed a freshwater tank, that the live rock will cycle things on
its own.
So what's producing the ammonia for it to cycle?

I wouldn't worry about clearing the water with a chemical.
It will clear on its own over the next couple of days. If
you have a HOB filter, you could use that to trap some
particulates, rinsing out the pad several times over 48 hours.

To start a cycle in a tank, you can toss in a faw (dead)
shrimp from the deli, and let it create ammonia in the tank.
Then remove it and wait the three week period for the
cycle to end.

Marc


Kellbot wrote:
yeah, gravel and undergravel filters are the favorite arguments. I've
decided that both have their merits and drawbacks and that I'll go with
whichever one suits my needs better.

I got the tank set up today, or at least I filled it with water,
substrate, and a few peices of live rock rubble.
Despite washing the crushed coral substrate the water is stil
ridiculously cloudy, I can't see more than a few inches into the tank!
The LFS owner assured me that it was just particles of crushed coral
and that it would not harm the life on the live rock, but it does make
it hard to see any of the cool things/critters that might be happening
on my live rock.

Is there anything I can do to help clear this? I know they sell
chemicals for freshwater that help clump the particles together so they
are more likely to get caught by the filter. Are there similar things
for sal****er? Although I've always been of the "dont add chemicals to
a tank unless you NEED to" mindset, so perhaps I should just wait for
it to clear on its own?

One more thing I have yet to understand about the sal****er cycle
despite reading...
I've read that you're not supposed to "feed" the cycle the way one
might feed a freshwater tank, that the live rock will cycle things on
its own.
So what's producing the ammonia for it to cycle?


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