"James" wrote in message m...
So i have my water and my salt. I start adding but the little needle doesnt
move. Add some more still nothing. Whole lot more nada. Guy at the
Aquarium Center told me he would look at it the meter tomorrow.

Thank goodness there is nothing alive in the tank. Any other newb mistakes
I can avoid??

The biggest mistake to avoid is to DO NOT MIX SALT directly in the tank!

Use dedicated container, a barrel (I use several 160g Instant Ocean buckets)
and measure with kitchen cups how much salt does container take
(estimated) to make up the desided water salinity. Than you will
know how much salt to add to make water close to the target salinity.
Than you will rely on the hydrometer only to adjust salinity
preciselly and you can avoid a major error when the needle sticks
to the wall/bottom next time you do not wash the device after use
and you let it get dry with salt glueing the needle ;-)

I know I need to add little more than 3+1/3 cups of salt to the bucket
to get very close to desired salinity. Than I only fine adjust...

I did get a maxi-Jet 1200 which is running quite nicely. I have added my
"Dead" sand and some rocks though not any live ones yet. Once I get the
water worked out I will add the rock.

Any think I am rushing? I would love to put some fish in by friday.........

I would start with live rock and no fish.
Let the rock cycle and then add fish.
No need for fish to suffer high ammonia burning their gills
while the live rock is "curing" after the shipment...