A couple newbie questions - salinity, heating & cloudiness

[Haaps]

Hi there, I recently just started my first tank. It's a Waterbox 25 Peninsula with stock equipment along with a 100w Sicce heater. I filled my tank a little under 48 hours ago and added my live sand about 16 hours ago and plan to add my rock today. I only put the sponges and bio balls in the central chamber (no filter sock yet).

I added my sand into an already full tank because it was difficult to pre-mix the salt water outside of the aquarium for a full tank filling.

A couple questions:
1. I added my heater about 30 hours ago and set it to 27c and it's still only at 22.5. Last night it only raised a half degree. I'm wondering if this is expected and should take this long to heat up? Originally it was set to 25 but I upped to to 27 because I read that a bit warmer is good for cycling.

2. How long does it normally take for the cloudiness to subside. It has cleared up slightly over the last 10 hours or so but is still quite cloudy.

3. My salinity at about 22ppt which I wasn't too worried about because cycling won't be done for a few week so I figured I had time, however, I regret adding sand before getting the salinity right because now it seems like I shouldn't just add salt straight to the tank and mix. Does anyone have any advice on how to get the salinity up? Can I just add more to the tank?

4. Finally, for further context, I was going to add my life rock to the tank today along with the ammonia to kick of the cycling, but now I feel a bit hesitant. Suggestions?

 

[TX_REEF]

1. 100 watts may be a bit small for a 25 gallon tank, depending on your ambient air temperature
2. I'd expect it to take at least 24 hours to full clear, you can expedite by adding some filter floss
3. you should raise salinity by mixing salt with ro/di outside the tank, and add the super-salinity mixture to the tank, which will dissolve easier than adding the salt directly to the tank
4. 4no reason to delay, start it up and get testing!

 

[Haaps]

Thanks! Ambient temp ranges from about 18-21, so maybe when it's 18 it's stuggling. I'll try a 125 or 150w and see if that corrects the problem.

 

[rayadog]

For the benefit of the bacteria you’re trying to cultivate with the cycle, you should have salinity and temperature at the accepted levels. From experience, you can add salt to the tank but I 100% don’t recommend; having done this before when I was rushing. Don’t rush. Being that you’ve added sand already, you won’t be able to mix the salt well and
could end up overshooting target ppm. There’s still time to fix it simply, and practice a no-impact water change.

It’s not super straight forward to remove water and raise salinity unless you remove just about all of it.