Can I mix salt in the tank if I put live sand in first?

Reefer40b

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Not sure I fully understand but if you have no livestock and just starting up the tank then yes you can mix the salt in the tank and then add your sand in. This won't hurt the bacteria as long as you put the live sand in after you mix up the salt. Dump the salt in slow and have your pumps on full blast to mix it well.
 

ZoWhat

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Are you talking.... will mixing salt mix kill your LIVE SAND bacteria if you mix directly?

I assume this is a new tank setup with no fish or coral yet?

If fish or coral are already in there, the salinity swing from mixing will kill most fish bc they cant breath properly if the SG is temporarily too high during mixing.

What's wrong with just taking the extra effort to mix the SW outside the tank first?

>>>> If you looking to cut down your maintenance time, boy are you in the wrong hobby. This hobby is not about making shortcuts.


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Waterislife

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personally I just put good(rodi) freshwater in my brand new tank turn everything on, make sure everything works, nothing leaks, temperature comes up to normal then had my salt and get my salinity right and then add sand slowly or it'll turn into a cloud fest
 

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Just thought of this, plan to get water in today but was going to mix the salt in tank! Wondering if that would do anything bad to the bacteria ?
By saying get water in today I assume the tank is dry. It is fine on a start up to mix salt and water in the tank. If you have livestock in a tank you can not do this. Im not sure what bacteria you are talking about. Can you explain more about it?
 

vetteguy53081

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Salt first, get it diluted, then add sand
 

BrandonS

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putting live sand in to RODI will kill off any bacteria in the sand. As everyone is suggesting mix saltwater first then add sand. You can't do both at the same time. Have to have Saltwater first to not kill bacteria. I would also recommend not adding rock in until you have saltwater as the RODI can soak in and make it hard for bacteria to colonize the inside of the rock.
 
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ShaggyRS6

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Not sure I fully understand but if you have no livestock and just starting up the tank then yes you can mix the salt in the tank and then add your sand in. This won't hurt the bacteria as long as you put the live sand in after you mix up the salt. Dump the salt in slow and have your pumps on full blast to mix it well.
Ok cool, this was the answer I was looking for. So add the plain RO, check for leaking parts, then add the sand. Thanks!
 
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ShaggyRS6

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putting live sand in to RODI will kill off any bacteria in the sand. As everyone is suggesting mix saltwater first then add sand. You can't do both at the same time. Have to have Saltwater first to not kill bacteria. I would also recommend not adding rock in until you have saltwater as the RODI can soak in and make it hard for bacteria to colonize the inside of the rock.
I don’t really want to pre mix the salt as I don’t want salt water everywhere if I have a leak. The rock will not be put in for 5 days. I have Tampa Bay ready to ship that when I’m ready.
 

vetteguy53081

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I don’t really want to pre mix the salt as I don’t want salt water everywhere if I have a leak. The rock will not be put in for 5 days. I have Tampa Bay ready to ship that when I’m ready.
Then you might want to do what I did with my most recent tank. I ran it for two days under freshwater to assure no leaks then I added salt and let it dilute overnight and tested salinity. Once at salinity I added sand and bacteria supplement
 
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ShaggyRS6

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Add the plain RO, check for leaking parts, add/mix the SALT, then add the sand.
Yep cool thanks guys. I won’t be adding bacteria other than the sand. The rock is going to do the cycling for me! Thanks all for replying so quickly.
 

sarcophytonIndy

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Don't forget the heater(s), so that the water is at the correct temp before you try to get the salinity right.
 

brandon429

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At no time do the sandbed bacteria matter, so there's no concern.

The only time sandbed bacteria matter is if sand is the only substrate in the tank. Rocks are the sole amount of bacteria needed for bioloads large to small. The way we know this claim is fact is by removing sandbeds instantly in tanks to make them bare bottom, hundreds of them.

Another question: Has anyone asked a microbiologist or a Dr. if a brief freshwater rinse will sterilize biofilms on marine substrates and render them free of bacteria-

bac are represented in varying strengths depending on who we ask. I'll vote this: Anyone take your current sandbed out, clean it, and then test the whole thing in another container for ammonia oxidation, that clean sand will pass.

Then, drain its water and replace with cold mean tap. Let sit 20 mins, drain and refill w salt water and retest oxidation: Still passes is the bet

Water + bleach = no pass
 
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