Filling a 180

[BigBearMD]

I've been debating how to fill my new 180 once its plumbed.

My biggest problem is my mixing station is a miserable 20 gallons.

Would you...

...put sand and rock in then add RO/DI and mix the salt in the tank
...fill with RO/DI, mix with salt and then add sand and rock
...Mix RO/DI and salt in separate container then add to the tank already at proper salinity.

 

[Matthew Dambra]

There is no right or wrong answer to this however i would advise adding your aquascape with the rocks, then once you've completed the scape add the sand, finally add ro/di water and slowly add salt to get to proper salinity

 

[Doclight]

I’d add tap water 1st and make sure it’s water tight.. ;)

 

[Chris8232]

I put my rock the way I wanted it in. Put my ro/di line in the tank. Filled , kept it running for 24 hours to check for leaks and get to temperature. Then I put all pump/ power heads on high (varioS 8/gyre 230×2) and dump my salt in to mix. About four days later I added my sand. Pumps off of course. My first time filling a larger tank (180 dis 63 sump) had no issues.

 

[Tallison]

I just filled my 150. I added rock first, sand and then filled my tank halfway with RO/DI. I mixed salt for 70 gallons and then proceeded to fill my tank in 20 gallon increments mixing salt for 20 gallons till my tank was full. I turned my powerheads on to mix after the 2nd round

 

[BigBearMD]

There is no right or wrong answer to this however i would advise adding your aquascape with the rocks, then once you've completed the scape add the sand, finally add ro/di water and slowly add salt to get to proper salinity

This is kinda what I️ was leaning toward.