Added Live Rock and Sand

We filled the tank with RO/DI water and added salt last night. We let it sit to dissolve, but added some more today when it wasn't reading enough specific gravity on the hydrometer. In a reef tank you want a higher salinity, or around a 1.025 reading on the hydrometer. Here's the tank filled with saltwater (reading 1.025 on the hydrometer and 77 degrees Fahrenheit.)















We went to the Gulfarium in Ft. Walton today and got some great live rock. They have an aquafarm where they culture the rock on site. It's from the Keys and it's called Miami Oolite. The purple stuff growing on it is coralline algae, which is the type of life you want on cultured live rock.

On the advice of a friend who knows such things, we got a couple of cups of sand from the tank where we purchased the live rock. Then we added about half into the tank for the bottom layer, added the bagged live sand we purchased as a middle layer, and then added the rest of the sand from the live rock tank. This should give the bottom layer of sand more oxygenation to allow for better growth.

Here's some pictures. There's 20 lbs. of live rock in there now, but I think we are going to add more.