Filling the Aquarium and adding the Live Sand

After wet testing all of the water must be removed as it is unconditioned, unsalted and therefore inaqequate for the marine organisms. Now the aquarium is emptied of water again I may now begin to add saltwater. For this I have purchased; Instant Ocean Marine Salts (4kg for 120 litres), a Hydrometer, 'Tap Safe' water conditioner and a two 10 litre buckets.
     First of all I conditioned the tap water to remove the chlorine by adding Interpet 'Tap Safe' water conditioner. Chlorine is harmful to most types of fish (freshwater, tropical or marine) so it is necessary to remove this chemical, amoungst others, from the water.

   
Then we added the salt, after calculating the amount necessary for out 10 litre increments. We used weighing scales to measure this amount out. With one person stiring and one adding salt gradually we were able to dissolve the salts into the water without overnight airation and heating. This worked perfectly and the salt water inface had perfect salinity/ specific gravity (see below Hydrometer reading for first attempt). Not bad...

Now we added the water, bucket by bucket, repeating this process. The tank took over 8 buckets to fill as it has a 94 litres capacity. The water was left to circulate, with al pumps and powerheads on, to ensure all of the salt was mixed into the water correctly. Another overall Hydromerter reading was taken, again showing perfect salinity/ specific gravity.
     Next, after creating the salt water and lettiing it mix, it was time to add the live sand. The sand is known as live as it is authentic sand from the Caribbean Sea (around the Bahamas). It contains Aragonite, a naturally occuring carbonate mineral which is, with the sand, benificial in the filtration and upkeep of the marine water.
The live sand comes in a bag submerged in real seawater. We chose a crushed coral substrate as a personal preference as it is easier to work with and allows the water to flow through better than smaller particle sands.    
     By opening one end of the bag and submerging it all in the water we were able to empty all of the substrate into the water. This allowed minimal sand to come out of submersion in the water.

 This caused the water to temporarily cloudy but with the addition of the 'magnet-clarifier' and if left to filter for 24 hours the water should become clear again. Remember to allow the sand to partially settle to avoid large sand/ coral grains to get into the filter system as this may cause damage to your equiptment. I chose to turn the filters on the nect morning (so around 12 hours later). This worked fine and my filters/ hardware are clear of sand. The sand settled as below in 24 hours...

Next, after allowing the sand to become settled and established in the aquarium further, I am able to add live rock...