new to saltwater hobby

Vinny made a very good point. Its essential to do a lot of research on saltwater aquaria as it is quite in depth to start up and maintain the system. .

Most ppl mix their own salt. You need to mix it in a seperate bucket 24hrs before use. Using a brand new bucket you add the amount of ro water you need, add heater and powerhead, then add salt. Measure the salinity with a refractometer, most mix it to 1.025 or 1.026 for a reef.

Don't do anymore water changes until the cycle is done.
Ensure you test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates before adding anything more.

The water is most likely cloudy due to the water change and media change.
Ensure you rinse the carbon media well before using it.

 

so i took some of my water into another lfs that seemed to be really helpful and actually seem to want to help and not just sell me product but anyways they tested all the parameters and said that the tank appeared to be cycled through and to give it a week or so and come back in and they would test it again to make sure

 

so i took some of my water into another lfs that seemed to be really helpful and actually seem to want to help and not just sell me product but anyways they tested all the parameters and said that the tank appeared to be cycled through and to give it a week or so and come back in and they would test it again to make sure

 

Welcome.
Careful with live rock. Usually has a lot of critters on them. Best advice I can give is dip corals before adding into tank.
Good luck

 

i did have a hermit crab come in on a piece of live rock and it looked to be a tiny star fish like smaller then a dime small but i haven't seen it since idk if the crab ate him or what happened i seen they were pest so hopefully it either got ate or died. I'm just trying to keep the candy cane coral alive it seems to be stressed and idk why i know i need to raise my salinity up a tad its at 1.021. my water is still a bit cloudy any ideas.

 

idk if you meant to put that again or not but the water was clear and i wasn't changing media i mixed water in a toat i mix the salt in with the water and stir it around and have a heater in there to warm it up to the temp in the tank