ok,
I finally made it to the LFS and bought 140 gallons of
salt water and about 75lbs of cured live rock.
I ordered another 80lbs of rock also.
got the sand water and rocks in the tank.
Note: I used 3 bags of "expired" live sand and 2 bags of "Live" live sand. I guess we will see how this works out.
Filled up the tank and sump with salt water, turned the return pump on and the system started up with no malfunctions. but I have a couple of issues to resolve.
Issue 1: The return line with the flex nozzles are spitting lost of bubbles. not really sure how to remedy that. gonna do some searching on the forums.
Issue 2: The overflow sounds like a constantly flushing toilet. I've seen quite a few threads with this issue. looks like I will have to build a standpipe of some type. again more research. I think I have a 1 1/2in bulkhead, it could be 2 in. I'll try and measure it.
day1 still looks a little murky, haven't turned on my skimmer yet. nor have I turned on any of my lights.