Within a few days of adding the substrate and salt water the tank cleared up and was ready for the live rock. We started off by adding about 25 lbs of live rock into our 38 gallon tank. Within hours we saw the rocks come to life as growth started to appear and sprout throughout the rock.

The next step to setting up our reef tank was rinsing the coral sand thoroughly, adding it to the tank and mixing up batches of salt water. We used Instant Ocean salt mixed with conditioned tap water and added it pail by pail to the tank.

We decided it was time to fulfill one of our life goals: setting up our first ever salt water reef tank. It all started by setting up the new 38 gallon tank on top of our new aquarium stand.