few questions

[jubjub]

hi everyone, funny enough i been lurking around this board for almost 6months now and thought i was fully prepared for the world of salt tanks....but i still have odd ball questions pop up sometimes...so maybe you guys can help

1. i put about 55lbs sand in my tank (15 of that being live sand) i still have about 5lbs or so left over i was wandering if i cleaned out a 2liter bottle cut it in half and put the sand in that, could i put that in my refudge with out any problems.... or even like a glad tupperware thing i just dont want the sand going all over the place since stupid me glued the baffles in backwards.(up down up instead of down up down)....

2.sounds pretty stupid i know you should QT everything but having my tank only running around 1week now im getting tonsss of algae on my rocks, what not is the QT of the very first fish really a must? i mean nothing to really infect right? (just was thinking of a pair of clownfishes)

3. should i be skimming the first few weeks.....i have been and just pouring it back into the tank but this time its gettin kinda stinky and green.

thanks

[addicted4life]

Your tank needs to cycle, 1 week is not long enough to wait. Get a testkit so you can test water patameters, ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites for now.

I would not dump my skimmate into the tank anymore, put it down the drain.

[jubjub]

oh im still waiting for it to finish cycling..the rock was in a vat of water for over a month...even if i wanted to i couldnt...got poormanitus....as far as the skimmate it mostly wasnt tuned properly yet, so i was getting alot of clear water in it.....now it seems to be so i didnt want to.

[addicted4life]

Is your sump already in the water ? Is the problem that the water flows into the fuge area by going under a baffle ? Could you add another baffle to force the water back up ?

[jubjub]

yeah its already fully submerged so i probably rather not add another baffle