thanks for your tip Greg!
I already had a T with a ball valve that was supposed to feed my fuge but it wasn't operational in the beginning. After your tip, I played around with the ball valve and it worked wonders. I have NO micro bubbles in the display
I haven't been able to make a trip to the hardware store yet to find the wire ties, however, I made my way down to J&L today and picked up some LR and sand. Rock is already in... gonna do water change tomorrow and rescape the tank and use the putty I picked up today to secure them!
I'm hoping to have some critters in the tank by the end of the week. SO EXCITED!!