54g reef tank

[Melina]

Originally Posted by Sushiman

Welcome aboard; you like burning up $100 bills too huh? You've come to the right hobby!

LOL yeah I guess I do!

Hey, just wondering about when it's time to fill the tank with saltwater. Can I mix the saltwater in the tank? I know you should never do this once there is livestock in the tank, but what about the first time I fill it?
I'm thinking of the buckets I will need to get. If I do a 10% water change once a week, is it 10% of my display tank's volume (6.5g), or 10% of the total volume (+sump = 9g). I am wondering how much water I will have to mix for each water change. If I find a 10g+- container, when it comes time to fill the tank for the first time, do I have to pre-mix the salt in the container before adding it to the tank? I'll have to do this about 9 times if I have a 10g container (about the biggest I'm going to find, methinks). Can I just fill the tank with RO/DI water, then add my salt to the tank instead?
Then I think, I need to have it only partially filled when the live rock & sand arrives...

How am I going to do this? Here's what I'm thinking: Fill it half full, say 30g, mix in the salt... turn the powerheads on and let it aerate while I wait for the rock to get here... then fill it with the rock. Then top it off with RO/DI water and add the correct amount of salt to the tank again to reach my desired salinity?

What do you think?