Initial Set Up

We are newbies to the marine aquarium hobby, but have always dreamed of having one. Today we made that dream a reality. We purchased a 75 gallon tank with an oak stand from a friend for a steal! After spending several days cleaning and getting it ready, we were finally able to add the necessities to get it started: 80 lbs. of live sand, 60 gals. of pre-mixed salt water, and 27 lbs. of live rock. After much effort to pick-up and get the stuff in the aquarium and after giving the sand several hours to settle, we were left with something that looked a bit like this:

Since we were having an enormous amount of trouble getting the lights to work in the hood that came with the tank we purchased, we went back to purchase a T5 light that Pet Palace had on sale and some bubble things that are supposed to help circulate oxygen in the water (I think it adds nicely to the aesthetics, too). After getting it installed and being able to see the contents of the aquarium enough to rearrange the rock, it ended up looking something like this:


Water Readings 3/14/10:
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0 PPM
Nitrite - 0 PPM
Nitrate - 0 PPM
Temp. - 75° F