Hard white film???

Hello everyone
So I woke up this morning and checked my tank. The salinity was a little high 1.030, so i figured when i got home I would add some fresh water. Well while I was at work I got a phone call saying my light was in. I went picked up my light and got about 20lb of live rock.

When I got home I fixed the salinity and put my rock in. I then got my light up and running, well when i turned it on I noticed that there is a white film covering mostly everything, its really hard to see except on the bottom of the tank glass, and the bottom of the sump. The pumps and such are also covered in this but it is hard to see. I thought it was just undissolved salt so i tried to stir it up with my hand, but it did not budge. the only way to get it off is to scrape it with my fingernail.

I called my LFS and they said no worries, it may just be some mineral deposits due to high alkalinity and that it would be fine.

So I just want to make sure that everything is going to be ok being that today was my first live rock purchase.

I tested my parameters and they all report good:
Temp 77.9
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia hard to tell but 0 to 25ppm
PH 8.4
SG- 1.027
With only 20lb of live rock am I even going to notice a cycle? My LFS said they clean the rock really well so you can add it anytime, and might not even see a cycle. I am not sure when I will be adding more rock.
Only thing in the tank is salt water some dry rock and some live rock.

The water has a lot of particles in it but I noticed a lot got stirred up when I put the dry rock in. I turned my protein skimmer back off for the night because I want to see if that helps any. I know that will be an issue I have to tackle later (micro bubbles). But did I do something wrong? I hope the water clears up too :-(..

I love my light tho!

 

From what I'm reading I believe you're cycling your tank.. First bring your salinity down to 1.024-1.026. If you don't have any livestock (and you shouldn't at this point) then it's no big deal to get it to the right levels.

If you want to start your tank cycling, go to the grocery store and buy 1 piece of fresh shrimp and drop it in your tank. That will get everything going. Plan on it taking 4-6 weeks to complete your cycle.

As far as your protein skimmer, I guess you can go ahead and run it, it's not really going to do anything, but it takes a little while for them to break in, which will eliminate the microbubbles.

Make sure you have flow in your tank. (powerheads)

and then wait.

 

Are you using tap water?

 

A lot of tanks have issues like these --your tank may indeed just be beginning a cycle. Wait for you add livestock.

 

Yes I used tap water that has a filter and I used some distilled water that I bought. I do not have any of them testis it going to be with those levels being low??

Also can I just scrape it off and somehow run a filter media to clear up the water or will it be fine?? My live rock still looks ok this morning all the color is still there.

 

Ok, on further investigation, it seems like most of it does come off very very easily if i brush it around. The only spot that seems it is hard is some of the glass and in the sump where I poured the salt in. So I guess it is not as bad as I thought. Thanks for the link I tried reading most of it. I did get some more live rock and my sand put in though! Time to update my build thread.

 

It would be in your best interest to drain the water and start over with RODI. It will make things easier down the road. Check the algae section and you will see what tap water does to the tank.