Well I use IO now, but ill be switching to oceanic once i run out.
I can tell you to start how john told me.
Buy some egg crate, cut to fit the bottom without touching the silicon edges. place it in. put enough sand to cover it. Add your base rock on top of it. fill in sand around rocks up to the top. add your liverock.. its alot easier with no water. for getting water in i just pumped it out of the bin and had it flow on the rocks. helped the sandstorm be alot less. as for mixing salt. you can do it this time after the tank is full. but for future times obviously mix beforehand. I found dumping some in just doent work well. i took my time and got it to 1.024 over a day. i used a cup at a time of salt. I sat this inside the aquarium on the sand. it lets the salt dissolve without settling on the bottom. ill be doing the same for premixing
then sit and wait basically lol.. maybe add some raw shrimp for a few days to start the process.
