My marine experience
- Thread starter Joe Fish
- Start date
yes, good water movement keeps any waste suspended to be picked up and skimmed out by the skimmer. The live rock & sand will load up with beneficial bacteria that will convert waste from ammonia to nitrogen that is discharged through gas exchange. Excess nutrients that are caused by overfeeding/overstocking and phosphates are the main cause of algae blooms. Using an external filter is considered a nitrate factory and increases the likelyhood of imbalance. Have you been doing your reading????
2 inches won't do the trick if you plan to have denitrying bacteria. Aim 4-5 inches. 3 bags of 30 pounds, maybe a little more. ( I have a 55g )
You could go with aragonite ( good to maintain ph around 8 ) super fine.
Don't get plain cheap hardware store sand !
Be sure to get the same grain size or the finest ( and often the more appealing ) will get under the biggest.
Don't bother using live sand. Some critters from the live rock will eventually get in the sand and it'll be the same. Save your money to get a good amount of rock and sand. It's a little better to get the rock before, because if you put the rock over, the structure would be more shaky. I put the sand first and have no problem, but i used epoxy to glue some big rocks together.
You could go with aragonite ( good to maintain ph around 8 ) super fine.
Don't get plain cheap hardware store sand !
Be sure to get the same grain size or the finest ( and often the more appealing ) will get under the biggest.
Don't bother using live sand. Some critters from the live rock will eventually get in the sand and it'll be the same. Save your money to get a good amount of rock and sand. It's a little better to get the rock before, because if you put the rock over, the structure would be more shaky. I put the sand first and have no problem, but i used epoxy to glue some big rocks together.
I also use the CPR BakPak 2 on my system and it does a sterling job. *thumbsup2
Your tank is a little over half the size of my system too so you should be quite happy with it.
They're also easy to beef up if you feel the need for more power - just thread an airline tube with a fine bubble airstone into the bottom of the first chamber.
Kahlua, can I ask why you say not to use plain cheap hardware store sand (ie. play sand and silica sand)?
I use a mix of play sand and fine crushed coral at about 50/50 and had no problems (that I know of). Is it not fine enough? The silica can be pretty fine.
I thought the general concensus was that playsand and silica sand were okay.
Your tank is a little over half the size of my system too so you should be quite happy with it.
They're also easy to beef up if you feel the need for more power - just thread an airline tube with a fine bubble airstone into the bottom of the first chamber.
Kahlua, can I ask why you say not to use plain cheap hardware store sand (ie. play sand and silica sand)?
I use a mix of play sand and fine crushed coral at about 50/50 and had no problems (that I know of). Is it not fine enough? The silica can be pretty fine.
I thought the general concensus was that playsand and silica sand were okay.
Question Related to current topic..
I have 30# of a DSB, in my 45 gal corner (Tank Area 462.5 sq in), the sand is about 2" deep. It has been running for 9 months now. Is it too late to add another 30#? Or would that disturb my inhabitants too much? (picture, burying my snails, *laughingc ) I would like to make my bed deeper (4-5", acceptable), as it would keep my conditions more stable. I also have 60# of LR if that helps anything..
-Thanks
I have 30# of a DSB, in my 45 gal corner (Tank Area 462.5 sq in), the sand is about 2" deep. It has been running for 9 months now. Is it too late to add another 30#? Or would that disturb my inhabitants too much? (picture, burying my snails, *laughingc ) I would like to make my bed deeper (4-5", acceptable), as it would keep my conditions more stable. I also have 60# of LR if that helps anything..
-Thanks
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Might do the trick. Ok now for the rock...45 pounds of wich one ? There are some more porous (so..lighter) than others. I have rocks from Fiji, Haiti, Sulewasi and Indonesia ( dunno where in indonesia ). Most people buy fiji because it's pretty cheap and looks puffy with plenty of holes. Good rock to put lighter pieces of more fragile rocks from Tonga or Sulewasi. Haitian ( or caribbean ) rocks have less funky shapes and seems less light than others.
The premium rocks from the pacific ocean costs a little more but are super . Being lighter and more porous, you can have great looking rocks + excellent bio-filter. Buying good live rock is so important.
The premium rocks from the pacific ocean costs a little more but are super . Being lighter and more porous, you can have great looking rocks + excellent bio-filter. Buying good live rock is so important.
I'm looking at getting premium fiji live rock from liveaquaria.com. I've read other posts where people are happy with them. I'm going to start with the fiji rock because it's fairly cheap comard to some. Then I would like to get some of the tonga rock. After that who knows. The rock at my lfs it quite expensive and probably won't put in too much if it.
Go ahead, their live rock price is awesome. If only i could buy from them.
My indonesian LR was 12$ / pound. Ouch.
Here the LFS prices are like : 5-7 $ for caribbean LR; 8-10$ for Sulewasi and Vanuatu. I've seen crooks selling a mix of base reef rock and caribbean for...17$ per pound ! I hope they ran out of business.
Oh i was wrong...i don't have Sulewasi, i have Vanuatu
My indonesian LR was 12$ / pound. Ouch.
Here the LFS prices are like : 5-7 $ for caribbean LR; 8-10$ for Sulewasi and Vanuatu. I've seen crooks selling a mix of base reef rock and caribbean for...17$ per pound ! I hope they ran out of business.
Oh i was wrong...i don't have Sulewasi, i have Vanuatu
Be prepared to do multiple large water changes to cure your rock once you get it. Follow their instructions to scrubb it and then place it and monitor your ammonia to ensure you cure it properly. The only way to avoid that is to buy cured rock. I got my rock from Premium Aquatics and I know people that have purchased it online from them have been pleased. You can buy it already cured and it is phenomenal. Here is a pic of mine, I went there *luckily I live within an hour drive* and hand picked mine.....If I were to do it again I would go half Marshall Island (mine is all that now) and half Fiji or Kaleani.....just for diversity.
The colour has come out and it is mostly purple and green. Those pictures were taken at about 3 months.
The colour has come out and it is mostly purple and green. Those pictures were taken at about 3 months.