I am going to be seting up a fish only 29 gal tank. I am trying to keep cost down (i know that is hard when getting into this type of hobby), so i was hoping to get one or two clown fish. I was going to go with crushed coral but am thinking about using live sand. Is one better than the other, does one do better at providing home for bio-bacteria. Also, what is the minimum amount of live rock i could start aout with for one clown fish. And how much if i added a second clown fish. I will have powerheads pushing water throuhg the live rock. Anything else i am missing?
Setup ?
- Thread starter Fballvera22
- Start date
I just setup a 20 gallon FOWLR system. If I were you and you want to keep cost down make your own live sand buy like 15lbs of live rock and goto Home Depot and buy Play Sand it's like 1.49 for 50lbs. put the live rock and sand in your tank and let your tank cycle for like a month or 2 until your ammonia and nitrates drop to 0. If your just going to use power heads to circulate the water you might want to buy 2 one for each side of the tank. It is VERY IMPORTANT you let your tank cycle before you put your fish in there's plenty of bacteria in the live rock to setup your tank and in return overtime it will turn your sand into a "live sand" per say.
20 Gallon FOWLR
PENGUIN 330 POWER FILTER W/ BIO-WHEEL
PENGUIN 550 POWER HEAD
10,000 K CORALIFE LIGHTING
17 LBS. LIVEROCK
2 MAROON CLOWNS
2 DOMINO DAMSELS (GOTTA GET RID OF EM')
20 Gallon FOWLR
PENGUIN 330 POWER FILTER W/ BIO-WHEEL
PENGUIN 550 POWER HEAD
10,000 K CORALIFE LIGHTING
17 LBS. LIVEROCK
2 MAROON CLOWNS
2 DOMINO DAMSELS (GOTTA GET RID OF EM')
Either crushed coral or live sand is fine for this set-up. If you want to keep costs down I would go with the crushed coral. Live sand is nice but not necessary. I would not go with play sand because it contains a lot of silicates and will trigger nuisance algaes. You should get about 10lbs of live rock...although more is better. The last thing you are missing, and something I think is vital is a protein skimmer. You don't need a really fancy one. An air driven or cheap venturi should do fine.
ok, so tell me if this sounds good. Crushed coral, 10 lbs. live rock (to start out with, i will get more as time goes on), two powerheads. I might be getting a turboflotor multi for $50. I could put that as a hang on the side, but i could also create a sump out of a ten gallon tank i have that would give me a "40 gal." tank. Then i could put the turboflotor in that. Would that work?
The live rock keeps the nitrates down to a minimum by using it's bacteria and turning your nitrites into a gas (nitrates). Once your tank is setup and stable you should probably only have to change the water once a month or so... I would recommend bi-weekly water changes though you just have to keep an eye on your toxins and water quality. The live rock just boosts the nitrification cycle. I was wondering though could you take live rock smash it up and use it as a media in your filter any one think this would work 2 if not better?