New setup Recommendations

[pblogic]

that is what I was thinking of doing, buying a good bit of dry rock, and then some of the very nice live rock and putting it in dead sand. Maybe add a bag of live sand from the lfs just to get things moving along. Thanks a ton for the help I really appreciate it.

QT is for fish. You can QT rock if there is a risk for something like mantis shrimp hitching a ride or you want to treat for some aiptasia to keep them out of your DT.

What I did to start my first sand bed years ago was bought all dead sand then bought a few pounds of grunge out of a live rock display at a LFS and used that to seed my sand. LR will also convert dry sand into live sand. Since you are just going to be starting the tank up you can go with mail order uncured rock. It will be cheaper and you can cycle it yourself in the tank with the dead sand. Be prepared for all of the wonderful blooms that come with a new tank! Or you can buy nice looking dry rock then buy smaller and cheaper live rock that you can use to make the dry rock live. I like saving money.

 

[pblogic]

And sorry I forgot this before, who sells the best live rock? Quality regardless of price since I'm only going to buy a little for seeding

 

[insane]

Lots of people rave about Marco rocks. Dry rock, live rock, sand. The cherry picked dry rock & WYSIWYG are way cool. http://www.marcorocks.com/

 

[pblogic]

I'm located in west Michigan

 

[Aristarchus]

+1 for Marco Rocks

 

[pblogic]

I looked a bit a marco. Looks nice, but I noticed all they sell is dry rock, not live.. is that a better idea? How long will it take for it to become live and act as a bio filter? How do I bring it to life? would live sand seed it?

Also,

For a protein skimmer is there any disadvantage to a hob rather than in sump? if I did a HOB I could save room in the sump

 

[insane]

Marco Rocks does sell live rock. It isn't standard live rock that you normally see but it will seed dry rock and dry sand. Dry rock saves money because you are not paying a high price for water. Dry rock will start becoming live rock as soon as it is put in with some live rock. Half and half would be a good mix. Using base rock as the bottom level will also save money. You don't want nice rock underneath where you can't see it.

http://www.marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=9

HOB skimmers need more attention than an insump skimmer. HOB can overflow onto the floor.

 

[pblogic]

Marco Rocks does sell live rock.
http://www.marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=9

HOB skimmers need more attention than an insump skimmer. HOB can overflow onto the floor.

thanks ill stick to in sump then. And sorry I should have been more specific. I saw the african lr but have never heard of that before. Marco seems to be really focused on his dry rock, what's your opinion on that situation?

 

[insane]

They have some really nice dry rock. I also added a little more info to my last post about rock.

When I upgrade I am going to get some big shelf rock from them.

 

[pblogic]

They have some really nice dry rock. I also added a little more info to my last post about rock.

When I upgrade I am going to get some big shelf rock from them.

thanks a bunch. like I said I've read a ton of stuff but being able to bounce questions off someone is really nice for clarification and I really appreciate your help. I love this hobby, there is SO much to learn, and it's so much fun.

I like the look of the Marco dry rock for sure. So..

for 72G tank w/ approx a 30g sump how much rock should I use, and how much sand?

 

[insane]

I would do 40lbs dry rock & 40lbs live rock. There will be more dry rock than live rock. On the sand, you might want to get that local. The sand Marco Rocks has is very fine which is good for burrowing fish but also can create sand storms if you have high flow in the tank. You will want to figure out how deep in inches you want your sand bed then multiply the tank width times tank depth (front to back) times height of sand bed. Divide that number by 1,728. That will give you the cubic feet of aragonite needed. Bags of aragonite will usually state how many cubic feet are in a bag.

 

[TP123]

thanks ill stick to in sump then. And sorry I should have been more specific. I saw the african lr but have never heard of that before. Marco seems to be really focused on his dry rock, what's your opinion on that situation?

Dry rock is his niche. People seem to really like it and say it tends to be good shapes like you'd expect from the region it comes from (not a bunch of boulders).

Bulk Reef Supply also sells dry rock to. Essentially the same products as Marco.

The main reason people go with it is the dry rock runs about $2.50-$3/lb while live is around 2x that per pound. Per pound, you get more rock with the dry as well as there is no water weight in it. You also save of shipping, since live rock needs to get to you quickly and dry rock can be shipped via whatever is the cheapest. After about 6 months in a tank, you won't be able to tell the two apart.

 

[pblogic]

ok cool. I found an LFS not too far from here that has some nice live rock for about 5.99 a pound that I'll go with I think. I will probably get like 20lb of live rock just for financial concerns and like 60 -80 lbs of dry rock to seed.

As far as sand goes:

I've heard it can be good to have different types of sand in different areas of the tank. Fine to course... any opinions on that?

 

[bertoni]

The coarser substrates require manual cleaning. I would stick with an inch of fine sand for looks. Of course, the intended flow rate for the tank can impact the decision, too. Very high flow might make some of the finer sands impractical.

 

[pblogic]

Well I don't intend very high flow. So, aragonite? Does that need manual cleaning? What type of sand do you suggest? I want to eventually have one of those neat little jawfish (I think Jawfish) that make a little burrow and back into it with their little heads sticking out.

 

[bertoni]

Any fine sand will be okay. Aragonite does look nice and it's a bit softer than silica, so it doesn't scratch quite as much. If you want a jawfish, I'd suggest doing some research and picking a species. Then you can pick an appropriate substrate for it.

 

[pblogic]

Looked at that reef octo. its also extremley expensive. Is it possible to go with something that will still be good equipment without the massive cost?

 

[pblogic]

Any fine sand will be okay. Aragonite does look nice and it's a bit softer than silica, so it doesn't scratch quite as much. If you want a jawfish, I'd suggest doing some research and picking a species. Then you can pick an appropriate substrate for it.

This is the little dude I'm going to get

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1637+188&pcatid=188

 

[pblogic]

I would do 40lbs dry rock & 40lbs live rock. There will be more dry rock than live rock. On the sand, you might want to get that local. The sand Marco Rocks has is very fine which is good for burrowing fish but also can create sand storms if you have high flow in the tank. You will want to figure out how deep in inches you want your sand bed then multiply the tank width times tank depth (front to back) times height of sand bed. Divide that number by 1,728. That will give you the cubic feet of aragonite needed. Bags of aragonite will usually state how many cubic feet are in a bag.

I tried this 16x48x5 / 1728 =2.2

I must not understand

 

[terri_ann]

If you are concerned about having quality LR, my suggestion would be to buy locally, either a hobbyist or LFS, as then you can actually "see" what you are buying, can ask any questions, etc...

Good luck