Newbie Setup w/o LR

[Whisky Penguin]

This is my first tank setup. It is a Nuvo 20 and I'll be filling it tomorrow (RO/DI and Red Sea salt).

I've done a lot of reading over the past 2 weeks and have seen a ridiculous amount of debate over this hobby. One of the biggest debate being about how to acquire the right bacteria.

Due to availability and simple curiosity over the debate, I've decided to go without Live Rock and try to seed my own. The rock I do have doesn't seem porous enough to host anaerobic bacteria. I've taken the following steps to compensate for not having LR:

1. "Live" sand from Caribsea 'Ocean Direct'
2. I'll be giving a 6 inch sand bed to host anaerobic bacteria.
3. I'll be burying Marinepure Ceramic to add surface area for the anaerobic bacteria.
4. Finally, I'm going to add Seachem's Stability to compensate in case the "Live" sand isn't live. I plan to pour a bit on the Marinepure Ceramic before I put sand over it.
5. Wait. Wait a lot. (seems to be the one thing everyone agrees upon).

This is my first post here after several weeks of reading, I hope I've drawn some decent conclusions. Please weigh in on how I should do a system without LR. I really want to see this experiment through and worst case, I wasted a little $ and a couple months.

Thank you in advance,
Whisky Penguin

 

[homer1475]

A lot of us start without LR now(great way to avoid pests).

I just setup an 80 with all dry pukani rock from BRS. The bacteria you need in the tank for denitrification are all around us. All it takes is an ammonia source(you choose, either a pinch of food and wait till it breaks down, pure ammonia, or a raw shrimp), and time.

It took me about 6 weeks to get my dry rock fully cycled using pure ammonia. Your live sand, isn't really live, but will add some of the bacteria you need. I'm not big proponent of the bottled bacteria, but others say it works and speeds up the cycle.

You might want to reconsider the 6" sandbed, in the long run a DSB can cause real problems. Thats why you see shallow sand beds, bare bottom tanks, or remote DSB's(so they can be changed out or cleaned).

 

[CStrickland]

Yeah, lots of tanks get started from scratch with dead rock. I think most people that choose live rock are less concerned with bacteria and more interested in the critters that it brings to the tank: calcareous algae, sponges, filter feeders, detritivores etc. The bacteria is the easy part.

The rock I do have doesn't seem porous enough to host anaerobic bacteria.

You're not like digging up random rocks from your backyard, are you?

 

[Whisky Penguin]

You're not like digging up random rocks from your backyard, are you?

No, I'm not. LOL.

The LFS called it "bull rock" ...

 

[Tooboot]

Everything takes time in this hobby, as it should. Take your time, plan it out. From location to equipment needs, to how much future planning you want to do. What will you be keeping?

 

[heathlindner25]

Dry rock is what I prefer

 

[BigEZ77]

6 inch sandbed? Wowzas! What about something like RealReef Rock? That's what I have. No critters but still live and supplements your water for quite awhile.

 

[Whisky Penguin]

After reading A LOT about deep sand beds and the downsides of it, I've decided against it. Currently my sand bed is on average 1 inch and 3 inches over top of strategically placed Marinepure Ceramics. I plan on keeping my setup well documented and scientific. I plan to test some of the "theories" form the interwebz (bolstered with a little suspicion and common sense).

Currently the dustcloud/sand storm is settling with a salinity of 1.025

 

[Whisky Penguin]

Still a bit cloudy.

 

[firefly73]

I started with dry dead rock. only down side i found was a constant leach of p04 but with no pests and a ease to cut and shape for aquascapes i think its the only way to go. Just run some gfo or cook it in ro for a few weeks..