reef set up

[pro2k]

If you are wondering, I'm trying to bump everybody down and have my name on ever y topic. I have a 55gal that I'm setting up and I was wondering how much live sand I should get and how much LR . My fuge is only about 10gal , how much sand and rock should be in there? Where's the best place to get this stuff? Thanks!

[Reptoreef]

I'm a lover of the DSB so IMO, go with a 20 tall(DSB fine sugar sized grain 4-6" deep 20"x13" or so). You can go with a fine grain bagged aragonite and just add a couple of cups of live sand or a few small pieces of LR and the fuge will populate and grow to become fully "alive" of a period of time. Where do you plan to have the skimmer, if you chose to use one?

[dakar]

Post away my freind..... I guess the determining factor is really going to depend on what you are planning on housing in the tank. And your personal tastes, are you intending on adding macros/plants to your display tank that will require deeper sand to be planted in?

For example, before we took down our 55 long we had a 3-4" deep sandbed, it worked out quite well. Now in the 180 I went half as deep. Not for any particular reason, just looked good to me that way..

Cost savings, we use Southdown sand, if you can find it, it runs around $5/50lb bag at Home Depot stores....it seems this will be become increasining difficult to find, but there are many other choices available, but at a much higher cost.

I like 4" or so in the fuge as it gives any anerobic bacteria a less likely to be disturbed place to live.

Now of course there are benifits for keeping a bare bottom in your display tank as well... Davejnz would be a good resource to tap for that route.

LR, i think the general concensous is around 2 pounds per gallon. Density and/or how porous (equates to total surface area) of the rock can make differences as well.. We started with a bunch of base rock at the bottom and added LR on top of it, now the base rock is very much alive.

Hope this helps some...

[pro2k]

Thanks guys. I don't plan on any macro/plants in the display tank just LR and easy to keep corals, anemones and such. I really like the look of sand on the bottom of the display tank but I thought it had to be LIVE sand? You can use sand from home depot? In the main tank I want about a 2inch layer. And for the live rock I was thinking around 100lbs. How much base rock could I get away with? What's the minimum rock I could start with to get the tank started and cycled? You guys rock!!! :mrgreen:

[bjpembo]

i agree on the sand numbers but my opinions differs on the live rock, i like to go with a bit less depending on the size, shape, and density of the rock, i prefer 1-1 1/2 lbs per gallon. my reasoning is that you have a plan a reef for the long term, if you fill your tank to the max with rock now, you'll have to remove some later on to make room for your corals as a lot of the things you buy will come on their own rock. you'll still end up with the same volume of rock it'll just be a bit slower. also another thing to keep in mind if you are buying your rock local, look for large unusual shapes, if you buy a lot of small rocks and pile them up like a mound of potato's, your reef will look like, well, a mound of potato's, and you'll have poor water flow because the rocks wont have as many spaces between them. as for the sand, i like the look of the dsb but i am currently contemplating going bare bottom and replacing my substrate with hdpe cutting board to protect the bottom of my tank from falling rocks. the tank i have now does not have an algae problem but tanks in the past of mine have, and since a dsb is basically a sponge that absorbs nutrients that you don't remove from the display, i figure one day the sponge will be full and I'll have algae again, so I'm thinking I'll head that off and keep my tank as a bare bottom so that i can keep it clean, and be able to have higher flow rates without worrying about a sandstorm. i do however plan to keep my dsb in the fuge for now, since its remote, if i have a problem with it, i can just take it offline and remove it relatively easily.

[bjpembo]

well you beat me there, yes the sand can come from home depot, if they have southdown/yardright sand in your area. its best to use aragonite sand because it comes from the ocean and wont cause you problems. if your unsure if the sand is aragonite put some on a plate or whatever and pour some vinegar on it, it should bubble and foam as the vinegar reacts with and dissolves the calcium in the aragonite sand, if nothing happens and you just have wet vinegar sand, dont use it. if your going to use the sand in your display you should go for either just an inch or less, or 3-4" or a bit more. its been argued that the 2" area isnt quite deep enough to function as a dsb but is deep enough that it would be difficult to keep clean. as for your base rock, you can use roughly a 60% to 40% base to live ratio and come out fine, of course you'll have less diversity because you'll be using less live rock but if your on a budget, theoretically you can use all base rock and one live rock and still be fine, the bacteria are what makes the rock and sand live and they'll spread to the rest and eventually it'll all be "live" oh, another note on your sand, you dont "have" to buy any sand bed starter/seeding kit or any of that stuff, the critters from your live rock will move onto and into the sand making it just as live as if you bought some starter kit.

[pro2k]

Awesome info that helps alot....... I'll go with about 1 inch for the sand in the main tank and 3-4 in the fuge. So I can use the southdown sand in the fuge as well? What else should go in the fuge? (Like what? A couple pieces of live rock and a handful of macro algae?)

[pro2k]

I forgot that I have about 50lbs of crushed coral (I think that's what it is.....looks like little pieces of shells and what not) sitting around. Is this stuff acceptable as a substrate for the main tank? And where do you guys get your LR online? Where's the best?

[bjpembo]

yea the crushed coral is ok, it'll hold detritus a little more because of its shape, but also becaus of its shape it'll give little cavities for critters to hide in. and yep southdown for the fuge is good, put that in to a 4-6" depth and a couple of your smaller rocks, or your rubble from the rocks you get, and some macro, chaetomorpha works best because it wont try to sexually reproduce killing itself and making your tank dirty. as for online rock, mine came from www.liveaquaria.com and im pleased with it and i think most others have been too.

[dakar]

Looks like BJ got the majority of it covered for you, so I'll toss in a single side note, when you get the fuge up and ready to roll, just holler around for Chaeto don't pay any online or LFS for it, at any given time there are dozens of folks trying to get rid of some. A small ziplock bag will get you a good start, and in a few months you'll be looking for folks to take some of it off your hands..