The reef bug has bitten!

[nl]

Hi all

I'm new to the board :D .. The Reef bug has bitten! :(
Okay now I have one problem, thats money .. Im getting a 577L (127g) tank built soon .. Now thats gonna cost me most of my budget already once I get the tank and filtration, etc .. Now I have the choice of staying Fresh .. or going salt? :? Okay now the thing is if I go salt .. i'll have to save till I have enough money to afford LR & LS. So the tank will have to idle till I can afford that :(

Okay so now my MAIN question would be .. How much LR and how much LS? I have one worry though .. Thats the LR or LS dying? Coz if that happens then all my money would be gone *poof* :cry:

So anyone have advice for me?
Would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks in advance
nl

[NH3]

Hey there,

The rule of thumb is to add 1.5 to 2 lbs. of live rock per gallon of tank water. However, keep in mind that different types of LR (e.g. Fiji, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Aqua-Cultured) have different densities so you have to use some degree of judgement. Another way of eyeballing it is to fill your tank about 2/3 high with LR, but again, some judgement is required depending on how you aquascape your tank.

As far as live sand goes, if you want a deep sand bed (DSB) which is the current trend in the hobby, then you should add at least 4 - 6" of sugar fine sand (such as oolite, argonite, or "southdown") and seed it with a few scoops of live sand from your LFS or a from a fellow hobbyist.

Good luck.

[phistio]

there are affordable ways of getting live sand and live rock...they just take longer amounts of time...

base rock is sold by most LFS...it has little or no coraline algea, but is sold for considerably less (roughly $4.99/lb U.S. dollars) you can then seed that base rock with a few small highly encrusted rocks...the coraline will eventually spread to the rest of the rock...it just takes time!

and as mentioned...most hobbyist who are starting large DSB's are stocking southdown playsand, available from home depot...then they seed the sand with a bit of live sand from a mature tank. the fuana will colonize the sand...and viola! a frre is born!

i encourage you to go saltwater reef, as IMO it's a very exciting hobby...unfortunately it's considerably more costly than it's freshwater counterpart...but beauty has it's price!

good luck!

[BigE]

Going for the saltwater reef is definately more enjoyable but costly. If I was in your shoes (and I am :lol: ) heres what I would do... Once the tank is setup get some Southdown sand from your local Home Depot. Southdown is a good sand for reef tanks but it does need to be seeded to get some life into it. Once you have the sand bed and water going for a week get a few peices of live rock, maybe just 3 or 4 peices to get the cycle process going. After about a month the tank should finish up cycling and then you could add a fish or two. Go for more docile yet interesting fish.
This is a good way to get the tank going with minimal (yeah right) expense and it also gives the tank a lot of time start maturing. Before you get the first fish or two and any other fish or inverts make sure you know what it takes to keep them before you buy them.

The Southdown sand as a dry sand but once its in your tank the critters from the live rock will move into the sand and get life going.
Don't buy a few hundred pounds of live sand since it really doesn't have all that much life in it and would cost 2 arms and 1.5 legs.

Also, put the sand into the tank before filling the tank with water, this will stop the water from clouding up like crazy.

If your able to... get an RO/DI filter. This should be one of the first things you buy for the tank. Starting your tank with all RO/DI filtered water can help the tank get off to a great start. They can be a costly expense but way worth it.

If and when you go into the LFS don't believe anyone that says an anemone will do great in your tank. (even though they've never asked what kind of a setup you have.) :lol:

I'm setting up a new tank in about a month and I'll be following every single one of these rules. After all, they're all mistakes I've made in the past. :lol:

Here's a link to the RO/DI filter I have.... $199.00
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PA&Product_Code=KENT-HI-SRODI35&Category_Code=kentro

I don't have any info on the Southdown sand but here's a link to somehting coparable.... $11.95 per bag
http://www.purearagonite.com/

HTH

[nl]

Thanks for all the replies people :D
Im sure as hell gonna save all my cash from now on, no more cds and things for a while for me :roll: .. but, just once again as I see no one answered the part where I said im really scared that the LR & LS will die off :cry: .. That surely is my greatest fear!

[BigE]

I wouldn't worry to much about the lr and ls dying. those critters are pretty resiliant and are good scavengers. Once you have the tank runnig with some ls and lr you could feed the tank a very small amount of flake food even if there aren't any fish in the tank. this will help feed the detrivores in the sand and lr and jump start its growth.

I'm kind of courious about the filtration system you where planning on setting up for the tank?

[phistio]

you don't have to worry about your lr and ls "dying off" i would feed DT's to you tank, as just about everything feeds off microscopic life (phytoplanktons)

also...i should be mentioned that if you add a little loive rock now, and a little live rock later...be aware that your tank will go through a mini-cycle again...anytime you add something like live rock, ammonia will go up, the 'trite...then 'trate creating the famous cycle...

i know of people that have gone a year without adding fish to they're tanks, and there live rock was gorgeous...

personally i would cycle my tank with a few hermits, snails, and a pair of peppermint shrimp...provided they had some base rock, and some seeded sand to live with...just my opinion...