View Full Version : Sand
cizbicki
02-12-2007, 04:17 PM
Hi, I am new to sw and wanted to ask a quick question, I'm sure there will be alot more to follow as time goes by. I live about 20 min from the coast in Mass. and was wondering is there any benifit to getting sand from the ocean, aside from the cost, or would this be a mistake.
Thanks,
Chris
gooliver
02-12-2007, 05:05 PM
Hi Chris, i think the best way to answer this is "why risk it?" - in other words, to be safe and make sure you dont introduce pollutants to your tank, buy sand from an aquarium store or better yet - get some from a local reefer. People often have it available. I know i do, but you'd have to drive 3000 miles to get it.
cizbicki
02-12-2007, 07:46 PM
Thanks for the input. Even though a road trip would be fun, I think a west coast trip may have to involve a plane or two :) My next question if you don't mind is should I cycle the tank with nothing in it (like sand or rock) except a few shrimp from the grocery store. I have a 55g with a sea clone protien skimmer and two penguin 400 biowheel filters. From what I've read I shouldn't run the skimmer till the cycle is complete. I've heard that the cycling process can be a smelly one if you use live rock and being that the tank is in the living room of our house I don't think my wife and daughter would appreciate it.
gooliver
02-12-2007, 08:31 PM
Rob covered this in a couple of podcasts...its quite simple.
If you're setting it up with live rock, you may not need to drop a shrimp in there at all...especially if the rock is not cured.
anyways...put in the sand and the rocks...let everything run with the skimmer on.
you dont really need the biowheel filters...they are nitrate factories.
the only reason why you wouldn't skim during a cycle is to leave as much consumable nutrients in the system for bactera to multiply, which to be honest, the extra bactera that do follow as a result will more than likely perish when the decaying nutients dwindle. Plus, as you said, its in the living room with a misses that wouldn't apprechate a stink, so skim my friend, skim to you hearts content.
as for the bio- material, you dont have to jump over board & turf them from the system, but keep in mind, the bactera you want for a reef setting needs to be submerged in water constantly, so if you can keep it submerged..beautiful! if not, then the bactera that collonise in a wet/dry situation is best left for a fish only tank because fish a less sensitive to the final stages in the nitrogen cycle than reef corals.
welcome both of you too, its nice to see new faces.
:eek:
cizbicki
02-13-2007, 08:46 AM
Thanks for the info. I figured I would start out with a fowlr system and hopefully move on to a reef, depending on my success rate. It's nice to have a forum like this for newbies like me to get information from people who have already done it.
ya here to help, as ive said to many newbies, ask where to start, do alittle research on the stages & ask questions targeting those stages & when you put it in practice your sweet. keep it slow, resist the urge to buy everything in sight & take the oppertunity to catch up on robs podcasts for vital info.
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