live rock and sand questions

[StraightZALE]

I'm getting ready to start up my first SW tank in the next couple weeks and i was wondering the benefits of buying actual live sand over the bagged stuff or just regular sand you would put in a FW tank. and if anyone knows of any good and/or cheap places to buy live rock and sand please let me know. thanks

 

[estanoche]

I don't think everything needs to be live... You could get away with putting say 10% live rock and live sand, and use dry for the rest. Only main downside is dry rock takes longer to 'purple up' since it has none to start with

 

[StraightZALE]

very good to know. thank you, you just saved me money

 

[Krish]

As Joanne suggested you don't need live sand. Infact, you don't even need sand period. I don't ever use it. You can just buy regular sand and in time it will become populated with the necessary beneficial bacteria making it live.

Good luck and make sure to post some pics!


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[Scooterman]

I think that having adding live sand is more benificial than just using regular sand because it introduces bacteria that is different from the bacteria that live in LR's, you don't need a lot of it but some will be enough to seed the rest, first starting out I would recommend using more to help speed up the cycling process and keeping your tank more stable. Diversifying your bacteria will help make starting out a new reef easier for you by keeping the system more able to handle variances when first starting out. An experienced reefer can get away without much if this because they can keep a tank more stable and know when it is safe to add fish and corals without over stressing the tank out. there is always pros and cons to both, having a bare bottom or sand bed and lots of live rock. I suggest starting out with more because it is essential to keeping stability and that is your best bet when starting out as a new reefer. I know this is just another opinion and I know it hurts to realize that this is more expensive, I still stand by the time proven methods that work for newbies.

 

[Airphotog]

Scooty, is your avatar from the little rascals?

 

[Scooterman]

Scooty, is your avatar from the little rascals?

yup, one of my favorite shows growing up.

 

[Krish]

yup, one of my favorite shows growing up.

Here we go again with this Louisiana boy talking like they had television


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[Peppie]

yup, one of my favorite shows growing up.

Same here!!!

 

[riemannp]

This discussion on building a sand bed was helpful to me, and I used it as the basis of my 240G build.

Guide to Successful Live Sand Substrates

Obviously there are many ways to skin a cat, but this may be helpful. Also, are you looking for detrivores/cops ... in addition to bacteria. I actually ordered several detrivore kits to seed my DSB and live rock. I am neutral on a recommendation, but this is what I ended up doing.