Live sand

Looking to set up a 55G . How much live sand would yall recomend? I want to have a bunch of coral, live rock, snails , crabs and a small school of fish.

i have sand and i hate it, its a pain in the @$$ to vacuum. but i think its a 1lb per gallon.

how deep of a sand bed do you want in it kory?

50 to 60 lbs of live sand should be plenty for a 55 gallon tank. that should be enough for a decent sand bed depth.

go bare bottom with some 1/4" high density polyurethane board. the type you would use for cutting board. gives the tank a nice clean look. I like it.

igotatank wrote:

go bare bottom with some 1/4" high density polyurethane board. the type you would use for cutting board. gives the tank a nice clean look. I like it.

can you post a pic of that? I would like to see that. Thanks

timw wrote:

igotatank wrote:

go bare bottom with some 1/4" high density polyurethane board. the type you would use for cutting board. gives the tank a nice clean look. I like it.

can oyu post a pic of that? I would like to see thta. Thanks

deleted (double post)

I have all of my sand from my reef available Kory if you need it.

Looks pretty cool. Too bad sandsifter's would be pissed!

well yeah i know

thats certainly differant, stilll going to have to vacum it though.

You will need a sand bed for all the stuff you want Kor. Sand its no harder to keep clean than in ure fresh. Plus its great for the Eco System. I am going to do 4inch or so sand bed helps with eco. I would say about 60-70lbs should do the trick.

Also you will need sand because you are going to use hang on the back filters and no sump Skimmer etc. You will need a lot of rock and deep sand bed. From all my research.

I belive bare bottom is best for fish only tanks.

I agree, a nice sand bed and lots of live rock is always great to have and will help your eco. I have read that about 1-1 1/2 lb of rock per gallon is the least you should go. In my 75g i have approx 130 lb of rock, plus another 20 in my refugium.

rock per gallon is a misnomer of sorts. you can get away with less rock if that rock has more useable surface area that life can live in. Needs to be pourous i.e any of the Fiji rock etc. or selective kinds of lace rock. NOT HOLEY ROCK.

Right now I have a 5G with some live rock and sand in it. I have a blower to make the water move (moving very well) and then the heat is up to 83. I also have killed off the chlorine and added my salt to the water. What am I missing to get this going?

if you use holy rock in a saltwater tank, your ph would be out of control. i would guess that when they say that they mean regular saltwater rock, not figi, which is just full of places for critters to live and grow. If you have or want a copepod colony in your tank then figi is a great thing to have. also if you have brittle starfish ect. and dont forget that if you use live rock, that has been dry, you need to cycle that rock, which takes a bout 4-6 weeks, and a lot of water changes ect

Make sure salt lvl is 1.025 that is huge huge. dont turn on a light and just wait a few weeks. You are going to have and issue cureing that rock with out a skimmer. you should have let me cure it for u.

I keep a tank just for rock, always running with a pump and themometer. and my wife wonders why the light bill is so high sometimes :)

I need a SW tester.

KMX wrote:

I need a SW tester.

They have hydrometers for $4 at Petco. Or there's name brand like instant ocean ones for $14+