Which of the two, to add first?

R

RyanR

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 28, 2007
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Canada
Hey guys, very quick question, when it comes to adding Live rock, or Live sand.. which one do you add first, and why? I set up my tank, Put the dead sand (Arganite) and Dead rock, all how i wanted it, and now i just need to know, if i should put live sand, then live rock, one before the other, or both at the same time?


Thank you

RyanR
 
B

BIGgourami

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2007
6,181
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Chicago, IL
i add the rock first cause i like jawfish and gobies and such so i need the extra support so there's no cave ins.

plus if you pour the water into a bowl placed in the tank after the sand goes in the water gets WAY less cloudy
 
spotfin

spotfin

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
Jan 2, 2006
4,724
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Maine
I would add the sand first, fill the tank half way with water, then add the rock. Let the system cycle for a few weeks before adding any fish or inverts.
 
A

alcohologist

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 8, 2007
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it's a good idea to place the rock in first, for stability. what i do is put in a shallow layer of sand to make rockscaping easier, then fill in with the leftover sand.
 
A

alcohologist

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 8, 2007
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singapore
oh yeah, as spotfin said, it's a good idea to add some water once your sand is in, so that you get rid of air pockets and bubbles in the sandbed.
 
R

RyanR

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 28, 2007
318
1
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Canada
Hey guys, I already have a 3/4" Layer of Argonite as a subtrate already, And was just going to take a couple pounds of live sand from a three year old tank, and place it on top of this sand, I won't be having gobies or anything, but i still will put the base of the rock deep into the sand bed, So it has no ill effects to add the live sand on top of the dead sand, then put the few pieces of dead rock as a base, and then the live rock stacked on top of that??


Thanks for any help

RyanR
 
P

princess

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 13, 2007
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England
that sounds good to me! If i was mixing live/dead i'd do it that way...but i wouldn't bury the dead rock i'd just have is on the bottom but above the sand
 
S

sweeTang21

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 10, 2007
2,009
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Wisconsin
I did my tank sand first, to add some padding for the glass on the bottom. There are downsides as mentioned above. IMO it boils to to personal preference. The sand will blow of the rock if you add rock first or not. I add the sand to the water column so as it dispersed around the tank and then settled after time, i siphoned all the crud out. This way worked very well for me and as long as you don't over feed and have good water flow then the sand should remain rather clean.
 
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