Getting a 550 gallon tank next week...

[clekchau]

i would choose pond filter sand over play sand if you want to go the sand route

[ChiPerf]

Thanks for the help. Not sure what kind of fish they are, but they are decent sized, maybe a tang or trigger, but I'm not that versed in salt water fish. Yeah, the more I think about it now I want sand instead of gravel. I go back and forth. lol I got some samples from the quarry that look nice, but the more I see tanks with sand they just seem to look cleaner/more natural. Gravel is starting to look very pet shopish to me now. Where do you get pool filter sand? Pool store? Or just HD or Menards?

[redtailcatfreak]

yeah ^ a sand tank is alot easier to maintain as well. all the crap doesnt sink through it to the bottom.

[ChiPerf]

Where do you guys get your pool filter sand? I should be picking this tank up tomorrow and want to be as ready as I can for getting it set up as quickly as possible.

[Nic]

just rinse/clean it out real well. you can reuse most of the stuff except for skimmer, hydrometer etc, everything else is still applicable for a freshwater. you should invest in a large piece of driftwood from manzman he's a vendor here, that really makes the tank stand out.

actually you can fill the skimmer with bio media and still use it... i did this with the one i got from my old 220... was perfect for extra bio filter

[sazhar]

I get my PFS at ACE hardware. I also bought a salt setup and turned it to freshwater. Just make sure when you first get it setup and running to do a couple major water changes before placing fish in it. I reused the pumps and some of the plumbing on my tank so I had some residual salinity in the tank.

[ChiPerf]

Gotcha. Once I get everything here I'll check out how all this stuff works and what I'm gonna use or sell and post up my intentions and see what the experts on here think. All this stuff is pretty new to me.

[ChiPerf]

When building your own stand, what do people put under the tank on top of the plywood? I thought there was some type of foam or something?

[ChiPerf]

Here is my progress so far:

[clekchau]

actually you can fill the skimmer with bio media and still use it... i did this with the one i got from my old 220... was perfect for extra bio filter

never thought of that