cost of a saltwater tank?
- Thread starter SpJc11
- Start date
BUY LIVE SAND. Noraml sand does not have essentials for a SW tank. It doesnt keep the ph buffed and just causes extra maintence. Please don't recomend that to somone who isn't experiance with not using dead sand in a LIVE tank. I don't even do that , and i love saving money.
there's plenty of "dead" coral sand out there (CC, aragonite, dolomite, oolite, etc)
all will leach calcium over time and buffer pH
all will leach calcium over time and buffer pH
When moving a nano into a bigger tank , you want as much LIVE as possible. Buy the live sand. Argonite and others will do as well , but this is the best choice for your situation.
oh, didn't catch the moving tanks part... nvm
yeah you don't want to undo your cycle
for new tanks i strongly recomend dry sand though
yeah you don't want to undo your cycle
for new tanks i strongly recomend dry sand though
Gonna vote for using aragonite or any other dry reef sand rather than overpaying for "live" sand. You are already starting out with sand that is already going to be "live" and putting in what seems to be similar livestock. No reason to pour money down the drain with bagged live sand.
mdb you're going to want live sand if you're doing a move, you dont want all your livestock to go through the cycle with new dry sand.
SpJc1: I use instant ocean reef crystals in my 10g nano works well for me and i don't see why it wouldn't for you.
I'd also recommend a refractometer over a hydrometer. With bigger tanks and more livestock you don't want to get your salinity from a $10 plastic swing arm. Why spend more money on livestock only to have it die later on. (not saying it will but why risk it, its a good investment)
I would also get about another 40 lbs of live rock just for better biological filtration. 20lbs In a 55 gallon is not enough.
Are you going FOWLR or reef? What kind of lights do you have? How many gallons is your skimmer rated for? Also what kind of skimmer do you have? you also might want to get a second back up heater in case the other one fails.
Hope i helped some.
SpJc1: I use instant ocean reef crystals in my 10g nano works well for me and i don't see why it wouldn't for you.
I'd also recommend a refractometer over a hydrometer. With bigger tanks and more livestock you don't want to get your salinity from a $10 plastic swing arm. Why spend more money on livestock only to have it die later on. (not saying it will but why risk it, its a good investment)
I would also get about another 40 lbs of live rock just for better biological filtration. 20lbs In a 55 gallon is not enough.
Are you going FOWLR or reef? What kind of lights do you have? How many gallons is your skimmer rated for? Also what kind of skimmer do you have? you also might want to get a second back up heater in case the other one fails.
Hope i helped some.
if you're going with FOWLR then you don't need reef crystals, they have more mag/calcium and all that stuff that the corals need so just basic Instant Ocean salt mix would be best till you do decide to go with reef then switch to the reef crystals.
I would suggest getting atleast a 20gallon long tank and going with a sump, the HOB skimmers just don't seem to do it. I prefer my in sump.
I would suggest getting atleast a 20gallon long tank and going with a sump, the HOB skimmers just don't seem to do it. I prefer my in sump.
Gprime;3915272; said:
Adding dry aragonite to the live sand he has already will not make it cycle anymore than adding "live" sand from a bag. Adding anything has the chance of causing a mini-cycle, but the bagged "live" sand is going to do that as well. If spending twice the money for the same result makes you feel better though then /shrug
Exception would be if he can get true "live" sand from someone elses tank that is local where he will have very minimal die off.
