30gal Saltwater tankmates ???

[mistersprinkles]

.::AquariumPros.ca::.

SW only forum. Experts. Lots of em. Post there.

[psychocircus]

aquariumadvice.com is a good one as well.

[dbank999]

Well guys... about $1000 later, a craiglist's adventure in a snowstorm, hours of internet shopping and nearly (not even kidding) 60 hours of researching forums/websites/LFS experts.... I am almost ready to start a set-up. (Going to get RO water, salt mix, and sand* this weekend)

EDIT: also one or two small live rock pieces to seed my dry base rock.

Toying with a BB (bare bottom) set-up idea.

If you guys are interested... I will be creating a new thread on THIS forum to follow and post a link here for those of you who are sub'd to this thread and interested. And to also provide some information I have found along the way, for anyone who may also decide to move into saltwater reef keeping.

[IW17]

Bare bottom is a great idea. If I had it to do all over, this is what I'd do. Not quite as pleasing to the eye, but makes maintenance so much easier. Plus if your doing corals it really helps keep your nitrates and such down.

[swolek]

I've always done bare bottom OR deep sand bed. There's no good way to do it in between IMO. DSB can result in nitrate reduction if it's deep enough and mature enough to have anaerobic areas. Bare bottom, on the other hand, also results in less nitrates because it's soo easy to vacuum. Both work well .

[psychocircus]

I have a sand bed of normal depth and have no issues with nitrates.
Also you don't have to seed your base rock with live rock, but it may help speed up the process a bit.

[dbank999]

The problem that I have seen with DSB's from other people's experience, is that over time levels of nitrates and phosphates collect and become saturated in the sand. This is because Tugor is barely effective with the limited surface area to expell the NO3s and PO4s
..
The sand only has one surface to release these back into the water column, whereas live rock has an exponentially higher amount of surface area, when compared pound for pound.

Eventually, (seems to be about 6-8 years of no problems) the DSB fails and needs to be replaced or thoroughly overhauled. When disturbing the sand, EVERYTHING is released back into the water.

There's a lot more information touched upon in this thread below "Reefkeeping made easy - what was not explained"

Reefkeeping made easy- what was not explained. - The Reef Tank

Great read - classroom style discussions with great information on Nitrates, Phosphates, and sand beds

I would be going BB, but I really want the sand-sifters such as gobies

[dbank999]

Originally Posted by psychocircus

I have a sand bed of normal depth and have no issues with nitrates.
Also you don't have to seed your base rock with live rock, but it may help speed up the process a bit.

Yeah, I was hoping for the expediated process with seeding the base rock. Even though I know I'm looking at few months before I have a stable environment lol

[swolek]

Originally Posted by dbank999

The problem that I have seen with DSB's from other people's experience, is that over time levels of nitrates and phosphates collect and become saturated in the sand. This is because Tugor is barely effective with the limited surface area to expell the NO3s and PO4s
..
The sand only has one surface to release these back into the water column, whereas live rock has an exponentially higher amount of surface area, when compared pound for pound.

Eventually, (seems to be about 6-8 years of no problems) the DSB fails and needs to be replaced or thoroughly overhauled. When disturbing the sand, EVERYTHING is released back into the water.

There's a lot more information touched upon in this thread below "Reefkeeping made easy - what was not explained"

Reefkeeping made easy- what was not explained. - The Reef Tank

Great read - classroom style discussions with great information on Nitrates, Phosphates, and sand beds

I would be going BB, but I really want the sand-sifters such as gobies

Not sure how long it takes a DSB to do that but mine went 6-7 years with no problems .

[dbank999]

Originally Posted by swolek

Not sure how long it takes a DSB to do that but mine went 6-7 years with no problems .

It really would depend on the bioload in your set-up, how frequently you do water changes, how much the soil is disrupted, etc.. You may go the whole life of the tank without having any DSB issues arise, just a lot of other people are not so lucky apparently lol

Anyway, I went with sand... just running a powerhead with a heater ATM, base rock will be in tomorrow. Started the journey, and pretty excited to be getting into this hobby

[dbank999]

If anyone wants to follow along..

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/aquat...reef-tank.html