Well everyone I am back in the mix of things again...after having to give in and sell everything (had a new addition to the family and couldnt devote the time to the tank) I started setting up a 55gallon for a reef tank today... Got my stand setup and the tank leveled out...added the water and started mixing the salt...it will prolly be a few weeks until I can get the money up to by all the LR that I need (Im looking to do about 85lbs of LR) the tank is going to be sitting until then...(unless somone is willing to donate some LR ;D ) The only thing that I ask is if somone is willing to give up a cup or two of their established sand so I can seed the dry sand that I put into the tank... I will post progress pics when I get some time on my hands...
-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Finally setting up a reef again
- Thread starter Embowe
- Start date
reefsandrotts
NJRC Member
location for sand?
If you have time and want to save money I'd look into dry rock from marcorocks.com (and remember that since it's dry double the weight, ie a 25lbs is about 50lbs wet rock) I couldn't be happier with the rock I got from him and since it was dry it was really easy to work with to create the look I wanted (ie hammer/drill/ziptie) then you can buy a few showpiece or just really nice LR pieces to seed it.
I have photos of my 70g in this forum and in the tale of the tank one as well so you can get a look at the rock or do a search on RC
HTH's
Welcome back to the hobby!
I have photos of my 70g in this forum and in the tale of the tank one as well so you can get a look at the rock or do a search on RC
HTH's
Welcome back to the hobby!
I was thinking of going with them...I was just a bit confused as to how much I should get...I wanted about 80lbs of LR in the tank...would that be 80lbs that I would order from them or order about 40lbs and seed it with a piece or two of LR....my last tank I just bought a box of Walt Smith and called it a day....what process would I take if I orded from them and how long of a time frame am I looking until the cycle completes....
Not picking on you Candi because I always hear people say dry rock when wet is "double" but it's not even close.
A gallon of salt water weighs about 8.5 lbs. That would basically mean a 8.5 pound size piece of dry rock would need to "absorb" a full gallon of water to double in weight. It's just not going to happen. It will actually only absorb a small part of the water.
Actually this isn't an ideal thing anyway. What I mean is that if you can dunk a rock and pull it back out in 30 seconds and it's noticeably heavier the rock is actually too porous for the de-nitrifing bacteria to thrive it. This type of bacteria which helps get rid of your nitrates prefers much smaller pockets where the water has to "seep" into it. The bacteria along the "corridor" to the pocket has a chance to "eat" up the O2 before the water gets to the pocket. This is also why DSB work so well. This keeps the O2 from readily getting to it which would kill off the bacteria. It's the very slow water exchange in these areas that does the trick. Large open porous areas are great for the other bacteria types but any rock taken from your yard and put in the tank will provide a place for this bacteria to thrive just like bio-balls do.
The ideal rock from a de-nitrifing standpoint is neither dense or super porous but somewhere in between.
Obviously this is only from the standpoint of bacteria.
Carlo
A gallon of salt water weighs about 8.5 lbs. That would basically mean a 8.5 pound size piece of dry rock would need to "absorb" a full gallon of water to double in weight. It's just not going to happen. It will actually only absorb a small part of the water.
Actually this isn't an ideal thing anyway. What I mean is that if you can dunk a rock and pull it back out in 30 seconds and it's noticeably heavier the rock is actually too porous for the de-nitrifing bacteria to thrive it. This type of bacteria which helps get rid of your nitrates prefers much smaller pockets where the water has to "seep" into it. The bacteria along the "corridor" to the pocket has a chance to "eat" up the O2 before the water gets to the pocket. This is also why DSB work so well. This keeps the O2 from readily getting to it which would kill off the bacteria. It's the very slow water exchange in these areas that does the trick. Large open porous areas are great for the other bacteria types but any rock taken from your yard and put in the tank will provide a place for this bacteria to thrive just like bio-balls do.
The ideal rock from a de-nitrifing standpoint is neither dense or super porous but somewhere in between.
Obviously this is only from the standpoint of bacteria.
Carlo
No worries Carlo, you know far more about reefing then I do and I appreciate your information as always... I never really thought about the whole "doubles in weight when wet" but obviously as you've pointed it that's one of those common myths we say w/o really thinking about in this hobby.
What I should have said is that because of how porous it is, especially compared to what you normally find sold as dry base rock (ie very dense, almost sold, rock) the amount you get in a box is surprisingly large for the weight.
What I should have said is that because of how porous it is, especially compared to what you normally find sold as dry base rock (ie very dense, almost sold, rock) the amount you get in a box is surprisingly large for the weight.
We met Marc at MACNA this weekend. What a great guy (and with any luck he'll be at our frag swap in October). He's building some AMAZING archway pieces that are to die for. I'm pretty sure that you can send him dimensions and he'll "build it out" there and tell you how many pounds it is.
His rock makes me want to tear my tank apart and start all over!!
His rock makes me want to tear my tank apart and start all over!!
Candi said:
Now that I would agree with 100%.
I also think you get more then you pay for too. It's kind of typical to get an extra pound or two in the order which is sort of the opposite with some other rock you order. This is especially true on "box orders" with Fiji rock where you get a 44/45lb box and that includes the weight of the rock, newspapers (wet), heat/cold packs, styrofoam, box, etc...Carlo
Currently in the tank I only have some sand (about 2" or so) with my powerheads/lights and skimmer....I am not planning to add rocks for mabey a month (until funds allow)...would a cup or so of sand from an estabilshed tank do anything right now or would I just be pointless and wasteing time....
I'd actually recommend not getting live sand from anybody in your situation. No chance for picking up anything bad this way. Just start feeding a flake or two (no more) of food per day which will fuel the tank with food for the bacteria to form and populate.
This will give your tank a head start once the rock is put in.
Carlo
This will give your tank a head start once the rock is put in.
Carlo
I started my tank with 2 bags Agra Live sand and the rest Southdown. The rock was cooked, so basically dead rock. You can't tell the difference now.
May be able to donate some live rock if you are interested. Location is Delran, NJ 08075. Respond to DougBerger2001@aol.com.