Real sand from the sea!

Okay, I would start by getting some sand and rock. I wouldn't bother baking it. Rinse the rock and the sand in salt water. Look visually for things that don't appear as they should go in the tank and remove. Put the sand in the bottom of the tank about 3-4 inches deep. Arrange your live rock how you like. Don't skimp on the rock, you got a bunch handy. Fill the tank with the water you're going to use and add something to circulate the water constantly like a powerhead or pump. I would have a secondary tank, what we call a sump, that you can siphon water into from the tank. Have this water hit a filter type material like filter floss or batting for sewing. This will remove big articles in the water. Have the water spill into the general sump area and have a small section cornered off that you can put your caulerpa so that it doesn't get sucked up into your pump and have another area that you can have water trickle over that you have your mangrove planted in sand. See my post under breeding called a breeding project in progress. It shows a mangrove sand filter. Have a pump that pumps water back to the tank from the sump and make sure that there is a balance between the siphoning and the pumping. Did I forget anything? Heat and lighting I leave to you because I don't know exactly what your dealing with, just try to duplicate what's going on out in your ocean. Oh yeah and gl

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOA!!!! lol....

I didn't even know that they had a mongrove filter... I just meant that I was getting the mud from an actual mongrove... I'll definately try what your saying..... sounds good.

I just won a 1200 GPH mag drive utility pump on EBay and I'm going to buy a 1200 GPH cpr overflow box for the calupra sump thing.... 1200 GPH seem like a lot for a 75Gallon tank to me but the ecosystem filters seem to use something around that.. does 1200 GPH sound allot to anyone?

 

Yes, I think 1200gph would be alot for a 75gallon. However you can take the 1200gph pump and do a couple things with it. 1) You can us a valve to cut down on the water out put. 2) You can have multiple outputs. First thing you could try here is to have it come from the sump up to the top of your tank. Then split it in two. One end going to the left side and one to the right. Another thing Ive seen done and would do If I had a 1200 gph pump Is to do spray bars. Which is to do almost the same as last. There is a person that has done it on here...getting pic....

http://www.3reef.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2520/cat/500/ppuser/12338

There you go. Chech that out.

Gl man, im jelous you live in jamacia, and get your stuff free

 

Hello all
I have just changed tanks to a larger one but this time i decieded to change the subtrate bottom sand from a shell grit type sand which i got from a farm supplier they sell it for chickens apparenty it's good for them.
I decieded to use beach sand near where i live in Australia it's extreamly white. While talking to a guy at the aquarium shop he says i've made a mistake using beach sand because it contains sillica and as such will give of a food supply for alge, and then give me a lot of work keeping up with the increase in alge growth.
Ive just took out the sand and am decieding what to use as the base.
i believe the shell grit also acts as a buffer, so i might go back that way.

 

Welcome to 3Reef!!!

Crushed oyster shells are given to chickens because the Calcium it contains strengthens the chicken egg's shells (ensuring less breakage). It's fine for use as a thin Shallow Sand Bed provided you vacuum it to remove detritus on a regular basis.

The only algae that Silica will feed is diatom algae and Silica based sands really don't do that much. (Your glass tank is made of fused silica BTW). Typically, you'll go through a very short cycle where diatoms will grow on it and then scypha sponges will grow throughout the tank/sump and will absorb the Silica that is limiting for diatom growth and you'll never see diatoms again unless you are adding water that contains Silica.

You are going to get very little buffering out of the chicken grit so don't use that as a deciding factor.

 

I am stationed on Okinawa, Japan. I just recently setup a 55g, for my sand I bought about 70 pounds of natures ocean aragonite, then walked out to the reef at low tide and got some live stuff from a tidepool. It's only been a few days, so we'll see how it works...

 

this is for those that either know about beach sand, or those who have gotten it from the beach... i was just thinking, if not getting sand from around an actual reef, what about at least going past the sandbar? it just seems to me that it would be purer/cleaner than on the shore (or a tidepool)... plus, i may be wronng, but maybe there's a certain time of year that would call for even cleaner sand... just a thought... there's an aquarium in japan that i was reading about... their source water is from the ocean... so many miles offshore, and so many feet deep... they basically just have a big 'ol pipe and a massive pump, sucking water in... the reason i bring this up, is maybe the further you are from shore, the better quality the sand and water is...

 

Twan: Yea I think so at least. My 75 Gallon broke the other day. Man that was a pain in the ass. Well I've started over and this time I've used sand from right below the coral reef. Lots of worms and things living in the sand. My cycle is going thru really fast this time. I've completely got rid of ammonia on day 8 and nitrilte levels are dropping. It's a bit too early to tell but I think that things will be allot better for me this time around. Cleaner sand and water from further out seems to be the right shot. Sand directly from off the reef is even better.