Saltwater no live rock or live sand. Can it be done?

Is money a concern? Is that why your interested?

 

Yes actually. I think it's a concern for most of us. Lol

But asides from that, I was just curious to see what you guys had to say about it.

 

Semantics. I meant are you wanting to avoid live rock and sand because of money? Dry rock and sand is much cheaper and accomplishes the same thing in time.

 

mine ran fine for quite a while with all the hob filtration. you really have to be on top of replacing your filters though and i slacked off on that about a year and half into it and that's when everything started going to hell. it got to a point where it was just a drag when the weekend chores came around and as bad as it sounds just kind of gave up when my deco started growing hair algae. i ran an ac70 with a coralife hob skimmer on a 46 bow front with 2 clowns, a bunch of chromis, and some snails with two big deco rock/caves. if you haven't started yet though i would take the suggestion a couple posts above and do it right. at the very least ditch the deco for dry rock which in time will become live rock. as for parameters, ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate were all fine, i never tested alk, cal, and mag.

 

No, I was just thinking it would be simpler to maintain. And cheaper.
And easier to come about. I live in BFE where we have a pet food center, that sells basic saltwater needs like salt, and fish. Lol

 

It would be harder, just save up and order dry rock and sand.

 

wouldn’t it just be considered a fish-only tank? its not that uncommon...

 

haha, "cheaper" in this hobby is a trick word. plan for the most that you want and get the equipment for that (something i still can't get right, easier said than done ha).

 

yes this falls into a fish only category and like you stated it's not uncommon at all.

 

As stated, getting real rock and sand if desired will actually be cheaper in the long run. The thing to realize with salt is once the bacteria build up on your filter media you let it be. If all you used were bio balls in a canister filter for example every time you clean it your wiping out that beneficial bacteria causing mini cycles. Basic filtration setup on a salt tank these days consist of live rock which you can get dead for around$2 /lb and then bring it to life, a protein skimmer, and most importantly time. You clean the skimmer out about once a week and scrape down algae, and regular water changes but beyond that, there's no other filter maintenance to worry about. Oh and whatever you do DON'T DISTURB A SAND BED. You can release all kinds of nasty stuff as it acts like a sponge.