Quick Question

[Donsreef]

I'm setting up my 120.
Should i use dry sand or bags of live sand???

 

[menglish]

Live sand.
why? its live. will help you cycle the tank quicker

 

[talwen]

I disagree with the posted above. I think you should use dry sand and find someone in your area to give you some of there established sand. I do not think it will help your tank cycle any different. It would be better spent to save money on sand and buy live rock instead.

 

[Donsreef]

Well i really don't any rocks or sand from another reefers tank. I've had a bad experience with hitchhitchhiking pest and bubble algae..

 

[graphicluis]

live sand is always the best option. I know it's a big price difference but its definitely worth the money

 

[tyler1503]

I disagree with the posted above. I think you should use dry sand and find someone in your area to give you some of there established sand. I do not think it will help your tank cycle any different. It would be better spent to save money on sand and buy live rock instead.

+1.
Because you don't like the idea of getting sand from another reefer, you could do mostly dry sand and just a single small bag of live sand and use the extra money on rock or something.
I imagine any risk from getting sand from another reefers tank would still be a risk in purchased live sand though. I don't use live sand so I don't actually know, it's just a feeling I get.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I would only get live sand from a reputable vendor and not the bagged stuff that you see sitting in a store shelf. I would just get the smallest amount possible and use it to seed the dry sand.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What is the source of the rock?

I've always used dry sand, and since I was also curing live rock in the same system, there was no no advantage to live sand that I could see.

 

[3dees]

dry sand and live rock for me. sand will become live so no sense in wasting money on live sand.

 

[PostShawn]

Well if you aren't going to use live rock (I assume because you don't want anything from anyone else's tank and live rock is from someone or some store's tank) then using live sand will probably get you on a faster start then dry sand and dry rock.

 

[sir bonkers]

I would go with live sand and live rock. But I wouldnt get either from any other reefers tank, too many pests can be hiding in the rock or sand.

 

[tyler1503]

I don't understand this "don't get it from another reefers tank" logic. Maybe I'm missing something?
Realistically it should be safer getting it from a trustworthy reefer as opposed to from the LFS, a vendor or direct from the ocean.
In a trustworthy reefers tank, any pests should have been found and eradicated long before they were willing to sell the rock, some do get through, but dealing with pests is an inevitability in this hobby. The reefer probably looked/inspected each piece of rock daily for as long as they had the rock and probably could tell you everything there is to know about each piece of rock. You won't get that kind of service at an LFS an you never know why your getting buying online or direct from the ocean.
I would trust rock and sand from a trustworthy reefers tank over LFS bought any day.

 

[sir bonkers]

I don't understand this "don't get it from another reefers tank" logic. Maybe I'm missing something?
Realistically it should be safer getting it from a trustworthy reefer as opposed to from the LFS, a vendor or direct from the ocean.
In a trustworthy reefers tank, any pests should have been found and eradicated long before they were willing to sell the rock, some do get through, but dealing with pests is an inevitability in this hobby. The reefer probably looked/inspected each piece of rock daily for as long as they had the rock and probably could tell you everything there is to know about each piece of rock. You won't get that kind of service at an LFS an you never know why your getting buying online or direct from the ocean.
I would trust rock and sand from a trustworthy reefers tank over LFS bought any day.

I guess its gonna depend on who's tank you got the rock/sand from. True that aiptasia and other pests are inevitable in the hobby. Ive had experiences getting rock/sand from people and aiptasia unexpectedly. So as long as the reefer is trustworthy, as tyler1503 puts it, I wouldnt mind getting rock/sand from someone else. I suppose its just a matter of looking at the tank and perhaps asking about any pests.

 

[Donsreef]

I know that most reefers really monitor they're tank for any unwanted anything, we all want a pest and algae free tanks. I've been dealing with bobble algae for about 6 mos now in my well in the 60 cube i had setup. The only way I got rid of it was i had to setup a new tank with dry sand, 50% of the water and rocks and a bottle of dr.tim's one & only.

Did that work? Not a 100% I'm still finding BA in my sump. So now I'm setting up my 120 and i really don't want to deal with that in a bigger tank.

Dry sand and Rocks 100%

 

[DaveMorris]

Dry sand, live rock and I have always added some of the critters from IPSF.com. They have lots of items for starting up a tank. Worms, snails, hermits, clams, bacteria, etc. Adding things like these will add to the bio-diversity in your tank.

 

[talwen]

Dry sand, live rock and I have always added some of the critters from IPSF.com. They have lots of items for starting up a tank. Worms, snails, hermits, clams, bacteria, etc. Adding things like these will add to the bio-diversity in your tank.

Never heard of IPSF.com do you buy any of there coral foods?