40 gallon tank supply list and places to buy?

[cypike]

Im looking to get into the hobby and have watched a lot of videos on saltwater tanks and read a lot on them, but clearly there are some gaps in my knowledge.

Is there a way to get a tank set up to be able to make a reef tank for under $500? What are the most minimal supples needed in order to get a 40 gallon tank up and running without any stock? I get most confused when it comes to pumps and filtration.
There seems to be an infinite number of ways to do things and I need a dumbed down version.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cypike]

It’s new from petco, 60ish bucks. The first one I got was cracked but they were easy enough to deal with.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

It’s new from petco, 60ish bucks. The first one I got was cracked but they were easy enough to deal with.

Very nice

 

[cypike]

Now for what type of sand to buy…. Probably going to be caribsea sand, going I go the doctor time route so I’m unsure if I need alive sand or something else. Also rock same questions for that.

 

[Tired]

Ocean live rock gets you all sorts of cool creatures, a nearly-instantly-cycled tank, and years worth of maturity in one go. It does have a chance of bringing in pest crabs and other creatures you'll need to trap out. Dry rock + bottled bacteria has no pests, but takes a much, much longer time to get established at all, doesn't come with beneficial scavengers, and brings a higher chance of pest algae overgrowth due to lack of competition.

I'd suggest some ocean live rock. You can get a small package from KP Aquatics or Tampa Bay to set yourself up for a ton of biodiversity and cool hitchhikers.

"Live sand" that you can buy in a bag is just sand with bottled bacteria in it. Don't bother. Whether you go with dry rock + bottled bacteria, or with live rock, just use dry sand. Unless you get some live ocean sand with your live ocean rock.

"Doctor time"?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

This is live sand has little shells in . Love it

 

[Tired]

Ah, okay, interesting. Looks like this is something between the two. It'll bring a decent bit of bacteria with it, but won't bring any algae or creatures. Better than pure dry rock, but not as good for biodiversity and maturity as the rock and sand that gets scooped out of the ocean and kept in critter-preserving conditions until it gets to you. If you don't want to spend the money on ocean rock+critters (which I do suggest, especially if you like critters), this looks like a good second bet. Assuming their claims are correct.

 

[cypike]

Dr. Tims***

 

[cypike]

Ah, okay, interesting. Looks like this is something between the two. It'll bring a decent bit of bacteria with it, but won't bring any algae or creatures. Better than pure dry rock, but not as good for biodiversity and maturity as the rock and sand that gets scooped out of the ocean and kept in critter-preserving conditions until it gets to you. If you don't want to spend the money on ocean rock+critters (which I do suggest, especially if you like critters), this looks like a good second bet. Assuming their claims are correct.

Live rock is pretty pricey, could I do a combo of live and dry rock? Will things migrate to the dry rock?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Ah, okay, interesting. Looks like this is something between the two. It'll bring a decent bit of bacteria with it, but won't bring any algae or creatures. Better than pure dry rock, but not as good for biodiversity and maturity as the rock and sand that gets scooped out of the ocean and kept in critter-preserving conditions until it gets to you. If you don't want to spend the money on ocean rock+critters (which I do suggest, especially if you like critters), this looks like a good second bet. Assuming their claims are correct.

I used Fiji pink, this stuff Carib sea dry rock, Tim's. All have live bacteria. 6 month in I have never had to vacuum sand

 

[Tired]

I'm not sure that's really a measure of much of anything, though it is probably good, as long as you remember that the sandbed can't just be left stagnant.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Live rock is pretty pricey, could I do a combo of live and dry rock? Will things migrate to the dry rock?

The combo I just gave for sand and starter bacteria and the dry rock I showed prior is in the picture below. 6 month old

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I have a fighti

I'm not sure that's really a measure of much of anything, though it is probably good, as long as you remember that the sandbed can't just be left stagnant.

I have a fighting cong

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I'm not sure that's really a measure of much of anything, though it is probably good, as long as you remember that the sandbed can't just be left stagnant.

Sorry I didn't make clear what I meant. With this combo, I never had ugly on my sand or rocks that I had to manually remove. The cleanup crew were able to handle it all

 

[cypike]

I’ll probabably go dry rock live sand and dr. Tim’s like suggested. Maybe mess with live rock later.

 

[Tired]

Reasonable enough, and should work fine, though you'll definitely want to be careful of nutrient levels. Don't let them get too low- low nutrients and sterile rocks invites dinoflagellates.

 

[cypike]

Now I want to bring up the rinse vs. no rinse of sand debate, buying sand with bacteria already in it would suggest that I probably don't want to rinse it. But I'm all ears. Also do rocks go first or does sand go first? Is this a chicken egg situation?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Now I want to bring up the rinse vs. no rinse of sand debate, buying sand with bacteria already in it would suggest that I probably don't want to rinse it. But I'm all ears. Also do rocks go first or does sand go first? Is this a chicken egg situation?

Do not rinse. Water will be cloudy for a few days

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Do not rinse. Water will be cloudy for a few days

Rock first so no friends can move the rock. Do rinse rock

 

[cypike]

Rock first so no friends can move the rock. Do rinse rock

Tap water ok?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Tap water ok?

In my experience and humble opinion tap Is fine.