Live rock and live sand juice…

[accidental_reefer]

longtime lurker, first time participant today. Soliciting advice from more sage hobbyists: when setting up display tank, should I add the water that comes with the live rock and sand to the rank? Or should I rinse it in RODI and then place in sand?

Thank you!

 

[RedoubtReef]

This is a brand new not cycled setup? If so, I personally wouldn't worry about adding it. If it was dry sand, I'd rinse it.

 

[accidental_reefer]

Brand new. No fish or coral in there yet. And the sand is where I guess they also fetched the liverock.

 

[RedoubtReef]

the sand and rock were collected by someone for you?

 

[stlcard]

Welcome to reefing, you've made a good choice to lurk for awhile. Keep lurking, keeping learning if you want to succeed and not throw all your money down the toilet.

If you've already bought legitimate bagged live sand you can go ahead and use it, just brace yourself for a long cycle and potential pest problems down the road. Most "sage hobbyists" in this business for awhile now would almost always start their next tank with dry sand, dry base rock. (Both of which would be rinsed thoroughly, with a final rinse in RO water. Starting with a sterile clean slate is the goal. Especially if you want to keep corals or more elaborate fish.

Live sand will work fine for you. Get some api test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Don't waste your time with a ph test kit.

Ammonia will spike first (give it a couple days) when some of the live sand dies off in the tank. This starts "the cycle" everyone talks about. Nitrite will spike next. DO NOT ADD FISH AT THIS STAGE UNLESS YOU WANT TO KILL THEM.

nitrite will drop slowly (over the course of a week or so) and nitrate will start to show up in your test results.

Nitrite is toxic to fish.

Nitrate is safe and tolerable (up to really really high levels).

You can add fish once you consistently test ZERO for nitrite over several days (like a week of zero, at least, honestly)

This whole process with live sand will likely take on average 4 weeks (on the fast side) for your tank to cycle. That means 4-5 weeks of no fish. Unless you want to buy them and kill them. Also search "second cycle" on this forum before you start.

Spend time on this forum reading. Asking questions is welcomed, but 99.999% of any questions you can possibly think of at this stage has already been asked and answered a thousand times over on this forum. The search bar is your friend.


YouTube channel "brstv". They have good series for beginners.

Good luck! Go slow.

 

[Subsea]

Sage hobbiest do not start tanks with dry sand and dry rock. Sterile tankks do not make good ecosystems unless you like nuisance algae.

 

[Reefahholic]

Most "sage hobbyists" in this business for awhile now would almost always start their next tank with dry sand, dry base rock.

As much as that sounds and looks appealing, it really sets you back more than a year or two. Especially with Acro’s. I’ll probably do LR from this point forward and deal with the pests as they come.

 

[exnisstech]

longtime lurker, first time participant today. Soliciting advice from more sage hobbyists: when setting up display tank, should I add the water that comes with the live rock and sand to the rank? Or should I rinse it in RODI and then place in sand?

Thank you!

If it's real live rock and live sand do not rinse it in RODI as this will kill much of the life forms that are the reason for using live rock and sand. I would toss the water as it will probably be nasty, rinse in salt water and place in tank or store in salt water with circulation and heat.

 

[stlcard]

As much as that sounds and looks appealing, it really sets you back more than a year or two. Especially with Acro’s. I’ll probably do LR from this point forward and deal with the pests as they come.

Respectfully I disagree with you guys. I've had years of success with sps dominated tanks all started from base rock and dry sand with nitrifying bacteria intentionally added to start a cycle. I don't understand why you'd run the risk of introducing pests with live rock when you can get the same positive and healthy tank results from a clean start. Starting from base rock or live rock won't mess with acro success either.

a "sterile tank" doesn't mean it doesn't have beneficial bacteria in it. It means it doesn't have garbage pests like vermetid snails, aptaisia, worms, and bugs alike.

Once it's in there it's in there for good and you'll fight them on and off forever.

I don't have issues with hair algae or the ugly stage either. Proper husbandry keeps all of this at bay.

More than one way to skin a cat in this game. Obviously we share different opinions on how to do it.

 

[Contractor_Chris]

Respectfully I disagree with you guys. I've had years of success with sps dominated tanks all started from base rock and dry sand with nitrifying bacteria intentionally added to start a cycle. I don't understand why you'd run the risk of introducing pests with live rock when you can get the same positive and healthy tank results from a clean start. Starting from base rock or live rock won't mess with acro success either.

a "sterile tank" doesn't mean it doesn't have beneficial bacteria in it. It means it doesn't have garbage pests like vermetid snails, aptaisia, worms, and bugs alike.

Once it's in there it's in there for good and you'll fight them on and off forever.

I don't have issues with hair algae or the ugly stage either. Proper husbandry keeps all of this at bay.

More than one way to skin a cat in this game. Obviously we share different opinions on how to do it.

Are we talking live sand like someone scooped it out of their existing tank? Or live sand like the Caribsea? I've been between dry & live bagged sand for a month now. It actually will be cheaper to go live 20lb bags bs dry 40lb for the amount I need.