Hi party people!

[Casie]

Howdy Ya'll

I've been lurking a little around here lately and since you guys seem to know more than I do... I thought I'd ask for some advice! =)

I'm taking down my 5 year old 90 gallon reef for an upgrade/scenery change.

I see that several peeps are using a sand substrate in thier reefs now-a-days. I know that there are good reasons both for and against the sandy bottom, but I would like to give live sand a go, just to have something new and exciting to stare at. Heehee

I'm planning (unless told otherwise) to use 2" of the Home Depot sand covered by 2" of live sand. Any good tricks to rinse the HD sand? Is 4" sand about the standard depth I should be shooting for?

Also I purchased 2 175watt 10,000k metal halides that I want to run along with a pair of blue lights. Do you guys prefer VHO Actinics? Power Compacts? Do the regular flourescent blues compete with the others?

Aaaaaand last (for now) does Icecap make the quietest canopy vent fan on the market? I luuuuv the sound of falling water spilling over the corner box....I hate the whiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrr of my cooling fans! =P

Thanks thanks thanks to any responses! But be warned, I'll most likely just ask you more. =)

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Casie!

What size tank are you upgrading to? Or are you just putting in a deeper sandbed? I have a 5-6" DSB! They say you need at least a 4-5" sandbed.

I have heard of the Ice Cap fans being great but have also heard of people buying fans from Radio Shack and they were happy with them as well!

Johnny

[Doug1]

THe Icecaps are fairly quiet as are most of the DC fans, I run 4" AC that sounds like a jet spooling up

[Alice]

Hi Casie and welcome to The Reef Tank!

If you're going with a DSB shoot for 4-6". Rather than do a full 2" of live sand (which can get expensive!) you could mix in some bags of aragomite/aragomax of a slightly larger grain than the HD sand and then add just 20 lbs of live sand. If you want to add some specific sandbed critters you could invest in detrivore kits like the ones from our sponsor, Indo-Pacific Sea Farms or from Inland Aquatics. If you know other reefers in your area, and you trust that their tanks are clean of "pests" you could prevail on them for a cup or two of sand from their tanks as well. It all adds up

As for lights, you might want to do a few searches on the board for the topic. Several people have been looking into lighting lately and the opinions are as varied as the choices.

Alice

[Casie]

Very cool!

I'm going to keep my 90 gallon. It needs a new lighting system (I'm running 6 flourescent tubes *cry*), better water flow (It has a 5 year old Iwaki), and I'd like to add the sand bed.

I originally bought this system from a store called the Reef Encounter that to my suprise closed 2 weeks after they delivered and set up my fully stocked tank. You can imagine the ammount of death I had those first few months. =/ After reading lots and surfing even more I know now that the elegants and flowerpots and branchy corals were doomed the day they were placed in the tank. =(

But I have managed to keep a beautiful variety of mushrooms and star polyp, coraline algeas and button polyps happy for several years and now I would like to upgrade the tank and try again. This time the RIGHT way.

Unfortunately, the school of thought around the local pet stores is to place live rock on bare glass. I have been told a dozen times that I really don't want a sand bed and that over time it will become toxic to my little reef eco-system. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS I have an internet connection! After 5 years with this reef I have grown suspicious of all 3 LFSs in my area (Shreveport, La).

Soooo I know you hear this all the time but I can't thank you enough for your time in maintaining and contributing to this great site!

Johnny your advice is just what I wanted to hear. =) I'll plan on a 5" DSB minimum. The extra sand won't be outta my budget if I do as Alice suggests and get a good mix.

Heehee Doug! And maybe my fans are just pass thier life expectancy... I don't remember them being this loud when the tank was new. =)

Whooo lots to do! But what fun! Yesterday I moved my animals and the few corals I have to a 55 holding tank in the kitchen. I bought a metal halide pendant off of Ebay to light it and they seem to like it LOTS! It just gets me more jazzed up about the changes I want to make on the 90gallon.

I really really want to do it right this time! I'm off to surf some lighting posts.

Thanks again guys!

[Bingo]

Casie, what did you have for substrate before? Was your live rock directly on top of the glass? IF you had ANY kind of covering with your old setup, I would keep it. It probably has a lot of goodness in it you would like to have in your tank.

one way to keep it, and not to mess up your new DSB is to put your old substrate in a mesh bag and put it on top of your new sand for a while. All the critters will migrate to the new sand and start the population for you.

HTH
B

[Casie]

*nods at Bingo*

I have live rock sitting on bare glass. =/

But not for long! =)

[Big Dave]

Hey Casie,

Something else to think about... if you place your rock directly on the bottom of the tank, it will be a more stable aqua-scape. You can put your sand in and any burrowing type livestock wont disturb the rocks and cause a landslide. The bad things about putting in rocks then sand are a couple things. You get sand that settles on your rock, but that can be waved off or gets blown off by the flow in the tank. Also, some people believe that your DSB works better with the more even sand across the bottom witht he rocks placed on top. There are a ton of ways to do this so figure out what will work best for you, and the pros and cons of each. Goodluck!

-Big Dave

[FishDaddy]

Hey Casie,

And welcome to The Reef Tank!
Your website is entertaining, especially the picture page!!

As you know, there is no one right way to setup a reef tank! From sandbeds to skimmers, there's differing opinions, but I'm in the DSB crowd. Here are some good articles and sites for DSB info:
http://www.reefkeepers.org/faq/cache/33.html
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a.../1/default.asp

I have a Radio Shack fan in my hood; I can barely hear it. The Ice Cap fans are supposed to be good.
Dick

[Casie]

Thanks Dave! Anchoring the rock in the sand actually makes a LOT of sence.

And nice links Dick. =) I'm starting to feel confident about my choice to start again with a DSB and improved lighting. Having a good plan makes all the difference! *wispers* And thanks for the kind words about my web site. I'm hoping to soon have a reef tank that I'm proud to post pics of. =D