Play sand???????

lime · 03-07-2002, 04:54 PM

Hello all, can I use those play sand that are sold at Home depot? I am about to cycle my 55 gallon tank. For my lights I bought 2 of the 65w yard lights sold at home depot and 2-30w NO actinic, is this light output sufficient for softies? I could add 2 more 65w if ever it's not enough lighting. I bought about 20# of cured LR and I have about 35# of used to be LR a year ago, would the 20# LR seed the 35# dead rock? Am I doing the right thing cycling LR and Dead rock in one tank? If the nitrites go down after a few days, does it mean I can now start stocking my tank? Too many questions.. I hope you guys could guide me to the right way. Thanks.....

iceboxman · 03-07-2002, 06:13 PM

I know that a few members here recommend the play sand for the price conscious reefer.

From what I understand, you need around 400+ Watts for softies.

Placing the Live rock and the "Ex-live" rock in the same tank is an excellent idea. the live rock will seed it as well as the sand.

For the cycling of the tank, you should wait until your ammonia and nitrites are at zero, and your nitrates are verry low, like 10ppm.

Four questions is not too many. For a person starting up, or anybody for that matter, the more questions the better. Feel free to ask more questions.

Big Dave · 03-07-2002, 06:30 PM

I can also tell you that you will get many different 'answers' from everyone on this board. Be careful with playsand. Some of it is loaded with silicates and things that are bad for your tank, ie...metals and such. If you can find South Down play sand, that comes highly recomended around here, but it is hard to find except on the east coast. As far as your lighting for softies, there are a few things to consider. It's not so much total watts as it is watts per gallon, or even how deep your tank is. Another thing is what kind of light color temp you have. Some lights will give off yellower or blue light. Some of these do nothing for your corals, and may even promote algea growth. Just be glad you can't go out and buy everything you see at first, because you need to do your homework and figure out what you need, what works, and what is a waste of money. Do that for your live stock as well! HTH

-Big Dave

Jimbo · 03-07-2002, 07:17 PM

Hi, I could not get the southdown sand so I used 4" of dolimite, it is calcium and magnesium. Saltwater has a lot of magnesium in it anyway. I topped it off with 1.5 inches of fine arganite sand. I got scrapings (sand and rubble from a local LFS), I have worms and copods all over now and it has only been a few days. I added about 20lbs of sand and rubble to my tank, I had a mini cycle when I did this. But all I have had in my tank is some snails, brittle star and a couple of frags. The snails and brittle star are pretty tuff.

LOA spotlights produce 8000 lumens of light, watt/per gallon can be deceiving. For instance a 175 MH will produce about 10,000 lumens. 2 of the floodlights should be enough for softcorals, but I would add a 3rd. If you are going to add a refugium, get some macro algea to seed it.

Have a great day!

beach bum · 03-07-2002, 07:24 PM

There are quite a few reefers over at RC (shhhh...) who have had no problems with the silica playsand. The HD variety by the name of Quikrete Playsand has been used by many, I bought some not long along but did not like the color, it's a dark brown color. fwiw

When the nitrAtes come down you can begin stocking, slowly. Every fish you add will increase the need for nitrifying bacteria, they take time to grow, like a mini-cycle for each one. A fish a month is a good rule of thumb.

fwiw, good luck, have fun, keep us posted,
chris

FishDaddy · 03-07-2002, 07:40 PM

Lime,
As already said, the critters and bacteria on the "live" LR will spread to the other rocks and sandbed. It does take time. I would go very slow with fish or coral additions. You will experience some algae blooms and swings in water parameters as your new tank struggles to gain some bio-equilibrium and it's just easier, for you and your animals, to work through these with no fish or corals in the tank.

I recommend waiting at least 6-8 weeks after cycling for the first fish and another 6-8 weeks before the first coral. I used to recommend 3 months and 3 months, and still think that's best, but realistically few have that much patience!

Bear in mind, the slower you go, the more your fish and corals will appreciate the better water conditions and stability of the tank.

By all means get a crew of snails in there after the tank cycles.....2-3 dozen Trochus and 2-3 dozen Nassarius would be very good. Astreae or Cerith would be fair substitutes for Trochus if you can't get them. I'm not big on hermit crabs, especially the Blue Legs, but a couple or 3 Scarlet Reef Hermits might be ok.
Please read this article:
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/li...=&RecordNo=166

As for lights, you can use what you have for now but if serious about corals, consider a good electronic ballast, like Ice Cap, for VHO's and/or MH down the line. As Doug1 says: "It's cheaper to do it right the first time." The LOA lights are 65k bulbs, if you have the correct model number, but how long they hold that spectrum is a good question. Many reefers use them for Refugiums where algae growth is desirable but I would plan on better lights for the long run.
HTH,
Dick