[thefatman]

ok, it's oficial, i am getting the 75 tank. and i am putting in a southdown dsb.. (i know i know, i aid i wouldnt do it, jsut be quiet and read on )

so my question is how many bags do i need for a 75? i guess the best depth is around 5 inches right.. so, anyone havea formula for how many bags it will require to get 5" in a 75?

any of you with SD DSB's remember how much it took?

the main reason i am tryign to get an "as close to exact" numebr as possible is because the sand is goign to be shipped to me from wisconson. and right now it looks like the cost is goign to be around 15 bucks per bag for shipping. not to mention the cost of the bag itself. plus getting the shipping materials (ie: buckets/boxes etc..) so i guess i'm gonna be at about 20 bucks a bag. i dont want to buy 6 bags if i only need 4 bags, and so on.


i think the reefer sending them to me is also plannign on charging me a 45 dollar handling fee per bag as well, for his time and services.. and he;s sicilian, so i have no choice. or you might not here from me anymroe :funny:

 

[icebear]

this has all types of calculators:

http://www.aquasite.com/knowledge/calculator/calculator.shtml#calc

and this is the easiest:

http://www.purearagonite.com/SandBed.html

 

[icebear]

oh, i was told about 1 bag per inch of desired depth in a 75- roughly

 

[Jimmer]

I think the reefer sending them to me is also planning on charging me a 45 dollar handling fee per bag as well, for his time and services.. and he's sicilian, so i have no choice. or you might not hear from me anymore :funny:

Ahem...Listen bubba. I am merely providing a service to you. Think of me as a facilitator. Oh yeah, like I said I can cover your costs for this endeavor. Keep in mind the meter is running on this at 5% on the principle every day I don't get my $$

 

[Jimmer]

Whoops that should have been as a PM. :funny: :funny: :funny:

 

[Buzz_Hog]

Jimmer, all ya gotta say is, "The Juice is running".....

I would go with the 1 bag per inch.... You would be safe in getting 6 bags as deeper is better with DSB's...

 

[Jeremy1973]

I used 4 bags to fill my 75g tank. and I would say I have about a 5-6" sand bed in there now.

 

[thefatman]

ccol, well i already have 2 bags, so it looks like i may only need to get another 4 bags. that will give me enough to have some left over for the sump/ref section as well.

thanks!

5% !!! holy smokes! umm will you accept a postdated check :funny:

 

[Jimmer]

What size shoes you wear?? Ahhh nevermind, concrete is form fitting! :funny: :funny:

 

[thefatman]

:funny: :funny: oh wait, i'm not so sure i should be laughing at that bw: i'm "thefatman", you do realize that it may cost you more for concrete than it will cost to collect :funny:

just sent you a pm

 

[grazhopr]

It takes about 180 lb of sand for a 4" sand bed

 

[thefatman]

cool. thaks grazhopr... and everyone elsefor that matter.

the calculator at PA says 225 lbs for a 5" so with 300 lbs i should be good for the display and sump at 5"-6"

 

[ylmaya]

Sorry for the ignorance - but what is Southdown?

 

[Mr. Ono]

use a tarp

Jay,
a few words of warning, first add your dry sand to your tank, add enough to get a 5 inch height, then add another bag. The sand will compress when it gets wet so the extra sand will keep the height the same. You don't need to rinse your sand if you follow the instructions below.

Next when you add your saltwater, DO NOT just pour it in!!!!

Place a plastic tarp over the sand bed before you start to fill your tank. Make sure that when you fill the tank, and fill it slowly, don't dump in a bucket at a time, that the saltwater lands on the tarp and not the sand. Let the water finds its way to the sand.

This may seem like a lot of work but when the tank is filled this way you will not have a cloudy mess for three days.

I have set up 5 tanks this way and they all were completely clear within an hour or two. Two 20 gallon tanks were never cloudy even from the start.

 

[thefatman]

southdown is a sand substrate from the carribean. it's made from crushed aragonite. it's marketed as "play sand" at many home depot stores.

it's saught after by reefers because it is less than 5 bucks for a 50 lbs bag, vs 20 or 30 bucks for a 40 bag bag of "aquarium sand" which is the exact same thing.

the comapny that makes/sells southdown also sells the exact same sand for aquarium use, at a much higher inflated price.

there is usually a problem finding it, as it's mostly available along the east coast, and supplies are dwindling (are the yceasing to package it as southdown?) they also put a craft warning o nthe bag that says "not for aquarium use" after hey found out people were using it isntead of buying their "marketed for aqaurium" sand, whcih again, is the same thing.

i have two bags. one has the disclaimer, one doesnt. otehr than that they are the same package :funny:

 

[thefatman]

thanks mr ono! i read that tip somewhere recently as well! the one i read said put plastic wrap or wax paper over it. but, the same purpose and outcome.

i'm plannign that when i fil the tank, to get my makeup water together in a garbage can, and then use a powerhead with a hsoe atached to fill the tank, and then put the flow rate as low as possible while filling, and of course, fill onto the tarp/plastic.

i was going to skip rinsing, because everywhere i look they say the fine stuff is the important stuff!

i dont mind the extra work. if it helps in the end, i'm all for it. plus i'm supposed ot be taking this tank s l o w so i guess the filling of the water should be no different

 

[Mrs Smith]

I don't think you'll need 6 bags... We put 6 bags (if I remember right) in our 135 and have a 5" bed.

And Mr. Ono is right. We did a similar thing, but ran the water in using airline tubing onto a plate. (We used gravity) Slow is key.

Good luck,
Danielle

 

[Buzz_Hog]

Jay,

If you use wax paper or plastic, put some rocks on the corners and around the perimeter...

If you can.... Prepare some water about a week beforehand and put some LR in the bucket with the water... With this sand, it is bacteria adhering to the particles that keeps it on the bottom... The more bacteria you have int he water, the quicker it will settle and STAY settled...

I already have buckets filled with sand and saltwater with some rubble or LR.... When I clean out the 125, this sand should already be filled with bacteria and shouldn't cloud TOO long...

Ok... I had way too much coffee and am rambling now...

 

[thefatman]

hmm, good idea.. actually since i'll be building the stand and the sumps, i dont plan to bring the new tank in and set it up until everything is ready.

so based on what you are saying, i technically could get the rock,sand, and water started on the cycle ahead of time, by filling a 50gal garbage can with the water, and putting the sand and rock i nthe bottom, and tossing in a power head?

that way i would have the sand ready, the rock would be cycling (since i'm using new rock, not the rock from the 55) and 50 gallons of water could be well on it's way to a cycle, and no lights would be in the can, nor food, so i would assume then also no algae..

i'm thinkin then maybe jsut toss in a pinch of flake food every other day, to keep the bacteria feeding and cycling..

then when the time comes, i pump the water into another can, and put hte rock over there. scoop the sand into the display tank cover with plastic, put rocks on the corners, fill with with water, add the rock from the tank, and then top off with ro make up water.

sound like a plan? i mena i know its a lot of extra work.. but.. thats what i need, i like projects.

 

[thefatman]

oh, and danielle, i'm thinking this wil lgive me plenty of extra to be able to put a dsb in the sump as well.

and if there is A LOT left over, then i could always pull the cc out of the fowlr and throw the extra in there, or even jsut ad it to the fowlr, as it will settle to the bottom anyway. it wont makeit a dsb, but it'll still be a substrate.

OR......

hang onto the extra, for when i UPGRADE :funny: