Sand before Live Rock or After

[Meric]

OK,

I am finally getting very close to actually adding live rock to my tank. I have almost all plumbing completed and will have real saltwater in the tank soon.

My question is this:

I'm planning on purchasing 100#+ of UNCURED live Rock for my tank. I also am adding a 3" SandBed. Should I add the sandbed first then put the live rock in the tank (On eggcrate) over the sand bed? Or should I put the live rock on eggcrate over a bare bottom tank, then add Sand Bed after rock cures?

[acropora]

It is best to add the sand after your L.R has cycled/cured.During the cycling period there will be much die off and accumulation of detritus.All of this detritus will be difficult to remove with a sand bed. On this topic be certain to remove as mush dead or dieing items ,such as sponges and algae before you cure your rock. Without the sand bed you can syphon out detritus that settles to the bottom during water changes or with a Diatom filter. You can add a piece of rigid tubing to the intake hose of a diatom filter and use it much like a vacuum cleaner for detritus.If you decide on a DSB;then as far as de-nitrification, a DSB must be 4" + .A dertrivore kit containing Bristle worms,sphagetti worms,tiny sea stars and snails will complete the picture.

[irabren]

It is best to add the sand after your L.R has cycled/cured.During the cycling period there will be much die off and accumulation of detritus.All of this detritus will be difficult to remove with a sand bed. On this topic be certain to remove as mush dead or dieing items ,such as sponges and algae before you cure your rock. Without the sand bed you can syphon out detritus that settles to the bottom during water changes or with a Diatom filter. You can add a piece of rigid tubing to the intake hose of a diatom filter and use it much like a vacuum cleaner for detritus.If you decide on a DSB;then as far as de-nitrification, a DSB must be 4" + .A dertrivore kit containing Bristle worms,sphagetti worms,tiny sea stars and snails will complete the picture.

You can certainly cycle the tank with LR and LS. Which to add first ? - some do 1 - so do another. I would add the sand first - then place the rock on the sand.
Run a small power filter with a sponge and a skimmer

[Elmo18]

OK,

I am finally getting very close to actually adding live rock to my tank. I have almost all plumbing completed and will have real saltwater in the tank soon.

My question is this:

I'm planning on purchasing 100#+ of UNCURED live Rock for my tank. I also am adding a 3" SandBed. Should I add the sandbed first then put the live rock in the tank (On eggcrate) over the sand bed? Or should I put the live rock on eggcrate over a bare bottom tank, then add Sand Bed after rock cures?

Hi Meric, here is my take on this subject.

If the rock is uncured/precured (as they say, precured, is most probably uncured, straight transhipped rock from say Walt Smith) mail order, I would either use a garbage bin or use the empty tank with water in it to cure the rock ONLY, no sand. After the rock is cured, I take out the rock from the tank into a holding container and siphon the detritus off the bottom and do necessary water change. At this point, I would add the sand, be it a DSB or a fine layer of aragonite. Then I would place the rocks gently in there.

I wouldn't put sand in first while the rock is curing because as Acropora has said, there are things dying or have already died that will drop and create detritus. You don't want all these dead things accumulating and since the sand is dead, there is no way of processing this, even with a skimmer. In addition, it will make your sand bed dirty.

So if it is uncured rock, i would add sand in AFTER the rocks.

If you are dealing with already cured rock from an established tank or from your fish store's rock holding tank, I would say you could do either one. However, I would put the sand in BEFORE the rocks, so the worms, etc from the rocks can migrate down to the sand.

What kind of rock and where are you thinking of getting them?

- Elmo