Reef live rock/sand??

[punkroc701]

So I go into a LFS (Local Fish Shop LFS seems to be the general acronym on these sites) and this place is super knowlegable on salt tanks. So I go in and ask a few questions, granted I am asking way ahead of me needing it since I am building my aquarium. I am close to being able to water leak test the main part of the aquarium (Monday at the latest), and not to far along from doing a basic set up of my first salt tank (mainly reef).

Anyway on to my question as I spoke to the salesperson she told me to use live sand and live rock over the live coral pieces (everyone that works there has a salt tank and have been doing it for years). All the websites I have researched have not mentioned amounts of either of these to use. She also told me I would need a pound of sand per gallon as well as a pound of live rock per gallon. Is this right?

I am building a 26 gallon tank, 12 inches deep x about 19 inches tall x about 24 inches long, ans the rock would I would think fill the tank up fast and not leave much room for the reef much less any small cleaners and fish (looking at a couple shrimp, a starfish, and of course a clown). I am thinking 52 pounds of extra stuff would fill this thing up really fast. As always thanks for your help.

[Bloodydecks]

Your going to need more then one pound of sand per gallon. Your going to need about 60 pounds of sand, which will give you about a 2.5" (maybe 3") shallow sand bed. I would go deeper, at least 4" Try 60 first, then add more if needed....there is a formula, but I can't remember it off the top of my head.

Do a 50 50 mix..use fine aragamax "dead" sand, and then seed it with live sand. Rock wise is a tough call, because not all rock has the same density. If you go with more sand, I think you could get away with half the weight, or volume of rock....really, its not about weight, but porosity. The more porous the rock, the more surface area it will have to colonize beneficial bacteria and organisms....weight is just a general rules of thumb so to speak.

Good luck, and I hope this helped.

Sand should be measured in cubic inches or other volume measurement, not in pounds. If you buy it in pounds, try to determine the volume you need, then if possible convert the volume to pounds based on the specific weight of the particular sand you are wanting to use. Aragamax is pretty dense, so it will weigh alot. Sorry i can't help you with the math...my wife is asleep, right now, shes a math wiz...so I will get back to you later if needed.

[charlie]

here is a sand bed calculator:

Sand Bed


Do your research and find out what you want to do before you buy anything. IMO, live sand is a hoax, you can get a cup of sand from an existing tank and do the same thing as adding all that live sand. Remember, the LFS is in business to sell and make money, they will of course tell you to buy live sand, it is money in their pocket.

[Ninong]

I would suggest 25-30 lbs of live rock and 40-50 lbs of aragonite sand. If the sand comes in 20-lb bags, get two. If it comes in 15-lb bags, get three. That should give you somewhere around a 3" deep sand bed. I definitely wouldn't go with anything less than 30 lbs.

As far as the live rock is concerned, you can always add a little more fully-cured live rock if you decide you need more. I wouldn't start out with anything less than 25 lbs.

The size tank you have chosen doesn't work well as a reef aquarium because the 12" front-to-back dimension doesn't allow much room for aquascaping. A tank that is at least 18" front-to-back would have been a better choice. However, it can be done. You can always get a larger tank two years from now.

[Steve McKay]

If your tank dimensions are 24"X12"X19" it's 23.69gal.You will need 11.67lb.for one inch of sand.I would recommend at least 3" of sand at 35.01lb.

[punkroc701]

I am building the aquarium and as I am new to salt tanks I wasnt sure how deep it needed to be. As for the live sand I asked about the live coral/gravel (not sure what its called but seel for upwards of $20 a 1 lb bag) and they said the live sand was better. Since I have no other tank to pull from this will have to do. I was worried that 26 lbs and 26 lbs of live rock would have filled the tank without giving room for anything else. I am also posting these on another site and was told 26 lbs of rock isnt as much as I thought it would be, so I am guessing the same is true for the sand. Either way I thank all of you for your help and I'll keep posting until the aquarium is ready to go. Thanks again.

[sunken3]

all seems to be good advice - but also note opinion plays heavy in this hobby. every thing has pros and cons.. if you check out some awesome reef tanks run with little or no sand.. or 4 inches deep. all a matter of taste. some state you need at least 4 inches dep to get good nitrate control, but then again mix it up too much and you kill your tank. i've used sand, coral and rock in varying mixes.. here are my thoughts (for what they're worth).

Sand - if well maintained it looks great and the critters love it. It can be a real pain when vacuuming b/c it has a tendency to get sucked up... it also is likely to scratch the ba-jesus out of your tank (if acrylic) and you're not careful.

Coral - piece of cake to keep clean but is not as good for sand sifters and the critters. doesn't usually look as nice in reef aquariums.

Rock - like said before there are very different kinds, with different densities and qualities.. you should check out some posts specifically on types of rocks and their pros/cons.

as far as the amount of sand/rock to put in your tank.. i'd say if you like to buy a bag of the live sand and buy several bags of the dry... put the live sand in first and then one at a time put in the others... as long as you don't open the bag you can return them... (and yes it is usually about a 1-2lbs/gallon.. ) - seems like a lot but it goes quick. one bag of live sand will populate the rest quickly.. but in reality dry sand will become "live" pretty quickly with the addition of food and fish.

rock is the same.. it's much heavier than it looks.. you may try putting some in a canister filter to save space in your tank, cause remember all your corals are likely to come on "live" rock.

good luck.

[punkroc701]

Now if you are using sand and rock do you still go 1 lb per gallon of both or do you combind the 2? In other words say 26 gallon tank (oviouse since this is about the size of what I am using) do I go 26 lbs of sand and 26 lbs of rock (52 lbs all together), or do I do a combination of the 2 (13 lbs of sand and 13 lbs of rock to make the 26 lbs)? Again thanks for the help.

[sunken3]

if you are trying to follow the previously mentioned approach (which it seems you are).. it pound of each 26lbs sand, 26lbs rock.. and yes, there will be room in your tank (unless you use tufa rock ;) )

[punkroc701]

Cool thanks again for all the help.