FOWLR and Beach Sand

[panagiotisath]

Hi i am new in the forum and i have two questions
1) I am planning for afowlr system and my aquarium is a rio 400(100g) the goal is to keep small fish(damsels ,royal gramma and an emperor or a chilliaris) it is going to be equiped with a scimmer redsea prism 1200lt an external fluval 304 for bio perpuses and the aquarium internal for chemical filtration.I will also put two internal pumps 2400lt/h each and a uv steriliser is it ok for the fish i wish
2) what will happen if i put sand from the beech instead of buying aragonite

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND!

I've moved your post into its own new thread so you have your own topic/thread going.

1) You've provided some good information in your post, but I can't find where the size of the aquarium is given. How many gallons and what are the dimensions of the display aquarium?

2) Beach sand is usually silica. The use of silica for substrate is okay. It should of course be thoroughly cleaned and you want to make sure you keep it shallow (for a beginner's tank, I recommend no more than 1.").

The use of some other substrates provides additional benefits, but those benefits aren't absolutely required.

[panagiotisath]

Hi again
the tank size is 150cm*51cm*60cm i was also wondering if i place a mix of live rock with local sea rock what would the resalt be?
ps
1)how do iclean the sand?
2)why do we keep it shallow the pet store says at least 6cm?

[leebca]

You can use live rock from the sea. It was the first live rock used in the hobby, point in fact. Just be sure you quarantine it and make sure it doesn't contain any marine life you don't want in your final aquarium. Make sure to collect it near the water's surface so that in your tank it will receive similar lighting.

A thick sand bed, especially of fine sand, can trap areas and make those areas low in oxygen -- anoxic. These areas can create places for bad bacteria to grow that produce poisons. If the bed is kept shallow and you have adequate marine life to keep the shallow bed stirred up, you won't run into this problem. It is not a common event. It is rare. But when it happens, it kills most the things in a display tank and it can happen in a year or a few years, without much warning. In general, the smaller the grain size the less you want in thickness. With actual fine beach sand, I would still recommend less than 3 cm.

Wash it thoroughly in sea water or artificial salt water. Final rinse should be artificial salt water. Stir small quantities of it in a bucket and rinse until the water coming off isn't so cloudy, or almost clear. Like the live rock, make sure it doesn't contain any marine life you don't want or that will die in the aquarium.

[panagiotisath]

hi again
what about the fish i wrote you about any chance of saccess

[leebca]

The fish you listed were either not specific or unclear. Most Damselfishes will be fine for that sized display tank. If by emperor you mean the Emperor Angelfish Pomacanthus imperator then no. All large Angelfishes should be in an aquarium of no less than 180 gallons. The large angelfish in their juvenile state can be put into your aquarium, but when they are in transition or full adults, they need to be in a very large aquarium.

I don't know the fish "chilliaris." Do you have the spelling correct? What is its full Latin name?

[meat]

why would you need a uv strerilizer on a fowlr set up?

[panagiotisath]

the uv is not neccesary in the fish only setup

[meat]

the uv is not neccesary in the fish only setup

thats what i thought