[joyzmantoyz]

Hello all,

Due to a divorce, I have been away from the marine aquarium hobby for about 8 years now. My last tank was a 300g display. Prior to that there was a 125g and a 55g and numerous smaller setups. In all, I have kept marine aquaria for about 20 years. This all started for me back in the late 70’s well before marine fish keeping became so popular. I am returning to the hobby now and have a few questions and observations.

By experience being what it is, I am a bit old school. Still, those old school ideas and practices were responsible for providing many of my fish with extraordinarily long captive life spans. I am also an engineer, so I do have a good idea of what works and why. All of my tanks were fish only. I have never purchased a piece of live rock. I’m not sure that I will in the future either, but that may change.

Over the last few years my second wife has shown an interest in her mothers reef tank and marine fish in general. When the opportunity came to “inherit” a 90 gallon acrylic setup complete with stand, lighting, and trickle filter, we took it. So now I am looking forward to the envious task of assembling it all and stocking it.

My 125 and 300 gallon setups used trickle filters and protein skimmers. Before that the technology of the day was limited to UG filtration. When I read the forums here and elsewhere it seems there has been an explosion in the use of live rock and live sand in the hobby. Although this was common 10 years ago for invertebrae and reef tanks, it was not common for fish only displays or what is commonly called a FOWLR setup today. I know from experience that live rock and/or sand is not a requirement for keeping fish healthy. Still, for so many hobbyists to use this technique, it must provide some benefit I have yet to realize. Thus far I see only the downsides: parasites, additional cost, resource depletion, more lighting requirements. In all, more complications.

So my initial question is (I’m sure there will be many more), what benefit will I see by using live rock/sand in my new setup? Assuming the display will be fish only and the equipment will include a trickle filter and protein skimmer, what will adding the live components do for the fish? Do they make for a healthier environment? Will they make maintenance any easier? What will I loose by using regular old crushed coral for a substrate? Does the live sand provide better buffering capability?

Other questions and observations include:

What a happened to bare bottom tanks? My 300 was set up as bare bottom with only sparse substrate included for appearance’s sake. It worked great, was easy to maintain, and seemed to be the direction the hobby was headed at one time.

DLS (double layer spiral) was at one time a preferred medium for trickle filters with high bio loads, now bio balls seem to predominate. Why? Much of what I read now removes all media from the trickle filter in favor of using the just the rock in the display tank for biological filtration. The filter itself has been relegated to nothing more than a sump used to house equipment, collect surface water, and provide a refugium.

There seems to be an increased reliance on Protein skimming in the hobby. I believe this is a very good thing and have always promoted protein skimming (and quarintine tanks) in the marine hobby. Although I never used it, skimming with ozone and was the state of the art at one time. Now I seldom see it mentioned.

I have never purchased livestock via mail order. I am blessed to have several really good local shops to deal with. It seems there has been a huge explosion of mail order livestock supply. How safe and reliable is obtaining livestock this way. Is it really that much of a savings?

Overall this looks like a great site. I am looking forward to using it as my new setup progresses. I’m hoping you can all teach this old salt a few new tricks.

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND!

You are correct about live rock not being a requirement to provide captive marine fishes with a long and good life. There are several benefits to live rock and it has a purpose in the 'new' biological filtration (nitrogen cycle). Learn about that here: What is Live Rock, Anyway?. That post has other links to close subjects.

Unfortunately, hobbyists that do not make the effort to train their fishes to eat prepared foods, fall back on the (incorrect) assumption that live rock provides food for fishes. Not.

Regarding the setup in general, you should read through this post to get an idea of what new aquarists do today (or should being doing today) for starting a system up: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium. This post has many links to other posts to give you a bigger picture.

Obtaining fish should be done through your LFS. Since you have one or more available, it isn't the costs so much as you get to see the fish you are buying. Many people are happy to receive their boxed fishes, but in reality they don't know the size or condition of what is being sent to them. I suggest a read of this post: Is The Fish Healthy?

Lastly, you'll find a lot of articles and posts here in Reefland. This link will take you to a 'Table of Contents' with different subjects listed and links to the articles and posts covering a multiple of marine aquarium subjects: Table/Contents - Link List

We are all here to provide guidance and suggestions. However, I hope you enjoy reading -- there's a lot to catch up on. If you have specific questions, just post a new post for each clearly stated question and I (the moderator of this Forum) or someone will help you out.

[SalTee]

Hello and welcome to Reefland!!! Also welcome back to the hobby!
A note about live rock/sand- any dry rock or sand you put into your tank will eventually become live rock/sand. The main benefits to live rock and sand is the bacteria that has already colonized its surface area that can concievably make up the entirety of your Biological filter. One great thing about rock in particular is that special aerobic bacteria that reduces nitrates can reside deep inside a nice-sized chunk.

Overall, though, the only real difference between live rock/sand and dry rock/sand is that live rock already has life on it- mabey even some other bonuses like Coralline algea, polyps, sponges, clams, sea stars, and snails; whereas dead substrates will take time to get to that point. Depends on how patient you are and how deep your wallet is.

I also know a guy who uses Ozone- great stuff, but $$$EXPENSIVE$$$. Ozone is also a hazardous material, so there is some danger inherent to keeping it in your house. I think thats why its so uncommon- people don't seem to like the words 'Hazardous material' and 'home' in the same sentance.

To answer your question on Bare Bottom tanks, they're still around- its just that they're not as common because they mean less surface area for biofiltration and in my opinion, doesn't look as good as a sandy bottom. Good luck in your Marine Return!