Starting with dry deep sand bed + dry base macro rocks?

[KhanhQ83]

Hi all. I'm looking for opinions from the experts out there on how to properly start my new 180g set up. I'm going all dry base rocks and sand to prevent pests and hitch hikers. So for my 180g, I added 4" of dry sand and about 100lbs of base rocks from Marcorocks.com. Is it necesssary for me to add some live rocks to seed my rocks? Some live sand to seed my DSB? Or these aren't necessary at all since they'll become life after cycle? From what I understand, with DSB, I don't want to get criters that like to shift sands such as nasarius snails, gobies, sand shifting starfish, is this true? TIA

 

[MisFit]

Did you put your rocks on the bottom of the tank or on the sand? The rocks should be on the bottom of the tank. To get any fauna such worms and pods you should add some live rock. You can get some rock and put it in a separate tank to keep an eye on it for a few weeks before adding it to your tank. You don't need much live rock but you will have a pretty boring tank without it. A cup full of live sand is also a good idea especially with a deep sand bed, just look for a reliable place to get it. Nasarius snails are fine for deep sand beds and are a good idea to have.

 

[aiaman]

Id suggest to put a layer of egg-crate on the glass bottom before the sand goes in. This will raise the rock a bit but allow sand sifters to have room w/o toppling

 

[Flame Angel]

Id suggest to put a layer of egg-crate on the glass bottom before the sand goes in. This will raise the rock a bit but allow sand sifters to have room w/o toppling

+1, also join together rock that you have that is elevated to avoid avalanche. Also, what kind of sand did you get from Marco? fine or mixed?

I am doing a 180g build too and picked up the fine. I heard there are pluses and minus, but I am sure I will get them worked out. I would rather have the fine as I do want sand sifting fish and inverts. There may be some blow around at first, but I am sure with the proper powerhead placement and as the tank cycles and bonds things will work out. I can always mix some heavery sand in, so not a big deal.

I also agree with seeding, but be mindful of where you get your sand and live rock. Definately a QT tank to watch it for a good period of time and see what grows before moving to display tank.

Disclaimer: All comments above are just my own opinion.

 

[Jocko]

Yeah I mean you're going to need to get something in there. Bacteria strains, coraline, pods, worms, sponges, etc. I mean as it is I don't think you CAN cycle. You have no bacteria and not much of anything for the bacteria to eat.

You could consider some of the Marco live rock. I know one of the key features he was going for with that was being able to provide pest free live rock for seeding tanks.

 

[KhanhQ83]

I did use egg crates and covered my entire tank surface with it. Then rocks are aquascaped and placed in the tank then sand are added last. I did get fine sand from Marcorocks but I think I might have gotten too much. I got a total of 400lbs and in certain parts it's close to 5" deep. I feel like it takes up too much of space and powerheads will blow the fine sands might cause a sandstorm but I also read some article that you have to go either shallow less than 2" or deep 4" or more, there's no in-between like 3" else there will be problems down the road. That made me kind of nervous because I was thinking of taking out 100lbs to make it 3" or so. Also, I'm getting different opinions on using LR and live sand to seed. Some people say they use everything base dry to prevent hitch hikers which is what I'm trying do, by using LR and live sand to see, I'm pretty much defeating that purpose. But at the same time, if I don't see how or where the worms and other critters will come from if I don't seed?

 

[Duff485]

I'm no expert, but I'll give it a shot =)

I had great luck with dry sand and rock from Marco. Mine was a much smaller scale, but i have a ~2" sand bed and about 25-30 lbs of rock in my 29 gallon tank. I laid down eggcrate on the entire bottom surface like you did, definitely worth it. I then went to Jay's Aquatics and bought one small piece of LR and asked him for a cup of sand, which he gave me for free.

If you are truly worried about hitchhikers, I agree with Flame Angel about QT'n the rock for awhile to watch it. You honestly don't need much at all. Just make sure your mag/calc/alk are good and the corraline grows like weeds!

Regarding the fine sand....RINSE RINSE RINSE! Seriously, rinse that stuff until your eyes bleed, then pause....and rinse some more. I thought I had rinsed enough, but 2 days later my tank still looked like milk haha. A year and a half later though, nothing gets blown around anymore and my goby/pistol shrimp love the stuff. It's also retained its nice bright white color too, looks great.

 

[jango]

Imo, I would go with an 1.5" or so of sand. Dsb's can turn into a nightmare down the road. As for pest down the road look into a qt tank.

 

[Kman2010]

You could always use a commericial bacteria, such a biospira. This gives you the stabilization of live rock minus the critters. Then when your tank cycles buy a couple chunks of pest free chaeto from a fellow reefer and let it seed your display/sump