I am going to get a piece from my old tank, that's in my condo in San Diego, that my sister lives in. I gave her my last setup. I can't do that here, because Petco is the only Saltwater LFS, and all their stuff is full of aiptasia. So, I have to assume so is everyone else's in State College. But, in the meantime, I am going to cycle as if without.
What do you think?
- Thread starter Logan A.
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Dan Cyr
Active Member
You probably know already, but putting the rock in first and pour the sand around it is more secure. I did it as suggested by another R2R member, and it saved me big time. I had a structure built with coral on it, put in an Orange Spotted Goby, and wallah! The little sucker dug underneath it to make his little humble home. Good luck. Can't wait to see pics so I can swipe some ideas for a new scape! [emoji12]
I'm real patient. I'm 40 years old, been reefing for 25 years. Back then, live rock was so "alive", they'd practically get up and walk away. Full of lifeforms. And coral was expensive... But then again, not really. Nothing was REAL expensive, because the cost of living was different. I try and cycle for a long period of time, to get everything really livened up as far as bacteria... And I'll grab rock from my last tank, and some sand... I'd trade in SD with people who had clean setups to diversify the positive stock of micro organisms and what not...
Sand will help your substrate, adding sand wiil turn your sand into "live sand" faster. Sand doesn't have as much surface area as rock so the diversity of bacteria is limited severely. Live rock will be your best bet.
Dan Cyr
Active Member
That has been suggested by other members here as well. I grabbed some sand from my old tank and mixed it with new sand when I upgraded to a larger tank and had to buy more sand. Worked perfect. I knew where it came from, what it had in it, and knew what risk I was taking.
Dan Cyr
Active Member
Nice! Did you just strategically stack them or cement them together? I read another member used hydraulic cement and it worked great. Was thinking about using it as wellYeah, I did that. I actually have the screen that is left over from my ATS build underneath the rock. My rock would be close to the rim if not...
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Logan A.
Active Member
Looking good!
Dan Cyr
Active Member
Sorry we kinda hijacked your thread! [emoji53]
I started with epoxy/putty/cement crap... That stuff never works for me. And, I tried some silicon... Then I just used my untapped 4th grade puzzle skills, and pieced it together strong enough for a polar bear to step on. A large, plush, polar bear... I got a while to cycle, and a 100% water change coming up at the end... I'll just order the glue or use these melted plastic ball things someone suggested to me earlier... Not too worried at the moment. I actually am only "okay" with this. It was still kind of a cold day, and this is in my garage, with both doors open while I was "scaping". I got frustrated and left it at this.
Dan Cyr
Active Member
Ha, that's funny. I was wondering about those plastic balls myself.
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Logan A.
Active Member
You probably know this already but place something on the sand to pour your water into when filling. It will save you a huge mess!
Dan Cyr
Active Member
Like a food strainer?
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Logan A.
Active Member
No like a plate. So you aren't blowing a hole in the sand and all over your rocks and up the side of the tank.
Logan! Sorry!! Hijacking! My bad!! We go way back to the days of shims and what not! I actually am going to dump right into the sand to cause as big as mess as possible. I got two sands, and want to mix them. I'll be running flow so heavy that it will all sift it's way down before retrofit (adding livestock).
