couple of questions about sand

[rmdavis]

hello all... I have a 100 gal. tank that am starting to set up and was wanting to set up with ls... and was wondering about how much of the live sane I would need to buy...
also do I need to have My lighting system set up before getting the sand.... was planning to get the sand monday and next week buy a good lighting system... so far I only have 2 24 inch white and 2 blue fluorescent bulbs...
thanks...

 

[jwalters77]

Well I would suggest using mostly Southdown sand from Home Depot..and seeding it with some live sand...If you go with just LS you are lookind at some serious money...about 25-29 bucks a bag...and thats only 20lbs!!!
hope that helps
Jake

 

[jes]

Wow, this sounds interesting. What steps should I take in order to seed the Home Depot sand with the LS?
Thanks in advance,
-Jes

 

[beth]

You need at least 1lb of sand per gal, more if you want a deeper sand bed. If you are going to use Southdown sand, then lay that down first, then seed with live sand. No, you don't need lighting up first for the LS, but you should look into to also adding a detritore kit to the live sand.

 

[rmdavis]

ok time for showing my inexperience again what is a detritorie kit???

 

[jes]

Hi Beth,
What if I already have LS in the tank? I have about 30 lbs in there currently. Can I just mix up the Southdown and LS in a bucket and then drop it in? What sort of ratio - 1lb of Southdown for 1lb LS? And I'm with RMDavis, please explain the Detritore kit.
Thanks,
-Jes

 

[jes]

Thanks for the info sammystingray! Should I be able to add the Southdown sand and LS ontop of my LS in the tank?
Thanks,
-Jes