I am so confused

[juliafish]

Hi,
:help: I have tried keeping a reef tank once before but I did not have much success with the corals. I could only get a few mushrooms to live. I did not have any problem with the fish though. So I miss my tank and I have decided to start a tank again. I will probably stick to fish but with liverock. So I would like to start it of right this time in case I try to do the corals again someday. What I am confused about is the substrate. The directions I have been reading tell me to put caribsea seaflor special reef grade sand. When I look at it though it looks real coarse like crushed coral. Is it the same thing? I have noticed that most people pefer sand. I like the idea of getting it from home depot or walmart that would be a lot cheaper. Also I was curious if you can use the sand from the beach where you live(I live in south texas)? Has anyone ever done that? My next question is how deep to put the sand and do I need a plenum? Also one more thing. I decided to make my own liverock out of portland cement and crushed oyster shell. I have already made all of my rocks and I am now curing them in some water. Someone told me these rocks will not work and that I need to make them out of argonite is this true? Has anyone had success with these types of rocks? There are directions all over the internet for making them this way. Thank you for your help.
Take care,
Julia :jumping:

 

[bandman]

Well they won't be live rock at all. They'll be base rock. Live rock has to have stuff alive on it, mainly algae. I don't know if you can use that as base rock or not, but I wouldn't. I would just go ahead and buy some Fiji live rock. My other advice would be, at all costs stay away from tap water. That stuff will mess you up.

 

[tthemadd1]

I think you have a good start, it is true that you are not making LR. Although, you are setting yourself up for LR. There does need to be some purchased rock in your tank, try some fragments from you local store. I started my tank with lava rock, after a year and a half this has finally started to grow coraline algae and is buzzing with life. YOu could also try to use live sand and the rock you have made. I used to have a Huma Huma that would suck up the sand and then spit it out at the top of the tank. After a while, my rock was covered and I mean covered with sand. I believe that this helped to seed the rock in the tank. I now use that rock as the base for my other Live rock and like I said it is now covered with all kinds of coraline growth. Just remember that this approach is going to take a lot longer than buying 60 pds of healthy live rock. Get a little and watch it spread life to your rock. If you really think about it all rock is created in some way. Your not far off. Just take the time and watch it grow. Good Luck and Good Fishing.

 

[dragonfli]

julia, here we go.
LS out of the ocean is great if you go deep enough. i would say no shallower than 10 feet. the reason is that the beach is the protein skimmer for the ocean. so all of the detruits are trapped in the sand. if you washed and sun bleached the beach sand, and then used LS from the ocean it would all be LS in eventually. but i just get a buoy and a bucket of sand and take out hte legal limit.
the stuff youve been reading on is CC dont do it. it is much more work and a nitrate, nitrite nightmare IMO.
id buy some LR and mix it with your base rock. you'll eventually have some good LR.

 

[juliafish]

Yes I know that the rock I am making is not live yet. I plan on buying some actual live rock to seed out my base rock. So how deep do I make the sand? Should I use a plenum underneath it?
Thanks,
Julia

 

[birdy]

I don't think you need more than 2 inches of sand. no plenum, just the sand.
Your homemade rock will be just fine for your baserock, then seed it with some good LR as you plan.
My opinon is that the key to keeping a good saltwater aquarium is starting with a good water source, RO/DI is the way to go.

 

[farmboy]

The look is up to you on the amount of sand.
If you are wanting it for de-nitrification, then most folks say the deeper the better. A depth of around 4 inches seems acceptable in most everyones range of "deep sand beds". It doesn't have to be 4 inches all over. It can be 2 inches on one end and 6 on the other. THere is all KINDS of info on here about DSBs.
My 70 pounds of base rock is showing a lot of coraline growth after only 8 weeks underneath my 30 pounds of live rock.
P.S. Good luck and show us some pics of your home grown rock.