New 30gal setup

Wow.. Excellent work.. Its really looking beatiful.. I wish I had more coraline on my rock..

But thats soon, I'm going to be getting some different rock with coraline on it.. I know it doesn't make it "LIVE" rock but it sure does look nicer..
 
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This is the kind of thread that inspires me to start with SW.

Except I will be going with a 55 instead of a 30 and I haven't started yet. I did get paid today though, so we'll see if I can get some stuff to start with.
 
the more i think about it i might go with a 55 as well... what are the typical dimensions of such a tank???


also, im not going to put live rock under the sand.. I am going to use maybe a mix of live sand and dead sand and then build a nice live rock mountain ridge along the tank...

im not going to put the sand on top of the live rock...

that doesn't make sense...
 
You do want to make sure that the rock isn't just sitting on top of the sand though. It will be more stable if it is resting on the glass or some sort of eggcrate or pvc shelf. This is especially true if you have any sand sifters.
 
the more i think about it i might go with a 55 as well... what are the typical dimensions of such a tank???

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a typical 55gal is 4 feet long and I believe 1 foot wide.


also, im not going to put live rock under the sand.. I am going to use maybe a mix of live sand and dead sand and then build a nice live rock mountain ridge along the tank...

im not going to put the sand on top of the live rock...

You won't want to build and stack your rocks on top of your sand. I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that. You want to put your rocks on the base of the tank and then put your sand in. That makes them more stable and less likely to tumble if something digs underneath. There is definitely something to the whole "Don't build your house on sifting sand". That is why I suggested you just purchase what is called base rock to build on. Since it will be mostly covered with sand, you aren't wasting the money by burying live rock.

I hope that makes more sense now.
 
I made a small observation tonight. I was playing in my tank cleaning up some more hair algae. A lot of it has started to fade and it is easier to clean up so hopefully it is dieing back. I was fanning a piece of rock where the snails had been eating and was amazed at the amount of snail poo that was there. Those suckers really do poo alot! I was surprised. I went through and fanned a bunch of the rock and my featherduster went nuts. I guess he was finding some stuff in the water that he liked. LOL

I think I had my first death also. I was looking around the tank for my larger hermit crab and found his legs, no body, no shell, just legs. I have to admit that I'm a bit sad and confused. He was eating yesterday morning. What is weird is the missing shell. I guess it could have gotten buried by the shifting sand.
:(
 
algea build up on top layer of sand

Hi i was just wondering if anyone had some tricks to keeping my live sand free of algea build up. It starting to be a bit of a hassle and making my tank look bad. Thank you for any responses...
 
Tikidude: your tank looks awsome. The featherduster is motivating me to get one after I get the tank settled.
 
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