Salt Water Tank with no filter.

[Marx]

ok so you buy a big 20# piece of live rock to seed your 100# of base rock.. lets just say that..

and so you get it home from LFS there is hardly any die off.. so you let tank cycle.. are you saying your tank will have enough bacteria to support bio-load of a few fish?

i bought 120# of liverock out of a tank that was being torn down.. and brought it home and put it in water asap.. and added fish in 3 days... no spikes no nothing..

[ALPARENT]

ok so you buy a big 20# piece of live rock to seed your 100# of base rock.. lets just say that..

and so you get it home from LFS there is hardly any die off.. so you let tank cycle.. are you saying your tank will have enough bacteria to support bio-load of a few fish?..

Nope, but add your own ammonia and the bacteria will multiply (that's what cycling is) then you're OK.

i bought 120# of liverock out of a tank that was being torn down.. and brought it home and put it in water asap.. and added fish in 3 days... no spikes no nothing..

I have no doubt about that. But how much did your solution cost compared to mine?

I'm not saying live rock's don't work. I'm just talking about a different and more cost effective way of doing thing.


Bizz....you can see there are different opinions on the subject.
(As alot of thing in this hobby). Bottom line, do the reaserch, take your decision and enjoy the fruits of your labour.

[Bizz]

since I don't have alot money and the tank is only 36g. I'm going to get about 30 lbs. of dry rock and about 10 lbs of live rock. I was planning on getting some snails and hermit crabs during the month and a half cycle period to help control the algea. Does this sound about right.

[DARKPHREAK]

10 pounds as far as I'm concerned isnt enough. Go with 20 LR and the rest base rock.

[Bizz]

You guys don't think I should get live sand. Is it a waste of money.

[DARKPHREAK]

Dont buy live sand. With enough live rock the sand will become live with time. If your looking for some I have about 15 gallons of Carib Sea Aragamax that I took out of my old reef around 2 weeks ago. Its sitting outside(covered) in a trash bin that I use for water changes. Im sure theres still some live critters in there and if not just wash it out and your ready to go.

[jfox]

What do you suggest for base rock?  Will any rock do?

[ALPARENT]

Carib Sea Reef Rock are good. (50 lbs boxes)

I like tufa rocks as they are very porous.

Or you can make your own.