Absolute Minimal Salt Water Aquarium

[thincat]

I think "by washing the sand" he meant to just pour saltwater through it and then into the tank. I would Just pour it in and if you have a filter, just run it with a micron sleeve and that with clear the water.

[mrg02d]

Originally Posted by thincat

I think "by washing the sand" he meant to just pour saltwater through it and then into the tank. I would Just pour it in and if you have a filter, just run it with a micron sleeve and that with clear the water.

Yes, this is what I meant. I dont know how everyone else was taking it, but I simply want to remove the crap residue that the seller ought have removed from the get go and THEN seeded it with life. :-/

I dont have a filter. I know it would be alot of work to filter with coffee filters, but I dont want to spend anymore money if I could do something myself. I guess the only deal is, will DI water kill the bacteria?

Matt

[blasterx]

You could do that but it will settle on it's own after a day or so.

[gzeiger]

There's no reason that having cloudy water at the start would interfere with starting the cycle.

[mrg02d]

Hello,
its just that I have read numerous threads about this cloudiness lasting a week or more. Especially with this argonite sand stuff. The stuff in the glass (I put a small amount of sand in a glass with water as an experiement) still hasnt settled even a bit in about 36 hours! One day is fine, but a week is just too long.

I will make up a gallon of salt water and rinse with this and coffee filters unless someone here thinks plain DI water would be just as fine?

Thanks,

Matt

[thincat]

Freshwater, DI or whatever will kill saltwater bacteria. That''s it...sorry

[gzeiger]

Your cycle will last more than a week.

[blasterx]

Originally Posted by gzeiger

Your cycle will last more than a week.

Exactly, it might last over a month. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

[mrg02d]

Hello,
I will just put the sand in as is. Its going to take some time to figure out this live rock situation.
$$$!!!!!
Most places want me to buy a minimum of 50lbs and have it shipped to me overnight! OUCH! I just need some 15-20lbs of live rock, right? I am going to try to work something out with some ebay sellers that live in my state. (Florida).

The only store in my town wants $6.00 /lb for what looks like DEAD rock. They call it Fiji Live rock, but it looks just like the dry stuff sitting on a shelf! Shouldnt it have stuff growing on it? I saw nothing. Nothing like what I see in the online store pictures.

Sheesh....

So yea, I will put the sand into the tank and then pour in the salt water slowly and hope for the best while I wait for this live rock issue to sort out.

Anyone have any favorite sites with decent prices? I was going to go the dead rock + a small amount of live rock route, but the shipping is about 25$ for even a 1 lb piece of live rock. Seems it would be better to get someone to sell me a small quantity of live rock (20lbs). The pet store had base rock for about $3.00 per lb which seems high!

Matt

[thominil]

$6.00 a pound isn't bad..... I payed $8.00 a pound and got 8 pounds and seeded with about 15 pounds of br at $2.50 a pound. Try marcorocks.com.