Sandless in Seattle

[cookiemn]

Mojoreef,
thanks for the info. I sent an e-mail to Eric. I also sent an e-mail to Paul about joining PSAS. Where and when do you guys meet?

[mojoreef]

Cookie the next meeting is on feb 21st. you will get an envite email with all the directions and info.


Mike

[ImLookinForNemo]

I hear that alot of people want the sand because the coarse crushed coral (what I have at the moment) traps detritus (I'm very new to this and dont have anything but live rock yet so can someone explain detritus to me a little bit?) But I know that you can get certain crabs or things that clean up detritus fairly well, would this help or should I change to a sand bed before I add fish and finish setting up the tank?

[reefrunner69]

detritus is a generic term for a conglomeration of things, particulate matter, fish poop, uneaten food, coral slime, bacterial slime, etc...

But I know that you can get certain crabs or things that clean up detritus fairly well

While the clean up critters help, they can't do it all.

should I change to a sand bed before I add fish and finish setting up the tank?

I prefer the asthetics of sand, so that is what I use, I also feel manual clean up is easier with sand, but is possible with crushed coral. There will be limits though, you will have to vaccum often, or have tremendous waterflow across the crushed coral. With frequent vacuuming, you will not have any fauna in your bed, which do the majority of the clean up of detritus

[ImLookinForNemo]

hmm....so lets say I decide now to change to a sand bed instead of my coral...since I don't have fish, do I really need to change it in steps to prevent ammonia spikes? What kind of sand would I get? How deep? (I only have a 30 gallon tank...it's been through the cycle but right now I'm still getting ready for fish and just have live rock, and not very much of it..at the moment 6 lbs but getting more every weekend)...any other tips on changing would be helpful. Oh and also, what about my little snails and other hitchhikers from the live rock that are on the crushed coral? If I changed to sand, I would lose them wouldn't I ?

[cookiemn]

Nemo,
to answer your question can you give us a detailed description of your tank (e.g filtration, etc)?

[Sati]

Bumping an old post here.... I just did a search for "Seattle" wondering if there was any local activity on the boards lately and found this post.

I have never had SW and currently have 3 FW tanks. I very much want to try SW, but I don't feel I have enough knowledge (and definitely not enough $$) to start a successful tank but I wish I could eavesdrop on your PSAS meetings so that I can learn from experienced folks. I belong to the GSAS (the FW club) but it seems those folks are pretty die-hard FW only folks. And you never know what websites to trust because as a beginner you have no opinion to base other peoples opinions on :P I guess I will keep reading the SW boards even though half of the time I don't know what you're talking about

Originally Posted by mojoreef

Cookie got it. Thier are a few stores in the area. The best would probibly be Blue Sierra in Issaquah,

Anyhow, my question is, what do you think of the employees of Blue Sierra as far as their knowledge goes? I live in Issaquah and they are my main lfs for about a year and a half now.

[sacramentofish]

what is the 'finite lifespan'? just need to know so I can budget my tank upgrades

[reefrunner69]

The lifespan of the DSB will have alot of variable, bioload, how much nutient load was dropped on it at startup (ie; cycling LR in the tank with a new DSB), maintenance, and population of the sand fauna. There are some that have been up for 15years with a very low bioload and lots of care towards the maintenance of the sandbed fauna, and some crash in as little as a year or two.