substrate

[mattvght100]

ok heres my setup, 55gal with flourescent lighting dont know wattage, also i have a tidepool 1 10gal sump wet/dry filter with the 3 media filled with a thin corse blue pad, super activaed carbon, then bio-balls( in that order), also i have 3 100w heaters, a red sea airlift 90 protein skimmer, im using a mag drive 500gph pump to pump the sump back into the tank, and i dont have a bulkhead hole drilled i just bought a skimmer for it so i can keep the tank whole in case i sell it later, also i have a lot of airstones so the aeration is good, and i use instant ocean salt i just want to make sure that i have alllll my info out. im not sure about the base i want so heres my question would it be ok for me to use LS about 2in thick mixed with a little maybe 20lb of CC, and about 5 lbs of LR, the reason for so little LR is that i have sooo much other bio- filtration, o i forgot that the tidepool sump has a huge bio-whell built into it, and the bottom drawer has a crap load of bio-balls so i figured that it would be enough bio filtration, and live rock is pretty pricey at my LFS at $6lb and im a little cramped for cash after my filtering system, and im trying to get a large porcupine puffer, maybe 2 because ive heard that sometimes they are compatible, and a big volitian lionfish so please post i need some help here thanks
-matt

[Dewey]

imo i would loose the bio balls they thend to hold nitrates. One of the sponsers of this site is liverocks.com Ask for Zack they have awsome live rock and sand alot cheaper than your lfs. If it was me i would go for a dsb . Go to the artical section there is a good artical there about dsb. Ill let someone else feed you some more info.

Good luck Dewey P.S. anyother questions feel free to ask.

[mattvght100]

yea a few more if i put just some dead rock that is very porous, and the dead sand bed or is the DSB mean dry sand bed anywayswill the LR and make the DSB live evantually and the other rock live rock thanks

[mattvght100]

come on guys post please i really need to know soon so i can order what i need

[Smonkey15]

lol, alright i can help you out. dsb means DEEP sand bed, its about 5-7 inches deep of sand in your tank that greatly helps the nitrogen cycles. not necessary, but very helpful. yes, if you put sand and base rock in the tank and add some live rock and a little live sand, then eventually it will all become live as well. make sure the rock is a good base rock though, if it isn't the porous enough then less bacteria will be albe to live on it. i have heard great things about www.hirocks.com so check them out. my girlfriend bought me 60 lbs. of that stuff for christmas, excited to get it. anyways, hope that helps.
steve

[Dewey]

Try www.liverocks.com ask for Zack hes a great guy, great live rock and live sand.



Goodluck Dewey

[jackdp]

Go with more LR and a sand bed minus the CC. The bio-wheel and bio-balls are great at providing surface area for nitrifying bacteria that break down ammonia and nitrite, but the downside is you may be left with off the charts nitrates. To be rid of nitrates naturally you need denitrifying bacteria that breakdown nitrates into nitrogen gas etc. These bacteria will grow in the pores of the LR and deeper in the LS. All you then need is good flow from some powerheads and the tank will need less maintenance.

[Hara]

ok, just to be a little different here........

If you are going to just have fish, just fish and not corals, you do not need all the live rock. Your bioball filtration system will be more than adequate. IF you want a reef tank full of corals, ditch the bioballs and add alot of live rock. IF you want that reef, then the liverock and bioballs will sort of work against each other. I have a 100 gallon eel tank *very heavy bioload" and the bioballs are just fine. Answers to your questions are best answered after knowing what you want to do with your tank.