Hello,
Thanks for all the great advice guys! I went with the ebay sand, as I got 30lbs for $20.00 and Priority Mail is $10.00 as the bag fits in the flat rate box.
I have been reading for hours each day and finding a lot of information. I came across GARF and their GRUNDGE product which is supposed to be some type of "super" sand meant for seeding a system. Has anyone heard of it? The site claims it is full of life and actually cures many types of algea and bacteria problems. They reccomend dumping some into a tank to seed the sand in it and base rock.
They also reccomend a 45 member cleaner crew for a 20gallon reef tank. This seems like an awful lot of critters. Would that be safe? How much ammonia to crabs and snails produce?
Sounds like an awful lot to me too! Our 20 gallon reef has 2 turbo snails, 5-6 nassarius, and 3-4 astreas. They were added slowly, we took our time to see if our tank actually needed them so they wouldn't starve. We also have a peppermint shrimp for aiptasia control (plus it's cool!). We opted not to use hermit crabs because they often pose a risk to snails. Just take your time and ask questions. Chances are you will know if you need to add more CUC.
Anyways, the tank and everything is on the way. I will go pick up Instant Ocean at the local pet store when the tank and equipment comes.
As for de-chlorinating the water: Can I just fill the tank up with tap water and mix in the de-chlorinator right then and there? I could then mix the salt mix and then dump in the sand. This ought to begin the cycle, no? (The sand is claimed to have life as well that will last up to 3 weeks in the packaging the ebay seller claims to use). I imagine that if anything survived, I would notice changes in ammonia right? If not, I could get something such as this grundge or Bio-Spira?
I'd suggest mixing your water outside of the tank and then adding it to the tank after you get the specific gravity where you want it. It's good to let it mix for about 24 hrs. We don't use tap water, ever, but if your tap water is low in TDS I suppose you might be able to get away with it. The sand sounds kind of like a snake oil product to me. I'd be surprised if there is much life there by the time you get it, but I could be totally wrong, I don't know. I would not suggest using BioSpira. It's really important IMO to take your time and make sure your tank cycles. I use a raw shrimp and it works great for me. Just one shrimp cycled our 20 gallon. It is tempting to try and take shortcuts, but in my experience it will only lead to difficulty and unnecessary expense. I think it was Thincat that said "nothing good happens quickly in SW" and this is absolutely the case.
Also, incase I decide to add coral in the near future, is my current lighting choice (the 65watt coralife as referenced earlier) adequate for some of the more simple corals?
Well, you won't have a ton of options for corals, but you can keep a lot of the mushroom corals, some zoanthids/palythoas, some of the leathers... just do some research on corals that can grow with low light and ask questions here about the ones you like. I have a feeling you'll be limited to easy soft corals, *maybe* a couple LPS. There are some that are not photosynthetic, but the flipside to that is that they must be target fed often. When you get some more money, you could always just add a second 65W strip light. That's what we did (I already had one laying around, so it was cheaper just to order a second one). Now we can even keep some of the SPS corals. When you're ready to add to your lighting, you will have a lot more possibilities.
Thanks!
Matt