Several noobie questions....

[lawless007]

1st. Bought a tank setup that has a wet/dry and a skimmer under the stand. From what I have read on some other posts, the bio balls are being called "balls of death" for a reef setup. Can somebody explain a little more why? The owner before me had a FOSW setup and it seemed to work fine.

2nd. LR - LS .... If I purchase LR from LR.com, will it seed the sand for me in time so I can save some money or do I need to go ahead and buy LS?

3rd. Just asking for opinions...how limited will I be in choice of livestock by going the reef way as opposed to FOWLR?

Thanks in advance....

 

[phases99]

1. Bio balls usually become nitrate factories because they rely on aerobic bacteria to convert ammonia>nitrite>nitrate and thats it. Nitrate will slowly rise to levels that are toxic to invertibrates and other sensitive species.
2. Quality LR will seed your sandbed.
3. A reef tank will definitely limit your choices but it is a worthwhile tradeoff IMO.

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I agree with phases99! Corals are some of the coolest things I've ever seen!

 

[indy]

And you don't NEED to spend money on live rock for filtration. Cheap base rock will work just as well once the tank has cycled. You won't have any coraline algae or other intersting things, but it will save money on the startup period.