noob arrival... whats up guys...

[Ram_Puppy]

very true, seeking knowledge in this hobby is a sign of wisdom.

[satx-94integraLS]

no joke. the last thing you want to do is NOT ask questions. by all means, ask away, dont make a mistake!

when in doubt, ASK!

[jap1]

Welcome to MAAST, tucker. You did the right thing by coming here and doing lots of research first. Lack of knowledge is probably the biggest reason so many fail at saltwater. One good piece of advice that I heard here is that "nothing good happens fast in a reef tank." Take that to heart and you'll do great.

[GaryP]

wow guys, definitely lots of good info in those replies!
i did manage to get ahold of some live sand at the fish store yesterday. i went to fish addicts at the advice of witcap4u. those guys were very helpful in helping me get started.

Yea, Felipe and Sarah are good folks.

as careful as i was, the sand went everywhere and im staring at a cloudy tank. i figured i would add all the sand now to avoid clouding the tank later on. its been roughly 16 hrs and its still kinda cloudy. i can see roughly 2 inches into the aquarium but thats about it lol.

That's fine, just part of the process. It will clear up. With the non-live sand, rinse it in a bucket with a hose first to get the "dust" out before adding it.

edit - i figured this one out already V

Good for you. You are already ahead of 95% of the newbies.

quick question about the sand. i purchased one bag of the live sand, fiji something rather. anyhow, the amount of sand that i purchased was not enough to completely fill the bottom of the aquarium. i plan on getting another bag or 2 to square that off. im assuming that i dont need another bag of live sand right?-as i could just use the cheaper non live sand? i like the idea of the live sand bacteria helping out with cleaning but im wondering if the bacteria from the live sand would grow into the non live sand? i dont know if that makes sense on paper. kinda like live rock grows onto dead rock?

"Dead" sand is fine. Like I said earlier, rinse it before adding it to minimize how cloudy it will make your tank. There is some good stuff in that live sand and it will spread to the new sand. You might also want to get a cup full of sand from some other folks to help add bio-diversity to the sand.

concerning the live rock...do you think it is safe to add at this time? i have this underlying idea in my head that since i have tap water in there, the water is cloudy, and i have no idea about the levels in the water(ph, nitrate, nitrite) that i would kill the live sand and live rock. i plan on going to pollys today to pick up some sand and test kit and can get some live rock too.

You can put it in as soon as you finish adding the sand so the live rock doesn't get buried or covered in sand.

i can already tell this is going a attention-intense project for me. not a bad thing, i kinda like this whole elevated feeling of responsibility lol...micro managing at its finest!! :P

Welcome to my world. Its definitely a little past keeping a goldfish in a bowl. It does require some work and commitment, especially in the beginning. You are definitely getting off to a good start. Keep it up. I like to tell folks that we are managing the environment of our aquariums. Some folks kid themselves into thinking that an aquarium is like an ocean in mininature. Well, in some ways that's true, but what mother nature does with huge volumes and surface area we have to do with chemical additives, work, and equipment. At best, we are just getting close to approximating what is happening on an oceanic level. Keep up the good work.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Its how we do our best learning. The best we can hope for is that our critters will survive the worst of our mistakes. If you don't make mistakes you will be the first in the hobby to do so.

[GaryP]

Gary, this is my 38 that was for sale. It has 2x55w PC's, so lighting is good for softies and some LPS up high in the tank(thats what worked for me). The filtration is very similar to an eclipse, but it doesnt use filter cartridges, just a pad laid over the media with a spray bar. For media, it uses ceramic tubes, but you could probably put carbon in it if its the larger granules(sp?). I dont know if a skimmer is going to be possible on this due to the filter. I never used one and had pretty good results.

Sounds like a Jebo? He can replace the white filter pad with some carbon in a filter bag. It will serve the same purpose and give chemical filtration in addition to serving as a biological media. It can also provide a place to put phosphate scrubber when and if he needs it. I would recommend only changing no more then 3/4 of the carbon at one time though. The old carbon will act as a bacterial starter culture for the new stuff.

I gave tucker the short version of most of what you said and recomended he come here, pm, or call me with any questions. I didnt really push a DSB since the tank has a fairly small footprint.

I can't really see running such a tank with a thin sand bed or bare bottom. With no skimmer the nitrates are going to be really high without a deep sand bed. There is just no where for the nitrates to go. I realize the bed takes up a lot of room, but I don't see an alternative other then huge water changes that could do as much damage as they would do good. Maybe one of the nano guys can see something here that I am missing. I could be wrong. Its unlikely, but possible. Just kidding!!!

[tucker]

hey guys, a little update....

well, i did end up going to the fish store today and got some new stuff.

first off, i picked up another bag of live sand. the "dead" sand was $2 dollars cheaper so i figured id be a big spender and go for the live sand again ;) i carefully put it in and there was a little bit of cloudiness, but not anywhere near as much as the first bag.

i also picked up about 10 lbs of live rock which had a little bit of growth on it. theres 2 little pieces, about the size of a brownie and one big piece about the size of a boxing glove. theres these palm tree looking growths on 'em, they look pretty cool. theyre purple/maroon in color and have real long "arms."

i also bought a little hermit crab. hes so tiny, about the size of a peanut m&m. its hard to find him(because of his size) but i noticed hes been chillin on one of the pieces of live rock for about an hour.

although the tank is clearer than before(i can see through it now) everything is white, like a white frosting on all the live rock the crab, and the walls. up at the top of the water level, theres bubbles that are the same color.. im assuming its dust/dirt from teh live sand but it almost looks as if it snowed in my tank. i mean, everything has a coat of white(which so happens to be the color of the sand). im assuming this is normal?

ill see if i cant take pics

[Ram_Puppy]

perfectly normal. the liverock and live sand will help, as the bacteria they are seeding will grow on everything in the tank, including the suspended matter. as a bio-film forms over it, it sinks. It took my tank 3 days, but I also ran a micron filter.