Starting Over

[inawe]

After 2-3 months of struggles, I am starting over . I've moved my 3 little clowns to a small tank, and am in the process of draining my tank. I think I want to go to sand (I think I like the way it looks better the the cc I have now), and definately am getting a lot more LR. My tank is 37g with the Eclipse. After a horrible beginning and doing a lot of reading here, I know I need a skimmer and a pump for more circulation. I also now know I shoulda never used my tap water. I REALLY want to do this right this time.

Question-do I need all live sand or will it be ok to start with sand and add some live sand to seed it? and about how many lbs do I need?

Question-can I start with dead rock at the bottom and add LR on top and get the same effect? Would I still need 1lb. per gal in addition to the base rock?

Question-how long will it take for the base rock to become live?

Question-Skifletch recommended RO water or distilled water. Is one better than the other? My LFS sells the RO water with salt added for 1.25 per gal. Distilled water is .65 per gal, and I already have a lot of salt not used. I assume if I start with the RO water from the LFS, I can still top off with the distilled water? And replace with distilled after a water change? And, with the distilled water, do I still need to add the AmmoLock to condition the water?

I don't want to put my clowns back in until my tank is finished cycling (I understanding several weeks). I'm just going to keep them in my little tank and do water changes with the RO water from the LFS all the time ! Will it be better to just add one fish at a time? Can I put the clean up crew in before the fish?

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

CC in Texas

 

[SkiFletch]

Use all dead aragonite sand. It will seed and become live from the LR within a months time. If you can get a cup or two from your LFS or another established reefer's tank, do that, but dont waste $$ on that bagged junk.

You can start with baserock but be prepared for algae outbreaks on that base rock. I put about 50lbs of baserock and 20lbs of LR into my 45 when I started. Now most of the BR is live, but I had a horrible time fighting hair algae on the BR. It might be better to start with 10lbs of LR for your clowns and slowly build up your LR as you go along.

Takes about 6 months for baserock to become reasonably live

Get yourself a TDS meter because you'll need one whether you use RO or Distilled. They're cheap, ~$15 off ebay. Then, buy yourself a gallon of distilled water from your grocery store and test its TDS. If its 10ppm or less it should be suitable. If not, use RO

 

[enjoiskater158]

i would use all livesand if i were you and for a 37 gal i think 25 lbs would give you a 2" deep sand bed. If you have old liverock that is dead now and you add a little bit of new liverock it will seed the old liverock. i would think in a month the dead rock would be "seeded". and yes put you cleaning crew in before the fish but if you add the clowns one at a time they might fight when you add the second or third one in because they are terratorial (sorry can't spell). also do you have a well or city water