Help getting started

[Varanus]

Hi all, I'm in the VERY early stages of setting up a Opae Ula tank (all I've got right now is the tank and a piece of lava rock). Its to be a long, 6.6 gallon tank which I assume will be enough to eventually accommodate a nice-sized population of shrimp and snails (given how many are kept by some here in tanks half this size).

So assuming I am right I have a couple questions I need settled before I can move forward.

Namely, regarding the substrate I am leaning toward that live aragonite sand as I've always liked how it looked, but given all my experience is with freshwater I never have used it. This brings up a couple questions:

1. Will the salt in the live sand alter how much marine salt I mix in the distilled water?

2. Will the live sand help speed the cycling process?

3. Will the calcium in the sand be enough for the water or should I still try to find some dead coral to add to the tank? Are large pieces okay if I can't find small/chicken-nugget-sized ones?

Once the substrate is ready I intend to order some algae and snails from the site and see how things go from there.

Many thanks in advance, I've long had freshwater tanks but have always been intimidated by the idea of having even a brackish water tank, so the lack of maintenance needed for these shrimp makes them ideal (no water changes means no worrying over the salt content staying stable).

[Mech]

wash your sand in RO/distilled water and throw it in, with your rock, add your salt water and wait for it to cycle/grow algy. The aragonite sand should keep the PH from crashing, its worth buying a ph test kit for saltwater to check from time to time. the marine salt you add will raise the PH also.

if you are worried about the salt content in your substrate, get a refractometer :p

[Varanus]

wash your sand in RO/distilled water and throw it in, with your rock, add your salt water and wait for it to cycle/grow algy. The aragonite sand should keep the PH from crashing, its worth buying a ph test kit for saltwater to check from time to time. the marine salt you add will raise the PH also.

if you are worried about the salt content in your substrate, get a refractometer :p

Awesome, will be getting the sand today. I am curious though about rinsing the sand. Isn't it normally said not to rinse live sand? Is it just that with no filter it is more important to get rid of any floating grains? How much do you think it should be rinsed?

[Mech]

id just put it in a bucket a good few inches deep and fill up with water and swish it around and then just pour out the water to remove alot of the dirt or powder that will float on the water surface.

[KenCotigirl]

I would just buy any inexpensive aragonite sand. See if your lfs has an open bag and willing to sell you 2-3 lbs. I do not know if the bacteria in live sand which is intended for full salt is helpful in brackish water. The aragonite sand will buffer so extra coral is not needed but add what you like for aesthetics. Good luck and add pictures.

Ken

[Nexus6]

It says not to but i would, or else your going to get very cloudy water.

[KenCotigirl]

I concur. Rinsing substrate is fish 101. It is not recommended for live sand. You would wash away the live parts. That is why I suggested a regular aragonite sand. Preferably a open bag.

Ken

[Mech]

wasnt sure what live sand was, i wouldnt use that now ive looked, if you get die off from it, it will produce ammonia.

[Varanus]

wasnt sure what live sand was, i wouldnt use that now ive looked, if you get die off from it, it will produce ammonia.

I already bought the sand, should I return it? Trouble is that I haven't been able to find any black aragonite that isn't live sand (and only found one bag of it for that matter). I've found aragonite that is white, but its my experience that most aquarium animals look better on darker substrates.

I've also found black aragonite that is meant for planted tanks, but that specifically notes it may be harmful to shrimp due to all the stuff they put in with the sand to help plants.

I don't really have any "local" fish stores. Unless you count various Petco and Petsmart, all the LFS are over twenty miles away. That said, I don't want to risk the eventual shrimp if the live sand is bad for them. I'll just have to wait until I can get to the store and see what they have available. A shame as I hoped to set everything up today but patience is a virtue.

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On another note, what would be a good way to mix the salt with the distilled water? It would seem risky to use a spoon from the house to stir given it may have cleaning product residue on it. Can I simply pour the salt into the gallon jugs of distilled water and shake it a bunch? That sounds simplest.

[mcdaney]

Guide for the amount of reef salt needed.
Find out your tank size and use this calculator:
http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calc ... ulator.php

• Enter your tank's "Water Volume"
  In the "Target Salinity" field, enter 15 (for 1.015ppt, which mine is at)
  In the "Temperature" field, enter 20 deg. cel. for room temperature.
  Click on Calculate. You'll have the amount of salt needed for your tank.

On another note, what would be a good way to mix the salt with the distilled water? It would seem risky to use a spoon from the house to stir given it may have cleaning product residue on it. Can I simply pour the salt into the gallon jugs of distilled water and shake it a bunch? That sounds simplest.

Yup, I would just pour the salt into the bottle of distilled/RO water you bought. Close it with the bottle cap and shake like you would a Margarita cocktail.
Then pour into the tank. Be sure to measure the salinity along the way, decide from there if you want to add more salt or water.

[Varanus]

Looked around some more and sounds like it would be safest to return the live sand due to potential for adding a lot of ammonia to the tank. I also found at least one post expressing that black substrate ends up looking too "dirty."

I know that health wise the choice of substrate type doesn't matter to the shrimp, but in your opinion what color looks best best in the tank once the aquarium has matured, both aesthetically and in making the shrimp easy to see? Does the color of the substrate effect the color of the shrimp? I know it does for many other aquarium animals.

Or does all this color stuff not matter because eventually you hope the substrate gets a decent covering of green algae?

[Nexus6]

Ive seen some people use a base layer of white live aragonite and a top layer of inert black sand. Thats always an option. My tank has black sand and crushed coral.

[mcdaney]

I'm using black aragonite substrate. Looks great to me.

[Mech]

im using this,

http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquar ... -sand.html

Its for freshwater and marine tanks, doesnt alter PH, so i went with ocean rock over lava rock

having black sand does show up the Opae turds more though

[Varanus]

Well it seems nobody in 30 miles has black aragonite sand that isn't also live sand. Didn't see any online either. I did find calcite sand though. Its made by Seachem. Its not black but at least it is close enough to hopefully go well with the lava rocks and it should do the same thing for the water as the aragonite. Do you guys think I should go with it? Here's a page for an image: http://www.marineandreef.com/Seachem_Gr ... c36230.htm

There's also this kind of aragonite, which at least isn't white: http://www.marineandreef.com/Seachem_Me ... c34030.htm I was concerned the grain size might be too small though, as I've heard references on the forum to avoid too fine a substrate.