Difference between live rock and fiji

[jdnumis]

Can anyone tell me the difference besides the price? I picking up a 90 gallon full setup this weekend. I can't wait. I am not too sure on how many lbs of live rock and which type of live rock to get. And how many lbs of live sand should I get? Or should I get crushed coral instead?

Thanks in advance for the advice

 

[FrostyNYC]

Fiji is a source of live rock. It can come from many other places too.

1 to 1.5 lbs of lr per gal

I didn't use live sand... Just the "live" sand that comes fresh in a bag


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[reefs4life]

Fiji is a type of live rock, it's not a totally different thing. It just states where the live rock is coming from, Fiji Island. Typically live rock from the Pacific (such as Fiji, Tonga, Marshalls) is more porous than rock from the Caribbean (like Haitian or Florida rock). It's all a matter of preference to what you like though, I personally don't think there's any advantage to using one over the other besides maybe for aquascaping purposes. Also, rock from the pacific is usually more expensive than caribbean rock. Hope this helps somewhat, I'm not an expert so someone else may be able to give you a better explanation.

If you're looking for live rock for your 90 gallon and want to get a good price, your best bet is to keep an eye on the for sale/trade forum on here since people usually sell rock for $2-3/lb and the rule for live rock is generally 1-2 pounds per gallon, so 1 1/2 pounds per gallon would be good enough, 135lb.

Hope this helps, good luck. Fortunato

 

[FrostyNYC]

If you're buying from a member on here, make sure they have a scale or you bring one. I've been screwed over that way


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[motortrendz]

well looks like thats the consensus... but the only different thing i would do is i wouldnt buy live sand.. to expensive and not garunteed its "live" just wet..lol buy dry sand of whatever you like.. i like to mix argonite and fine pink fiji sand.. but after you have it in and cucling get a few cups of sand from a friends established tank to seed your sand ..its the best live sand you can have!!.. good luck

 

[KathyC]

You don't want to use crushed croal - it traps detritus.

A mix of 'fine' aragonite sand and 'special' makes a nice natural looking sandbed.
A cup or two of sand from an established tank will make it live. No sense in spending for the over priced 'live sand'.
On the Home Page - there is a Calculator for figuring out how much sand you need based on how many inches you want the sandbed to be.

 

[jaa1456]

ah the old crushed coral is no good. Crushed coral is actually more beneficul than most people think. The sand is in most cases worse for your tank over time. The main reason being once the sand becomes "LIVE" it starts to give off gases, in a fine sand bed "think sugar sized" you have less of an anaerobic zone, where you have denitrying bacteria. If you have a coarser substrate "crushed coral" you have more of these zones. Think of being buried alive. Would you rather be buried in mud with no chance of oxygen making it to you. Or would you rather be buried in say marbles were there are small gaps everywhere letting oxygen in? If your sand bed is 2-3 inches deep you will be fine with either for awhile, if it is a deeper bed than the sand must be maintained properly. Kathy what you hear about crushed coral bottoms are either years of the tank running or overfeeding. Either way you should still clean detrius off either bed.

 

[SevTT]

Can anyone tell me the difference besides the price? I picking up a 90 gallon full setup this weekend. I can't wait. I am not too sure on how many lbs of live rock and which type of live rock to get. And how many lbs of live sand should I get? Or should I get crushed coral instead?

Thanks in advance for the advice

Fiji live rock just comes from Fiji. Some people like the shapes, forms, and life found on certain rock from certain areas as compared to others. It's all live rock, and will generally all function equally well in your tank.

You want enough live rock to occupy about 1/4-1/2 of your total tank volume when stacked loosely, depending on your tastes and what will look good. Live rock can vary -widely- in density; a pound of one type of live rock may be the size of your fist, and another may be twice or thrice that volume if it's particularly lacy. Look for pieces with lots of holes, crevices, and natural caves. And please don't go with the 'wall of rock' or 'pile of rock' aquascapes. Please.

As to sand, that's liable to start a religious war, but I generally advocate a deep sand bed with 4" of oolitic aragonite sand. Now, you're wasting a lot of money if you're buying bagged aragonite 'live sand' that's being sold in stores as 'live sand'; buy the cheapest stuff possible and then seed it with 5-10 lbs of -real- live sand from someone else's tank or from a LFS that keeps a tank of live sand going. (I don't consider live sand to be live sand unless it's crawling with life larger than bacteria, like worms, pods, etc, etc.) Obtaining a variety of microfauna -- worms, pods, all kindsa stuff -- is more important than buying overpriced live sand 'with bacteria!' Any aragonite sand gets colonized quickly by bacteria during the cycling process. (You'll also stop having tank sandstorms after about two weeks as the bacterial and algal films grow over sandgrains and basically stick them together.)

Unless you have a very specific reason to do so, don't use crushed coral. The common consensus is that it's a terrible detritus trap, impossible to keep clean with a reasonable amount of maintenance, and, of course, it cannot support several groups of fish and invertebrates. (It can be used effectively in a refugium, to provide plenty of areas for pods and microstars and such, but it's generally higher-maintenance than sand, and, again, you need to know what you're doing and why.)

 

[prattreef]

ah the old crushed coral is no good. Crushed coral is actually more beneficul than most people think. The sand is in most cases worse for your tank over time. The main reason being once the sand becomes "LIVE" it starts to give off gases, in a fine sand bed "think sugar sized" you have less of an anaerobic zone, where you have denitrying bacteria. If you have a coarser substrate "crushed coral" you have more of these zones. Think of being buried alive. Would you rather be buried in mud with no chance of oxygen making it to you. Or would you rather be buried in say marbles were there are small gaps everywhere letting oxygen in? If your sand bed is 2-3 inches deep you will be fine with either for awhile, if it is a deeper bed than the sand must be maintained properly. Kathy what you hear about crushed coral bottoms are either years of the tank running or overfeeding. Either way you should still clean detrius off either bed.

Umm, you don't want oxygen creeping into an anaerobic zone, that is what makes it anaerobic, so if my goal was an anaerobic layer for denitrification, I would in fact "want to be buried in mud".

 

[jaa1456]

SevTT, I agree on keeping certain fish with it and inverts, but as far as maintence you are way off. I do not know where people get this huge disbelief in crushed coral. I would like to know where these opinions(not facts) come from. I have yet to see anyone give a 100% true statement as to use sand over crushed coral besides someones prefrnce on looks and that certain fish do not do well with it. As in gobies and jawfish (crushed coral might be to large for them to sift). I would go and do some research on anything you wanna do. Not just ask people because most times you are gonna get opinions not facts. And if you were to let them they would make your tank look like theirs.

 

[prattreef]

And your opinion is more based on fact than the opinions of others, many of whom likely have a lot more experience and access to "facts" than you do?

 

[jaa1456]

Um Pratt there is more to it than meets the eye. You know in your substrate bed there are gases produced. One that is bad for the tank is hydrogen sulfide, produced in all reef tanks. The more oxygen in the substrate(open areas) will help this escape the substrate. Which will also help in denitrifying. Which you know turns nitrogen oxides into nitorgen gas and water.It is true in a coarser sand bed you will have less anerobic zones, That is why people use mud in the fuge. But as for the main tank it would be better with an actual mix of substrate, some bacteria will not thrive if the substrate is to small and others to large. Sounds confusing

 

[jaa1456]

Pratt 16 plus years in the hobby and going to school for marine biology, I think I have some experince to speak of

 

[jaa1456]

Mine are not opinions but facts based on research and experiments done over the years. I probably had corals before you even knew that they even existed

 

[prattreef]

No it doesn't sound confusing it just isn't what you said above

 

[prattreef]

Mine are not opinions but facts based on research and experiments done over the years. I probably had corals before you even knew that they even existed

Dude I bow before you as the reef god. Please know who you are condescending to before you make a total fool of yourself.

 

[jaa1456]

I said the same exact thing, To go into full detail would take to long and confuse many people, Besides I do not want to sit here and type all night. What I said in the first one was just a short summary. If you would like I could discuss this more in depth with you and tell you why it sounds different but is exactly the same in the end. PS mixed grain size is still the best overall. And you do not 5 -10 lbs of sand from a friends tank, All you need is a handful in within 24 hours your entire substrate will have life in it.

 

[SevTT]

ah the old crushed coral is no good. Crushed coral is actually more beneficul than most people think. The sand is in most cases worse for your tank over time. The main reason being once the sand becomes "LIVE" it starts to give off gases, in a fine sand bed "think sugar sized" you have less of an anaerobic zone, where you have denitrying bacteria. If you have a coarser substrate "crushed coral" you have more of these zones. Think of being buried alive. Would you rather be buried in mud with no chance of oxygen making it to you. Or would you rather be buried in say marbles were there are small gaps everywhere letting oxygen in?

Okay, on the one hand, you're saying that aragonite sand has less of an anoxic zone than crushed coral, and on the other hand, you're saying that crushed coral lets more oxygen in. ('Cause, frankly, crushed coral is the 'marbles' and oolitic aragonite is the 'mud'.) You've got it <i>exactly</i> backwards. Crushed coral lets too much water flow through, and oxygen along with it, to create large denitrifying areas; oolitic aragonite starts to become oxygen-depleted within about an inch of the surface and anoxic within another inch.

If your sand bed is 2-3 inches deep you will be fine with either for awhile, if it is a deeper bed than the sand must be maintained properly. Kathy what you hear about crushed coral bottoms are either years of the tank running or overfeeding. Either way you should still clean detrius off either bed.

As I mentioned before (though it matters depending on your tank setup,) it takes about two inches before you get to an anoxic layer in oolitic aragonite. With a two-or-three-inch sandbed, you'll be lucky to get any nitrate reduction to N2 in the sandbed.

A properly maintained and set-up DSB, with the right amount of stirring and a good invertebrate population, needs pretty much zero cleaning, ever, particularly if you have a decent amount of flow and pay attention to keeping your rockwork off the sand as much as feasible. Sand-cleaning syphons are for suckers.

 

[jaa1456]

oh pratt go ahead and go on, I have no clue about your background, I just assume you have something to do with Pratt and some type of marine program there. And there is a reason you are only taken seriously on here and not in the actual field of study.

 

[jaa1456]

SevTT, it is anerobic and exactly crushed coral would be the marbles and would have less anerobic zones. I think you read it wrong. But because of the release of hydrogen gases would actually denitrify the bed faster and more efficently.