Hi everyone!

[RachelDex]

Hi there! We (my husband and I) are not really new to the hobby, but it has been a long, long time since we had a tank setup - just over 10 years. My how it has changed! We just purchased our first new home and close on it this Tuesday, so now it is time to start the tank again once we move in. When our tank was previously setup, we had a 75 gallon live rock / invert / fish tank. Unfortunately, we never had much good fortune with corals. This is the same type of tank we hope to setup again.

After lurking the forums the last couple of weeks, I have a few questions.

1) Using the same 75 gallon tank, we were thinking of using a sump system. If we do not do corals, will we need a refugium or can we just use a sump? My husband is thinking about building one like what Chris Jones made <My New Fuge!!DIY. We are planning on using a 5 inch deep sand bed in the tank. Return pump (500gph) and skimmer (150 gallon) were ordered today.

2) Speaking of sand, anyone have any experience with oolite sand? My husband's job gives him access to an unlimited amount of oolite screenings. These screenings are a calcium carbonate material with shell fragments, crushed coral, and fossils from when Florida was under the ocean (Middle Eocene to Pleistocene epochs). After it is thouroughly washed and the silty material screened out (remove material finer that 300 microns (#50 sieve)), it looks like it would be a really good substrate.

3) Live Sand - We were at the fish shop today and asked about live sand. The live sand I remember from long ago was purchased and loaded into buckets. It was crawling with small critters. This stuff they had at the fish shop was prepackaged in 40 pound bags with a small amout of water in it. I do not remember what the brand name was on it. I think it was called Aragonite Live Sand. Is this a good idea to use? We were wanting to seed the oolite sand with some sort of live sand instead of paying $30 per bag of this stuff for enough sand to make the deep sand bed.

Thank you in advance for any advice you all have. I am sure more questions will come up once we get moved in and the tank ready to get running.

[fletch]

Question 1 I would say yes you will be fine with just the sump, But a refugium will help you with your nitrates. The 500gph return pump should also be ok, but I would go a little more like a 700gph or even 950gph, I have a 75 also and I hove 2 700gph return's. If you are using an overflow box you will want to make sure that the flow rate of the box is at least the same or a little more than your return pumps flow rate. If you have a reef ready tank with built in overflows just match your pump to there flow rate. I would also add a few power heads inside your tank

2 I am unfamiliar oolite sand but if it is as you said calcium carbonate you should be fine. I you want to test it to make sure, Tank some of the sand and pour some white vinegar on it, If it fizzes up then you are good to go.

3 In my opinion you do not need to use live sand, If you are using live rock ( you should be ) then the live rock will seed your sand bed and it to will be live sand in a short time. John

[hexus0]

yea about question 1 , dont forget to calculate how much head pressure your gonna be fighting.. Marinedepot.com has a chart for the magdrive pumps (which everyone pretty much uses for insump return) 9.5 is what i just ordered, and i gota cover at least 4' of head, which means the pump shooting up 800 GPH, AND my overflow box, is rated at exactly 800 gph, but im also installing a ball valve to regulate just incase my return pump is to strong. sorry if that didnt make any sense.

[Matt Rogers]

Welcome to 3reef!

Good points all.
That sand you have does sound good. As John said a refugium will help certainly, but not absolutely necessary. If you are motivated, it would be a good move. Just leave room for a big skimmer.

THat live sand in a bag you describe, sounds like something from Caribsea.

I think that is just biologically active with bacteria. No creepy crawly stuff. You may be able to track down some sand like you want from local reef clubs or, like John said, your current sand will become active in time.

Thanks for joining! Good luck...

matt

[RachelDex]

Yes! That sand from Caribsea is exactly what I saw.

Thank you all for your advice. We are going to go ahead and order a bigger pump and use a refugium. I think we are going to use live rock as the focus of the tank, so I think we will pass on the over-priced live sand.

[Matt Rogers]

Sounds like a plan. Good luck and start a new thread with pics when you get it setup so we can check it out.

[fletch]

Sounds Good Like Matt said post some pics John