It's Alive! Well, not yet...

I think the biggest question I've been getting since I started this blog a couple days ago is "What are you going to keep in your tank?". So, today's post is going to cover that topic a little bit. The coolest thing about saltwater aquariums is that more than just the fish are alive. Everything from the sand to the rocks to, of course, the fish are alive and kicking in a typical tank. For starters in my tank I'm going to go with CaribSea's Arag-Alive Bahamas Oolite Live Sand. The sand is extremely fine and white. They call it "Live" because it actually comes packed in water with special bacteria living on each grain. These act as a sort of biological filter.

Ooh Ooh Ooh it's Oolite, ya know!

Like I said before, even the rocks are alive. Old style marine aquariums used to have dead (white) coral as their main staple in aquascaping. New aquariums now use Live Rock to do this. It not only looks cool, but also serves a huge filtration function. The rocks house all sorts of animals large and (mostly) small. After the rock is cured and has been in a tank for a while it will start to grow all sorts of coralline algae and will be teaming with life. There are even different types of rock that you can get which correspond with the location in which they were harvested. I'm kinda stuck as to exactly which kind I want to get. Amazingly the rock is probably the most expensive item that will be in the tank. Here are my options as found on www.liveaquaria.com, the premier online fish delivery service:

Fiji Live Rock: Porous, Purple, and Pink

Lalo Live Rock: Multicolored Marine Mayhem!

There are a couple other types of Live Rock that aren't quite as nice looking or don't quite fit my needs. These are the two I'm kinda stuck between. I think I like the look of the Lalo Rock better. My main dilemma is that one "order" of Lalo Rock weighs about 30 pounds, but they say you should have 3/4 - 1 1/4 pounds of rock per gallon meaning that I should have 30-50 pounds of rock in my tank. I really don't want to skimp on it because it will be a big part of my filtration, but I don't want to get too much because it will take up precious space and it costs about $5 a pound including shipping. So, it's either $150 for 30 pounds, or $300 for 60 pounds...damn! Plus, the 60 pounds would be too much. The Fiji Rock is sold in 22 pound boxes. They have something weird going on with them due to a sale. For 22 pounds it is $110 shipped, but for 45 pounds it is $150 shipped. I'm so confused here. Maybe I can get by with only 30 pounds of Lalo Rock. If some expert is out there, please let me know!

Fully cured Lalo Rock...I want it now!

Now, all of those pretty colors you see on that rock are the healthy, coralline, algae. It takes about a month for a tank to stabilize and start becoming inhabitable for other fish. Sometime during this acclimation period it is likely that a "bad" algae outbreak can occur with some nasty brown and hairy algae. To combat this you have to add the algae "attack" creatures. They include:

Dwarf Red-Tipped Hermit Crab: An Algae Eating MachineDwarf Blue-Legged Hermit Crab: A Colorful Crab Concoction

Margarita Snail: Goes well with salt...

So, these creatures will help eat all the unsightly algae the tank. They will be the first highly mobile animals that I'll probably see in my tank. I think today we'll stop there and leave the fish for a later time. I can't give away all of my secrets up front, you'd never come back otherwise ;).

On a side note, today I put the third and final coat of paint on the stand. I'm gonna let that dry very well before I start worrying about mounting the doors and moving it into my room. I don't want to smudge the paint or anything. The glass top for the tank also arrives tomorrow at House of Fins where I bought the tank originally. The store is really cool. You can check out their site here: www.houseoffins.com. I think you guys can expect one more update before I shove off on my vacation till August. If anyone has any comments, especially those Live Rock experts out there, please be sure to share them. Until then...

~Paul Out