# Qs for new tank setup



## garfield (Oct 17, 2007)

I started up a 90G on boxing day. The tank has 60lb of Aragonite, 30lb LR (known cured), some hermit crabs and 2 Clown fishes.

Can anyone tell me how long (approx) I should wait to put coral/anemone?

I don't have a T5, skimmer or other professional equipment but I am going to only put a piece or two of coral in the tank.

Should I invest into a reef test kid?

Also I would like to add more aragonite sand (about 30 lbs), can I do this now during the tank being cycled?

Thanks


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## shiver905 (Nov 2, 2010)

You should not have any livestock in your tank.

Yes you should add the sand in now,

Yes you should invest in a reef test kit also a normal saltwater test kit. Both from API will work.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

it will help little. Try to read it

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7482

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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

quarentine yo ur fish, add the sand, cycle it. get it established first. I waited a year and 8 months before a fish went into my tank. my nano tank I was already cycling the rock/sand prior to its setup.


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

i had fish in mine within a week and corals within the first month, and i had absolutely no problems at all. i used live sand, but dead rock.
and the 1 pound of sand and 1 pound of rock per gallon rule is not really that strict of a rule. its more of an approximation, same as the rule of thumb in freshwater 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, when in really what matters more is the filtration and the surface area of the tank rather than the gallons. same with the sand and live-rock. i've seen reef tanks online without any sand, or barely any to cover the bottom, with maybe 1/2 lb/gallon and they were doing absolutely great...and I've seen deep sand tanks, with lots of rock, covered in algae. 
less rock with more flow results in more oxygenated water and more bacteria.
a whole bunch of sand and rock may result in "dead areas" where you wont have much flow, and then bacteria won't thrive there, so it's pretty much useless.
anemones are one of the most delicate corals, with one of the highest mortality rates, so it should be one of the last corals you add, only when the tank is matured (best to wait 6 months to a year).
If you don't have T5s, or PC (power-compacts), metal hallides or a ton of LEDs, then you will need like 4-8 of the regular T8 bulbs if you want any corals to grow at all.
Skimmer is not 100% necessary. I ran my 20G tank for over a year with corals and no skimmer and it was just fine. Now I have one, but I haven't noticed any major difference really.


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

The reason you should add sand before you start to cycle is because adding new sand might just snuff out the bacteria that already started growing, resulting in a prolonged cycle. 

For corals, you need more PAR rating and more spectrum than say so many lights. But you will need good lighting in the right spectrum for nearly every coral. This might come in the form of a cheap PC light which I'm not a fan of, or a slightly more expensive, but way more customizable and quality T5HO.


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