Aquascaping & LIVEROCK Selection - Budget Build

[@RandyKellyJr]

I recommend putting down rock first before putting down sand. Why? Cause some fish like digging, and those rocks can become unstable

[@Kpoole35]

tru fax

[@jbjb-li2wx]

Thank you for this series, I'm just getting into the hobby and found you at the perfect time. Subscribed.

[@anthonysilva5015]

Great video and series. I have read/heard plenty of times that when you aquascape with sand you put the rock down first then the sand, this allows the sand sifters to do their thing and not dig a hole under the rock potentially allowing it to tip over.

[@skicattx]

Thanks for the list of links in the comments. I was about to do this search and this exactly what I needed.

[@Saltwateraquariumdotcom]

Awesome! Thanks for Shopping!

[@yumingqiu3577]

very helpful thank you

[@Pagodacoralsllc]

I have used both live and dry rock but I prefer live all day over dry . Don't let anyone tell you that you have to use dry lol experience always is the best way to go.

[@Saltwateraquariumdotcom]

Am Fit Elite Reefer I agree there are a number of ways to do it. I always side with dry rock because I know what’s in the tank then. With real live rock you usually get tons of hitchhikers & potential problems.

[@viol8tor775]

never use live rock i used that once and was screwed by that never again. Not saying everyone will have issues but its not worth you getting, alot of different pests.

[@ldballoon4]

Real Reef is a very good product- I use their shelf rock. The purple does fade though, which it is suppose to. Overall it helps with special aquascaping. I have LR also from 10 years ago so its legit with PO4 leaching etc..

[@christineestrella2449]

Sorry, I am just starting and planning to buy few rocks as starter. Is it okay to add rocks after two weeks or so?? Or it will disrupt the system??? Thanks for any help 🙂

[@MrBiMYT]

It won’t, sometimes it is just as good to add then at the same time as the sand. If you’re going with rock with bacteria already on it, it’s good to add it sooner than later. If not stuff with bacteria already on it, then I’m pretty sure whenever is fine. Don’t quote me on this though, sometimes results vary.

[@johnathanchisholm260]

I think this series is great I am quite young only 10 so getting money for this is a challenge but I want to know if when I get it I could put pajama cardinal or just the Bangui cardinal

[@1qaz209]

What are the names of the two fish pictured at 1:30? They’re beautiful!

[@AlexS-lz1gs]

Mark do you feed your corals???? Thanks. I know is off topic, thanks in advance.

[@Armymp427]

I'm in the process of buying things for my first reef tank, its a 20 gallon, how much dry rock would be a good amount to start off with? Im thinking about going with 30 pounds of sand, I plan on getting a goby and pistol shrimp combo, and want to give them some room to dig around.

[@AllegiancePressureWashing]

There’s a million ways to skin a cat but do not put your sand bed down first before your rock. Any wrasses or sand sifting fish will erode the sand bed and cause a collapse If the rock isn’t firm on the glass bottom. Sand will not offer “cushion” lol

[@paulvandyke7967]

Came to say the same. You want a stable foundation especially if you have digging critters like pistol shrimp or gobys

[@irts10]

if your rock is that unstable thats on you.

[@brandonezdoofenshmirtz2916]

I superglued my bottom

[@owen1563]

@@brandonezdoofenshmirtz2916 sounds painful

[@Yorickje1234]

I you can't find dry rock suiting the tastes but do find wet rock, one could also boil out the stones for some short time to sterilize it from any algae spores, right?

[@finchie_music2850]

Yorick I would be careful with that. If the rock has some left over zoanthids on it, it can release harmful palytoxins when boiled.

[@trestlew]

I have the 20L tank (30x12x12), and was thinking the 20lbs of live reef rock may not be enough given the extra length. Should I get another 10lbs or something? Did you use the whole 20lb in this video?

[@brandonezdoofenshmirtz2916]

Assuming you mean 20 gallons 20 pounds is enough

[@trestlew]

Brandonez Doofenshmirtz yeah, that’s what I said.

[@salparmar7861]

Is it true that you should use super glue gel to secure the rock from move or even potentially damage any live stock in the tank due to water flow movement? I have seen in many videos and wasn’t sure with the super glue or the gorilla glue gel would be safe to secure the rocks while doing aquascaping. Please let me know as I have spend a lot of time researching and learning for close to two months and I have bought a lot of items from you so I can start my first ever mixed reef tank.

[@Saltwateraquariumdotcom]

Salim Parmar Mr Saltwater Tank here...using glue can help secure the aquascaping and I’ve rarely used it on the aquascaping on the tanks I’ve built. I always build the scape in such a way it naturally locks together and is stable

[@salparmar7861]

I appreciate your help and response Mark, I have learned tremendous amount from watching your and many other successful videos and I will share my tank with you once started and I will take my time to cycle the tank naturally by adding love sand and wanted to know if the Caribsea Black Hawaiian sand would be safe for gobies with the grain size it has. Let me know as that’s the last item I would have to purchase.

[@RaptureSniping]

idk been using live rock for decades.... as long as you are cautious of where you get it from, pests should not ever be a problem

[@Suburbangettho]

I’ve been told to put the rock down first and then the sand. The idea is, that sand sifters will sift under rock and the rock my drop on them...

[@brandonezdoofenshmirtz2916]

Rock first is always better especially with eels or sandsifters, maybe even glued down for something like an engineer goby

[@keikurono4584]

So I am having big time hair algae problem from using my old dried live rock... Are you saying the man made rock wont have hair algae problems or are less susceptible to get it?

[@tesusreef2625]

yes

[@ultraArcite]

you wouldn't have it, the live rock has algae spores on it that "come back to life" when it gets wet... manmade rock does not

[@dylan1kenobi]

Is it safe to glue rocks together? If so what kind of glue?

[@JBravo1134]

Did you ever find this out? I’m starting a tank soon and I am very curious about this specific thing

[@dylan1kenobi]

@@JBravo1134 There are specific types of aquarium glue, but what most people use is superglue, specifically cyanoacrylate gel. Water is a catalyst for it's drying reaction so it becomes completely inert and doesn't leech anything into the water. Makes it hard to work with sometimes though 😋

[@alaskacosplay]

Im gonna be using live rocks (well they’re technically dried live rocks) that I dried out myself that I usually get from the ocean and I usually soak it for a week or so in freshwater before I let the sun bleach all color, life, and everything else from the rock before I put it into my scape. Ive heard somewhere about doing a freshwater dip on live rocks to try and flush out the pesky mantis shrimps but I think I’ll just set up another tank for it if I find one if I did a flushing or wash out to let hitchhikers fall off if theyre like crabs, shrimp, and other inverts.

[@marissa6653]

Can you get corals and anemones and frags with dry rock? Lol I’m new :)

[@finchie_music2850]

Marissa Sanchez yes, just make sure all of your nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and carbonate levels are stable. You can get cheep test strips from petco or your local fish store. test once a week for at least 4 weeks, and when you see that the levels are safe and stable, you can add your coral. I recommend starting off with lps corals.

[@tesusreef2625]

@@finchie_music2850 thanks for the info :D

[@fugitivetattoo]

Did he mention HOW MUCH rock to use. Lbs per gallon? Did I miss that?

[@michaelrinsailova5496]

Can i use texas holey rock / sansibar rocks? Pls help

[@_KingdomMinded]

Do you clean the saver rock or just put it in the tank, I have round mixed messages online , but most are "curing" the dry rock . Also I purchased Dry Base Live Rock Box (40 lbs) South Seas - Caribsea from saltwateraquarium.com, is that the same as what is shown in the video Thanks

[@markpalkowski9673]

what about live plants?

[@edwardjennings6021]

Well maybe I'm scaping for a mantis shrimp

[@kingofrannoch]

If that stuff wasn't so expensive. I'm just going to go with pvc pipe and lava rock

[@ashwinostwal324]

Can we use diy cement rock in reef tank? If yes, then how to use.

[@davidvaughan3771]

Lava rock? U didn't mention..is that ok

[@alexandravivaldi9993]

I won’t recommend putting the sand first, first put the rack then put the sand so the rack will have a stable bone movable stable

[@rifaatisk1061]

Don't get me wrong but I would like a mantis shrimp in my tank to be honest

[@Saltwateraquariumdotcom]

I love mantis shrimp, they are awesome! Might be better though if they had their own tank.

[@rifaatisk1061]

@@Saltwateraquariumdotcom well if it's a spearer we're screwed if it's a smasher we're somewhere safe....I was going with a peackok mantis then I switched to a jawfish as a cave fish like thing because I'm going with a predator tank

[@william7268]

how come base rock is not needed???

[@QuIcKeNdZ]

wait who wouldnt want a mantis shrimp

[@tigerreefz966]

Cause they aren’t compatible with lots of things,clowns and small shrimp&fish would insta die to its puch

[@tigerreefz966]

It’s like the fatty in ur class vs the schools bully

[@tesusreef2625]

@@tigerreefz966 lol

[@GullyGod876]

Why would you want to paint the back of the tank black?

[@Saltwateraquariumdotcom]

GullyGod876 so you can’t see behind the tank. It conceals the cords etc

[@GullyGod876]

Ok I'm not too worried about that aint that much chords really to worry about, the Reef, & coral wi will block out the little for the most part.

[@GullyGod876]

What's the best way to wash the sand ?

[@GullyGod876]

In the aquarium or in a bucket

[@MonopolyBag]

From one pro to another, there are other ways to get biological filtration other than rock. Fake corals and plastic plants, although yes you need to scrub them, are extremely easy to clean. And I would argue that in the long run artificial coral can be an easy way to get some cool colors and decoration in there. Not all fish are reef safe. And you can even utilize artificial coral with real rock. I am a fan of real rock and live coral, but this video makes it sound like fake decorations are bad. And they are not, they serve a purpose. There is more than one way to do everything in this hobby.

[@Pratty87]

Lol this must be a joke put rock down first then sand unless you want your rocks shifting and accidentally killing your fish

[@staynavytom2963]

What about background coverings ? Your’s look black.

[@ultraArcite]

he said to paint the back of the tank in the previous video

[@charlesweibel]

This is a pretty bad video with misleading information, I would expect more from Saltwater Fish and Mr. Saltwater Tank. To tell people to not use live rock because of hitchhikers is false, there are good and bad reasons for all types of rock, but I'm willing to bet they don't want you to use live rock because they don't sell it.

[@Saltwateraquariumdotcom]

Charles. The idea of the video series is to make recommendations for a budget saltwater aquarium build for beginners. Not only are there a ton of potential issues with real harvested live rock like pests, diseases, die off, etc the costs per lb for harvested live rock do not fit in the parameters of a budget build. We suggest when your just starting out on a budget that you use standard dry rock and go from there. Once a viewer is more established in the hobby and understands the positives & negatives of harvested live rock it's definitely an option.

[@charlesweibel]

@@Saltwateraquariumdotcom I don't agree with all that you said. Personally I probably wouldn't even be in the hobby had I not started with live rock and was amazed at what actually lived in the rock. I do agree that dry rock is better in certain situations. Also, the cost of real live rock is really not that much of an issue when compared to say real reef rock.

[@mercyk211]

Charles Weibel I hate you

[@ultraArcite]

@@charlesweibel everyone is entitled to their opinion, however yours is not helpful