help with live sand

[Bendecko]

I know this is posted somewhere else, I just couldn't seem to find it. I am starting a 55 gallon tank and had a few questions:

-What is the least amount of sand I can have and still have it be very beneficial. (#of pounds)

-What is a good texture for the sand. DOes this look good?

Hard to tell in picture, but do I need a gravel texture, a sand texture, a mixture of both?

- Finally does anyone have a GOOD, least expensive way to seed the sand into live sand.

I am trying to keep the price of all of this down, but in NO way want to sacarfise quality. Thanks for your help

 

[danmhippo]

You can go completely without! I have seen 5, 6 or 7 years reef tanks completly bare bottom.

If you find adding LS pleasing to your taste, I'd say about 4-5" mostly fine grade mixed about 10% CC to prevent total compactness.

 

[kaotica]

a simple picture will not suffice... you have to look at the chemical composition of the sand. it may contain silicates or high calcium levels. that is why most people order it or get ot from an lfs. U can usually get LS at the LFS for about 1$ a # and if is not properly seeded, the liverock u will eventually add will help. then you can get stuff like the GARF grunge to give it a kick as well.

 

[Bendecko]

I do want to have sand for the look as well as having the organisms in it. The picture of sand i posted is from a site that sells it, and that sand is a aragonite gravel(which from what i read is very good). So i guess my question is, do i want sand-sand, or is this graval-sand better. Do I want to buy some sand-sand and some gravel-sand. What do most other people have?
1:

2:

3:

 

[Bendecko]

What is the LFS?, sorry new!

 

[skeeley]

Would you mind posting the site address of the pictures you've posted? I'd be interested in checking out the site.
Thanks.

 

[Bendecko]

These are just from petco.com, did a search on coral and they have a selection of crushed corals. Prices seem decent, and 20% and 30% of coupons always help.

 

[zt allstar]

LFS-local fish store

 

[Bendecko]

LFS, makes sense. Well my local Fish Store charges $6 a # for really bad looking stuff, so either I drive or order online.

 

[pez]

You can buy some southdown sand from Home Depot and seed it with some live sand. That seems to be the way most people here are going.

-Tom

 

[gargoyle]

What are you trying to accomplish in the end? Will this be a FO(fish only), FOWLR(fish only with live rock), or reef? Are you looking to get a DSB(deep sand bed) going or do you just prefer the look of sand to CC(crushed coral)?