Adding the Live Rock and the Live Sand

Up to this point in the discussions on the Berlin and Live Sand methods we have reviewed the advantages of such filtration, and its benefits over what older methods of running aquariums offered in this respect. We looked at the challenges that hobbyists were faced with if they decided to use this method, and discussed various advantages of this filtration approach.

In short, this new method offers a level of water quality purification that is superior that what we were obtaining in the past, regardless of what we were doing, and regardless of what kind of filtration method the tank was equipped with. Even what was considered "advanced" as little as two years ago, is now just another method.

This does not mean that those other methods do not offer you the ability to run a successful aquarium. By all means they do. The difference between the two is that with the combination Berlin and Live Sand methods you will obtain a level of water quality that is far higher. Better water quality will benefit all the animals in your aquarium because the environment they will be living in is of a much higher quality.

Since maximizing the quality of the milieu, or habitat, is the key to being successful, the suggestion is that you seriously consider using this method, whether you are setting up an new tank, or whether you are converting an existing aquarium. The advantages are the same and the method described here can be used in both situations.

Let us take a look at the steps needed to set up such a system and sort of bring together everything we have discussed so far and put it into practice.

To set up this kind of an aquarium you will need to order live rock and live sand and you will need to find a reputable dealer who sells high quality products. It is important to start off with the best quality you can obtain. If not, you will find that you may be facing problems you had not expected.

Good quality rock is porous and allows for large amounts of bacterial growth. Good quality rock is also relatively clean of unwanted material and organisms. There is no set standard of course but reputable dealers only sell good quality. It pays to deal with them.

Collecting rock and sand yourself is not really an option. What you can collect yourself is normally a lot too close to shore and may contain harmful elements, bacteria, and possibly other disease inducing parasites and viruses. Unless you are a diver and can go off shore and collect from a nearby reef, it is better to buy the live rock. The same applies to live sand.

It is not uncommon when you collect live sand from close to shore, to introduce "Vibrio", a virus, into the tank. Vibrio easily leads to rapid tissue necrosis in small polyp stony corals (SPS corals), the main reason why hobbyists loose these types of corals.

Because pollution near the shoreline may be high or higher, anything collected from such an area is probably not suitable for your aquarium.

Once you have selected a reputable dealer the next step is to decide how much live rock and live sand you need for your aquarium.

Here are some guidelines:

Use between 1 and 1.5 lbs of live rock per gallon of water in the tank Order enough live sand to have a layer on the bottom that is at least 2 to 3 inches thick (I will give you a formula to calculate how much you need to order based on the size of the tank in this article)

Note that live rock will need to cure and cycle, meaning it will need to go through a period during which animal life on it dies, and bacteria start to grow in the porous areas of the rock.

That die off will create pollution in the tank. This will be in the form of ammonia and nitrite. For as long these are present, no animals should be added to the tank as they will be severely stressed if you do, and may die or, at best, break out with parasites or become otherwise diseased.

Dealing with the results of stress is not necessary if you follow simple procedures and cycle the rock first, meaning let it go through the necessary die-off period and let the filtration system build up a bacterial level that neutralizes the ammonia and nitrite before you add animals.

Before adding the live rock to the tank however, you can greatly improve its quality and reduce the amount of die-off that will occur by cleaning it properly, outside of the tank.

This is not difficult to do at all. What I suggest is that you use a large tarp or a plastic sheet, and place all the live rock on it. Let the live rock sit there and spray it with some salt water from time to time so it does not dry out. Use salt water from the tank to do so and use a bottle with a spray nozzle.

Several things will now be possible:

All your live rock is spread out, one piece next to another, on the plastic or other water-resistant material you have placed it on. You can now look at each piece and remove anything that looks as if it is dying, or will die when you place it in the aquarium. Sponges, for instance, need to be removed. They will not survive if you leave them on the rock and, when they die, they will severely pollute the aquarium water and prolong the cycle. As the live rock remains out of the water and while you are in the process of cleaning it, undesirable animals such Bristle worms, Mantis shrimp, Stone crabs, and so on, may start moving or show themselves, allowing you to remove them from the rock. This is a real benefit as it is far simpler to do so when the rock is not in the aquarium. Since you do not want any of these in your aquarium, removing them is important. You will also be able to look at the shape and size of all the rock and form yourself an idea as to how and where you are going to place all the live rock in the aquarium. This helps a great deal in shaping the look of your tank in advance. Once the live rock is in, it is not that easy to make large changes in how it is positioned. Because the rock is still out of the water you can clean, it and clean it even more, until you are satisfied that you have removed all the unwanted material and life forms (sponges as alreadyindicated but most of the algae too as they will probably not survive).

The exception to this is coralline algae, which should of course be left on the rock. Coralline algae is very desirable in reef aquariums. Note that your aquarium should be ready to receive the rock and sand you now have. The tank should not be full with water. When you add rock and sand, the water level will automatically rise. Fill the tank up to about half it height and have some reserve water. You may need it when all the rock and sand have been added, to top the aquarium off to the right level Have all your filtration in place and make sure that the protein skimmer is in place. You will start the skimmer as soon as all the live rock and live sand has been placed in the tank.

Now that you have cleaned the rock, and now that you have an idea of how to place it in the tank, you are ready for the next step. This involves adding the sand to the aquarium.

It is today's practice not to use the plenum method any longer (the method that was advocated by Dr Jaubert of the Aqurarium at Monaco whereby sand was placed on a grid). This left an area underneath the grid where only water was present. Originally, this was seen as a good way to operate live sand aquariums because of the oxygen transfer between the water in the aquarium and the water in the plenum.

It has been found since, that the plenum becomes a repository for nutrients that are not desirable (nitrates, phosphates and silicates especially). These nutrients could leach back into the tank and create water quality problems. This is a matter of debate among many hobbyists but the tendency nowadays is not to use a plenum, a method that I adhere to as well. I have written articles on the subject, based on extensive testing, that demonstrate how high these nutrient levels can rise.

They rise to such a high level of concentration that one certainly does not want to run the risk of seeing these nutrients transfer back into the aquarium water.

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