| That is great!
If you have the patience, you can buy mostly base rock and just a few pounds of cured live rock, you can cure it all together in a tank together. In my area, live rock costs about 5 or 6 dollars a pound and base rock is less than 2 or 3 dollars so there is a lot of money to save by doing this. It may take two months or more to get it all cured, but in my opinion, you could still add fish before that when the nitrogen cycle is complete. I had mostly cured live rock, but still a few pounds of base rock and you could not tell the difference anymore.
You can also save money on live sand by getting mostly 'unlive' sand and just a few pounds of live sand. The same thing as the live rock would apply here and eventually it would all be live sand. In my opinion, sand is the best way to go, especially in saltwater tanks, because it is easier to keep wastes and detrius from accumulating and becoming a nitrate factory. Sand also offers more surface area than gravel for bacteria, but not everyone thinks sand looks good in a tank and so it would be up to you, of course. I can say though that sand in a salty tank is much easier than sand in freshwater tanks. You do not have to clean live sand at all and in fact, that would defeat the entire purpose of the 'live' part! |