# Depth of sand to lb ratio



## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

Good morning,

Does anyone have a good conversion for pounds of live sand to cubic inches or cubic feet? I am looking to do a 4" sand bed in a 16 gallon nano I am starting and can't remember the conversion (if I ever knew it. It might have been trial and error for me, lol).

Thanks for any help.


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Sand Bed Calculator


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

Reefing Madness said:


> Sand Bed Calculator


Thanks. I found a few online and was getting mixed results. 40 lbs+ was the mean, but some were saying almost 60! I figured maybe someone would remember how many bags it took to get to their current sand depth. 

I think that I will throw two bags in there. I am doing 25 lbs of dry rock and will pick up some rubble to seed it. I am figuring a 16 gallon nano with a couple of clowns, a few gobies and maybe another small centerpiece fish. I am not looking to fill it with fish persay, and I will probably do softies and polyps as corals.

I will be running an empty canister Fluval 204 (or 205, I don't remember the model) and a Hydor 240 nano for circulation. I think I will be throwing carbon and rock rubble in the empty Fluval in lieu of a skimmer.


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Good luck. Your stocking list is already to big, considering rock and sand depth, yiur not going to have a lot of room for fish, and ones rated for a larger system right off the bat.


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

Reefing Madness said:


> Good luck. Your stocking list is already to big, considering rock and sand depth, yiur not going to have a lot of room for fish, and ones rated for a larger system right off the bat.


Thanks.

I think that a pair of False Percs and a Yasha (or Wheeler's Shrimp or Catalina Goby) would do ok in a tank this size. Neither of those fish tend to swim more than a few inches at time. I am not looking to put more than three fish in the tank. I can understand that my previous post eluded to that, I misworded it. I apologize for that, but I was really looking for suggestions on what fish will accent this tank well. While I appreciate your advisement of what _not_ to do, I would appreciate stocking suggestions as well. 

If it were fish that needed to really "swim" and not essentially hover in one area, I would reconsider the size of this tank. But I do feel comfortable with the selection I mentioned in this post. I do understand the lingo, so don't think it necessary to dumb down any suggestions you have. I have kept various saltwater tanks over the past few years from 20 to 150 gallons and feel I have the know-how to acheive success in this tank.

Thanks again for all your help.


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

> Tank details: 240g Mixed Reef. List gettin a bit long
> http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/...eefingMadness/


Nice looking tank by the way...


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

skip the catalina goby unless you plan on running a chiller, they only survive long term in cooler water


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

Thanks Jon. How you been?


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

living the dream :wink: good to see you back around, hope your doing well too. please keep us updated with a tank thread if ya could.

and if you want my input on fish, go with the clowns, yasha and a pistol shrimp. with this size tank and sandbed i personally think the shrimp and goby will be a perfect "centerpiece"


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

Thanks. All is well. My wife and I just celebrated the birth of our second child: Warren Emerson. He is eleven weeks old this Sunday.

I forgot about the Yasha/Pistol combo. I think I will go that route with a couple of False Percs.

This tank was a Q tank I had before my 150 nuked when we had that power outage here in CT last year. I lost everything, so I sold off the 150 and almost all my equipment. My wife was happy with the $75 a month reduction in the electric bill, lol...

I ordered sand, rock, a Hydor nano powerhead, a 100w heater and a thermometer from Fosters yesterday. I assume it will get here next week. The rock is "reef-friendly" or "zero-impact" according to Fosters, so I think that means it was not harvested from our depleting reef system. Do you think the live sand would be enough to seed it, or should I get some seasoned live rock? I have a buddy running a 30 reef and a 90 FO that I am sure he would let me borrow something from (I just don't want any bad hitchhikers from his tank)... I personally feel the sand would be good enough, but let me know your input on it.

I figure I will be running this tank for _at least_ a month before I put an animal in it. I plan on trying for mostly aquacultured creatures, but I don't know the reality of that with a pistol shrimp/goby combo.

I do plan on low-light corals, mostly polyps and softies, maybe an LPS (that would be down the road). Do you think a fixture like Dual T5HO will work, or should I go to the Quad T5HO? I know that more watts per gallon are always a good thing, but I don't want to overpower the tank...

Thanks again!


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

have any meds been used while the tank was used as a QT? what are the dementions of this tank? 
the rock you got is dry rock? if so, i would let that cure a bit then eventually add a small piece of rock or a few pieces of rubble. you'd get a nice mixture of life off that compared to a bag of live sand sold out of drfosters. if you could get a small culture of sand from a tank thats usually a good thing too. ive got a good population of spaghetti worms in my sand and thats just not something that comes out of a bag of "live sand" as well as pods and so on. i would just be sure its coming from a good friends tank, and even then inspect (QT, dip, treat if need be ) everything before putting it into your system.


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

This was just a Q tank. I only used hyposalinity as a treatment method in this tank. 

The dimensions of the 16 bow are 20x18x13 (12 at the walls, because this a bow). I am thinking of LED lights. Marineland makes a Reef capable 18" model. 

http://www.marineland.com/sites/marineland/products/detail.aspx?id=4632

Sorry about the link, can't hyperlink on my phone. 

My buddy is going to trade me some live rock for dry rock, and give me a scoop of his sand when I start this.


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