# 60 Gallon ! :)



## Inrin (Apr 7, 2010)

I am getting a 60 gallon saltwater aquarium very soon and have been reading up on basics. I want coral and live rock in my tank so i guess that would be considered a reef tank? and i want a pair of ocellaris clownfish. and a devil lionfish?! is the way to go fishless cycling?! i know i must add live rock after its been up and running for a while and bit at a time right.? how much sand would i need? what kind? and how much liverock should i put in a 60gallon? :fish:


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

As far as I know about the Devil lionfish your going to need a very well established tank because they are very sensitive to poor water quality.
Have you done any research yourself? Do you understand the cost involved? The corals you want? 
You need a pound per gallon of live rock, the more the merrier.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The lion will eat the clowns.

You add all the rock at once, not a little at a time, and at the start, not later. The rock is the biofilter, so without it in the tank, the tank can't very well cycle, can it?

Fishless cycling is different with a reef tank. You won't have fish in it while the rock cures, but it's not "fishless cycling" in the usual sense. The rocks can be considered fish of a sort.
If you can find pre-cured rock, you can save yourself a lot of time and hassle.

1lb per gallon of sand is a good amount. It won't look like much. Most of the beneficial bioactivity occurring in livesand takes place in the top inch, so having it any deeper is a waste. On the other hand, you might want to use the deep sand bed method and use 4 inches. I personally would never do this, but some people like it.
Put the rocks in first and then pour the sand around them to prevent having rocks sitting on sand, suffocating the sand. It also helps to prevent rockslides if the sand should shift.


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