Hi all I was really interested in Digitalstorms first question about LR/LS quantites. I have just purchased a tl-550 and am trying to research this. There is a lot of contradictory info about LS quantities.

My plan was to originally purchase 10lbs of live sand and 10kg of LR and let it cycle then look to add a couple more kg;s of LR and LR rubble.

Is this a good idea?

My orca is the 58 litre one, not sure what yours holds(is it 128?) when I first set mine up I added 20lb live sand(made it about an inch deep) and 6kg of live rock. I wasn't happy with the initial 6kg it looked a bit sparse, I'll leave a link to it before I added another 4-5kg.

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... m/photo.php?lid=727&cid=6

Thanks for the pics. Beautiful tank and I love the arch effect that you have created!

Yeah mine is the 128litre tank so from your pics I would guestimate that I need at least 10-12KG of LR and at least 20lbs Live Sand if not more.

Not seen the actual tank yet - collecting on sat.

triede searching for clean tank to no avail.

any ideas for cleaning if required and any particularly important questions I should be asking (meds etc)?

With Live rock its 1kg of rock to 2 uk Gallons,

Sand is dept how deep you want it !

some have it an inch deep, some have ot 2-3 inchies deep

there is a calculator on other forums, but i dont wish to name names

You should really have less than 1.5 inch sand bed, or over 4 inches - nothing in between. The larger option is helpful for removing nitrates, but do some research first.

Eh? could you explain why not to have >1.5 & <4. Ta.

An inch or less sand is fine for the Berlin method of filtration where the live rock is the basis of filtration. If you go much higher it is classed as deep sand bed filtration which is different altogether. I don't know very much about this method but I don't think you are supposed to disturb the sand bed once its in place i.e no burrowing fish/snails. The deeper the sand bed is the more chances of getting trapped hydrogen sulfide, which when released into the tank can be very harmful to inhabitants.

Cleaning tank - if it's been used before it could have coraline algae deposits on glass and back panel. Tip the tank over on its side and soak the areas with normal household white vinegar, leave it on for a while and it should scrape away easily. Give it a good rinse afterwards with some plain warm tap water and let it dry. If you want you can soak the tank in Miltons fluid (the stuff for sterilizing baby's bottles)then give it a good rinse afterwards.