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[Big John]

I gave away my 50 gallon when moving down here last year, and was considering setting up a native species tank here, and was planning to use live sand/rock from the local area as well.

Have any of you guys used local live sand?

What results did you get?

Is the sand down around big shell okay to use, or should I use sand from another source?

Where is a good place to gather live rock in the area?

Thanks!
_________________
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke and hungry the rest of his life!

John Sullivan
Native Corpus Christian
Currently Displaced in San Antonio

[bryanccfshr1]

I would collect the polished broken scallop shells from big shell and use them. what exactley do you mean by "live" sand anyway?

I had to maintain a native species tank in Marine Sciences classes more than 15 years ago. Good luck.. getting a balanced ecosystem in even a 200 gallon tank is difficult. And if you get frustrated and need to clean the tank out just get a couple of pin perch.

[HWK]

I don't think you will have any problems using sand off of PINS. There might be some pollutants in it, but if your using native fish, sea fans, ... they should be use to it. Just make sure you keep it wet/submerged at all times. All you are looking for is bacteria and it should be loaded with it. Not sure were you can find live rock in down south. HWK

[Big John]

Thanks HWK. That's what I was under the impression of.

I have had previous success with creating mini sea environments using Figi live rock and sands. Had the 50 gallon running steady for over 6 years as a reef tank. Wasn't sure if the local stuff would work or not, but will give it a go.

Byran - live means full of macro and micro bacteria and algaes. Specifically, you want coraline algaes and its cousins. These keep the water quality in your tank better than any filter system ever could by replicating nature.

The key, I found out before is being patient. Start by adding your live sand and cycle the tank for ammonia and nitrites. Takes 14 to 30 days. Then add 5 lbs of live rock at a time and cycle. It take alot of time but doing it right the first time is easier than starting over when a tank turns over.


Anyone else out there tried the local sand or live rocks?
_________________
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke and hungry the rest of his life!

John Sullivan
Native Corpus Christian
Currently Displaced in San Antonio

[Guest]

That's very interesting. Your post is tempting me to try again once I get settled down.

[ShawnQ]

BigJohn,

Head down to Port A or Port Mansfield (while you are on BigShell), and carry a hammer and chisle.

Take a few corner chunks off of a submerged Jetty rock, as well as some of the native saltwater. Be sure to grab a few native sea urchins off the rocks while you are down there...and possibly net a few of the cool jetty fish.

There are also a few rocks in the water in this area that are smaller and would require less work. Look around the jetties on a calm day, you will see them. The hard part will be finding a calm day

Just a thought (or three).

Later
SQ

[Mike S]

John...Talk to Sharon at Clems Marina she has 2 or 3 tanks and raises
everything from Seahorses to Butterfly fish. All have been caught in CC
Bay. I gave her a Remora that I took off a Redfish last May and it's still growing. she really knows her stuff when it comes to that type of tank and
marine life.

Mike S

[Big John]

Thanks guys.

Mike, I will go by and talk to her at Clems. I wasn't aware we had butterfly fish in the bay!!! I knew we had seahorses. I had a few when I was 12 we caught seining for shrimp next to the JFK causeway.

My first experience with a Salt tank was using locally caught fish in a regualr aquarium set up with fitlers and gravel when I was a kid. Caught gobies and little pin perch, the seahorses and other fish. Many died at first while I was learnng to care for them.

The most interesting fish came in with the Sargassum seaweed. I actually caught and took home a Sargassum fish once that ate everything else in the tank in about a week!

Papmered pets, when they were still in the mall, gave me $60 for that fish!
_________________
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke and hungry the rest of his life!

John Sullivan
Native Corpus Christian
Currently Displaced in San Antonio

[Mr. Champ]

I collected live sand and rock from down at PINS for my last saltwater set -up. Worked out well. My goal was to establish an environment like PINS and only introduce species from that area. I would recommend getting sand from the little shell area, and dig deep. You will get all sorts of crazy critters. I spent a little time at Port M jetties and with some buddies helping, collected snails, crabs, anemones, and quite a few molly miller blennies. Take a cast net along and try the pinches. At one time, I had some sort of banded jack, a juvy pomp?, watermelon shad (very delicate), and some other random creatures. It was a lot of fun, but be aware: I was told once or twice that removing anything of structure from that park or others could be against the law.
-Cheers-
Champ
_________________
Everyone should believe in something.... I believe I'll have another.

[Yankee]

I have two native tanks running at my house and want to do another. I go and collect at night on the jetties in the tidal pools. There is a bunch of Sergent Majors, blennys and goby's you can find there. I also have a toad fish that I caught down there too. I set my tanks up with live sand and mixed my own saltwater. I do have a 90 Reef that none of the native stuff goes in there. I will be down there this year collecting again during the day since I have snorkeling gear and hoping to have scuba soon. Here is a link to my tanks http://yankee2003.bizland.com/mysaltwateraquarium/index.html

[rabbit]

Those are some nice tanks. Where did you find the coral life and rocks?
_________________
Fishing and Kayaking its a rough life but somebody has to do it.

[Yankee]

The 90 from the local pet store but the 15 and 37 from Port A Jetties.

[Big John]

Yankee,

I noticed the sand in the native tanks is very white and course. Did you buy it or did you gather it from the wild?

BTW - nice tanks!!!

To bad the picture of the pumping xenia didn't come out as clear as some of the others, but you can still tell what it is.

Mr. Champ,

Thanks the recommendations. Will give it a try.

I had one fish that I caught and flushed the same day. I caught it with a scoop net at the jetties. It was very angualr in shape, like a trigger, but not so narrow. The fish was marbled brown and tan, with bright red eyes. It had big ugly teeth too, for its 1" size. I put him in the tank, and in no less than 10minutes, he went to "grazing" on the other fish in the tank! This little dude was mean. He would just swim up to the other fish and chomp a little piece out of them.

Have never been able to identify that fish to this day.

Anyway, if I ever manage to catch another one, he's going back in.

I don't think the park rangers care if you take small rocks or a bucket of sand home. I bet that refers to larger amounts of sand - like a truck load, or taking home an entire 10 ton granite rock from the jetty.

Of course, I could be wrong. You can get fined in Hawaii for even taking a little tiny bit of black sand with you.
_________________
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke and hungry the rest of his life!

John Sullivan
Native Corpus Christian
Currently Displaced in San Antonio

[Yankee]

I bought it from the store.