New guy, Rock and sand questions

[mseepman]

Welcome aboard! You'll find that people here are great for helping you get into the hobby.

I agree that there are many differing opinions on sand bottoms. I really like my shallow sand bottom in my tank, but since adding SPS coral, I did have to up the flow and therefore my sand it a little messed up now.

In my opinion, Live sand is the way to go. It brings with it a lot of the life that makes for a healthy tank. Be careful with a sand-sifting starfish as I had one in a bigger tank than you and eventually it still starved to death. I like sand-sifting gobies or 2-spots even as an alternative. Just remember that a fish that sifts will lift the sand up and sometimes cover anything that you have resting in the sandbed (an annoyance to clams for example)

Rubbermaids are your friends and bad things happen so plan for everything that you can. Also, keep in mind that cannister filters (unless cleaned regularly and religiously) can be an ugly trap for things that will make a mess of your tank.

Lastly, buy the best light you can afford, as you will always see that everyone here is moving up the light scale regularly.

Enjoy and good luck!