Saltwater Decor

[sprintguy]

Hi everybody, I have recently decided to set up a 60 Gal fish only SW tank and was curious about inexpensive decorations for it. I am wanting to have it be as natural as possible (no sunken treasure ships or castles). I have seen inexpensive driftwood and "Texas Holley Rock" on ebay. In both cases, the seller specifies that they are great for cichlid tanks. I am guessing that both the rock and the driftwood would dissolve in SW tanks. I am eventually going to get live rock, but right now I am trying to minimize initial startup costs.

Also, any special procedures or additives needed for using well water? Is it really necessary that I buy water from my LFS?

[Baby_Baby]

Welcome to the forums!

[Fishfirst]

If you want the most inexpensive decoration you can get, do agracrete rock. holy rock is usually an algae magnet but works, and also lace rock does too. Agracrete rock is made by you! You just need some portland cement, oyster shells, and some sand (preferably argonite sand). If you want coraline algae to grow on it, you should also add some plastic shavings (promotes coraline growth). My recipe for agracrete rock is:
1 part portland cement
1 part plastic shavings
3.5 parts oyster shells
.5 parts sand
mix these up and make them into any shape you want (preferably by creating them in a "sandbox" where you can dig out all kinds of crazy shapes. The idea behind this rock is that you seed it with liverock. If you have the lights for live rock (around 3 watts/gallon with pc's vho's t-5's or metal halide lighting which most likely you don't have with fish only tanks, there really isn't much difference between a Fish Only with Live Rock and Reef, you would need the same amount of light) the stuff from the live rock will colonize the agracrete rock within 4-6 months. (note: agracrete rock does not have the benefital bacteria on it at first that liverock does so don't expect it to filter the tank right away)
As for the water issue. if you really don't want algae to get out of hand I'd have at least one of the main filtration methods (protien skimmer, refuigum, sump wet/dry) and ro/di water (which might be what your lfs sells). You can get a ro/di unit for around 100 bucks (possibly lower on e-bay). If your lfs sells rodi water for quite a pretty penny, then it might be useful to get an rodi unit or stop into walmart and get distilled water for about 58 cents per gallon.