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hi all
i have a mini reef 160l all in boxes at home.
Im going to start off with the standard equipment for awhile and slowly upgrade from there.
What i need to buy now is some sand, salt, wavemaker and rock.
can anyone recommend
- salt, so many options which have the best reputation for value for money, etc
- sand. who knew there was so many options!? im leaning towards white. but what sand did you use that it didnt get swished around by wave maker etc? how many mm? and brand? where it was bought from
- rock. Looking at some dry rock. who makes the best for filtration etc? value for money? where to buy it from?
- wavemaker. again best value for money and reliability etc?

Thanks!!

ok salt .. best reputation value for money? start off with Red Sea and if you like, carry on .. if you don't, do your research then.



aragonite sand .. caribsea is good ...
ok if you set your mind on dry rock, then do dry rock .. it's good that it doesn't have potential bad hitchhiker but it's dry .. it doesn't have live in it .. i myself start up with live rocks.
I don't know if that applies to dry rock but always on the look out for the most porous one.
wavemaker .. best value for money (perhaps not so much reliability) is Jebao wavemakers .. but then money vs reliability ... they go hand-in-hand ... if you want reliability but slightly on the expensive side .. Vortech.

All the best!

Hi there,

Agree with Red Sea Salt, was the best 10 yrs ago and still has a very good reputation. What does your local marine aquarium stockist have however, as consistency is key?

I just bought 2mm coral sand from my local, washed it repeatedly to remove all the silt and it seems OK. I'm only running a shallow bed for aesthetics.

I also bought a Coral Box QP-9 wavemaker, seems OK, was cheap at $90 something dollars, will do the job. I think Votech is overpriced and I honestly don't read great things about them being quiet. The concept however is fantastic. My 2 cents.

Regarding the substrate (sand, or whatever you are using for the bottom) you need to consider the requirements of your inhabitants and what your main purpose of the substrate is. If it’s just for a bit of decoration make sure it isn’t deep. As for inhabitants, have in mind whether you want to keep any sand sifting gobies, for example; and if you do, you need to know what grain sizes are appropriate for the inhabitants (like gobies) that will be interacting with your substrate. I personally would not recommend sea stars and cucumbers for beginners.