# Marine Aquariums > Marine aquarium Set Up >  Substrate advice

## SmokeOneLV

The plan was to setup a fowlr tank on a budget and upgrade piece by piece as I progress to a reef in about 2 years (my kids are young can't afford to feed the reef and pay for daycare). Right now i have around 100lbs or more of dry rock (use to be live 8 years ago). Was thinking about going with live sand to help seed the rock and to feed a diamond back that I would like to get but that quickly adds a couple hundred dollars to the plan. I was wondering would crush coral work for a diamond back because a guy in town has crushed coral for sale that would only be $100 to make a  1" bed. Or should I jist scrap the diamond back and go with the bare bottom and use that money in another area. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

This is the 125g as of tonight. 

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## Gary R

I would personally go with sand m8 as the diamond watchman goby love's to burrow in the substrate to make a refuge and this helps in keeping the substrate well oxygenated as well.

Crush coral is not the way forward for this fish ....they are a lovely fish as i'v had one now for the last 10 years.

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*SmokeOneLV* (19-07-2017)

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## SmokeOneLV

> I would personally go with sand m8 as the diamond watchman goby love's to burrow in the substrate to make a refuge and this helps in keeping the substrate well oxygenated as well.
> 
> Crush coral is not the way forward for this fish ....they are a lovely fish as i'v had one now for the last 10 years.


Thank you at risk of sounding crazy can I just get some sand from the Los Angeles beaches? Lol just headed to LA this weekend and it crossed my mind.

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## Gary R

Yes i cant see why not, but watch out for any pollution or oils around were you are getting it from and keep away from the fine sand  .....then it will need a good clean with water before using it in your tank....make sure you are aloud to take it from the beach as well  :Wink:

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*SmokeOneLV* (19-07-2017)

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## SmokeOneLV

> Yes i cant see why not, but watch out for any pollution or oils around were you are getting it from and keep away from the fine sand  .....then it will need a good clean with water before using it in your tank....make sure you are aloud to take it from the beach as well


Lol I was half way joking but now I'm going to look into it. That would save alot of money. I was told it's about 2lbs of sand per gallon for a 2" sand bed. That's over 200 lbs of sand yea that would hurt the pocket. Thanks  :lol:  I can't belive im really going to check into this but it would move me way down the time line to getting my first fish! Could use that money on a skimmer or canister filter. 

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*Gary R* (19-07-2017)

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## lost

Skimmer  :lol:  nice looking tank make sure we get plenty of pics

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## SmokeOneLV

Yes I will be adding a skimmer. Kinda of mixed on adding a skimmer and a canister filter or just running a skimmer. Or being on a budget and moving slow with the setup what should I add first? Some say the canister so it can get cycled with the tank. Any advice?

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## Gary R

As you have not got any fish or corals in there at the moment i would get the canister fitted first, as this should help with flow and making the water move around the tank.

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*SmokeOneLV* (26-07-2017)

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