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Live rock will have a die off and provide the ammonia needed. Generally 1 to 2 pounds per gal of water is a good amount.

As for sand, it's your choice, I've seen white, brown, and black, even blue. If you want a natural look, then brown is your best choice. You can also mix, I have one tank with white and black mixed. About 4 to 1 white/black is a good ratio.



Dan

I started off by adding 8 pounds of live rock and 20 pounds of live sand to my 15g nano, it took about a week to cycle. I then added 16 pounds more of live rock, so I had to wait another week for the tank to cycle again. When I was doing research on cycling it sounded really complicated and confusing. Once you add the live rock and live sand sit back and test the water every other day or so and it's done.
I had originally gotten crushed coral for substrate because it was so cheap but many people advised against it. I ended up getting live sand and it looks a lot better.
I have a pair of percula clowns in my tank and I used a bag of live sand that I got at Petco. It looks great and I used a blue backround that compliments the orange in the clowns.

Nemo