Caribasea VS Southdown for a display

[zanemoseley]

ok I'm only gonna have about 1" of sand in my 75 reef tank when I start up and I was wondering what are the pros/cons to using an expensive argonite sand VS. southdown or a similar cheap tropical sand, are they both white in color, does either resist discoloration better than the other, do critters prefer either over the other? I'd like to use the southdown over the argonite to save money but I don't wanna skimp and end up with ugly sand, btw I'm gonna have a fuge with 6" DSB with southdown and macros for nitrate exportation

 

[fishman830]

LS is a natural filter, although i dont have it it looks great to, i myself have about 50 lbs of caribean play sand in my tanks

 

[bang guy]

IMO Southdown is a good sand for a DSB because of the varied grain size. I don't believe it's good for a shallow bed though. I would suggest 1/2" of seafloor grade sand (course grain).
The "Premium" sand sold on this site would be perfect for a shallow bed and it will be full of life right out of the box.
Both of the sands you mentioned are aragonite and will stay white.

 

[zanemoseley]

i'm only gonna be able to get about 10lb of LS to add to the dead sand, I'm just concerned that if I go with the cheaper sand that it may not look as good as a expensive argonite sand but I want some opinions

 

[zanemoseley]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
IMO Southdown is a good sand for a DSB because of the varied grain size. I don't believe it's good for a shallow bed though. I would suggest 1/2" of seafloor grade sand (course grain).
The "Premium" sand sold on this site would be perfect for a shallow bed and it will be full of life right out of the box.
Both of the sands you mentioned are aragonite and will stay white.
what size sand would you reccomend for the 1" bed, there's a web site that I can get pure argonite sand that sizes from .18mm-1.2mm in size and costs slightly under $1 a pound after shipping, I also can get 25lb bags of Caribasea sugar sized sand at the LFS for $27 I think it may have been an oolitic sand but I don't know what that means

 

[bang guy]

The Pure Aragonite sand sounds just like cleansed Southdown.
I can't recommend any sand for a 1" bed. I don't believe that's a viable depth for a sand bed.
Oolitic = Egg shaped. In the Carribean and in the Great Salt Lake Calcium & Carbonate can precipitate out of solution just like hail. This creates sherical sand grains.
The CaribSea Sugar sand I tested was not Oolitic, perhaps they have changed.

 

[zanemoseley]

sorry bang I confused myself, I meant to say 2" of sand for the bed, I don't know if this changes anything as far as you reccomending anything but which would be better, 90lb of a high grade argonite sand like caribasea and 10lb of LS or 60lb of southdown and 40lb of LS, I just wanna get the best bang for my buck for the sand

 

[bang guy]

For 2" I would go with Southdown + Live sand mostly because of how much more LS you can afford.

 

[zanemoseley]

should I rinse the southdown to reduce the clouding of the water? also do I put the southdown in first and put the LS on top or should I mix the southdown and LS together

 

[bang guy]

It will cloud no matter what you do.
I would suggest adding the Southdown to the new tank, add saltwater and let the water get really cloudy. Remove the foam (mud foams) from the water surface and add your live rock. Let the tank cycle and then add the live sand. Feed the live sand until you get fish.

 

[zanemoseley]

well I just got back from Lowe's and no southdown, they had bags of "premium play sand' it had a picture of a blue castle on the front with a flag so could it be the newcastle I've heard about, on the back the company's name was "something??? mountain silica" so I guess that means it might be silica sand or the same company sells silica sand also, it didn't say on the bag if it was silica or argonite based though, it cost about $2.80 for 50 pounds
Bang Guy
so bang you're saying when I add the southdown the water will froth/foam on the surface of the water and I should scoop that out, so I should add the southdown then cycle, should I put LR in at the same time as the southdown, wouldn't adding the LS after the cycle produce another amonia spike?

 

[touchdown34]

Also, how do you know when to add more LS...and when you add LS, do you take out the same amount you put in?
Sorry for adding this to your post...it is just I had the same question as you and this would complete my inquiry...sorry again.
Tim

 

[zanemoseley]

you don't take out sand when you put LS in the tank because it will seed the dead sand, I had thought you put all sand, LS, and LR in at the same time to start your cycle until Bang Guy said different

 

[touchdown34]

so if it seeds the dead sand, will you ever have to replace it? If so, how much do you add to lets say your size of a tank?
By the way, thanks so much for your reply!
Tim

 

[zanemoseley]

ok think of it this way you have sand A and sand B, if A is dead and B is alive and you mix the two the bacteria and micro-organisms from B spread to A and multiply, after the bacteria and organism are living in all of the sand then its not gonna suddenly become dead sand unless you take it out of you tank and dry it out, People call it "seeding" dead sand with live sand because you are converting the dead sand to live sand with the original live sand

 

[touchdown34]

Yes, I get that when you "seed" the dead sand. I guess I will ask my question this way. Once you seed the dead sand, will it ever die? If so, there will come a point when you keep adding sand. If it does not die then awesome....no more worries. However if it does should you remove the same amount of dead sand before adding additional live sand if you are happy with the current sand base?
I hope I am making sense...forgive me if not...and give me a pail and bucket to play in the sand...lol
Take care,
Tim

 

[cprdnick]

Originally posted by zanemoseley
well I just got back from Lowe's and no southdown, they had bags of "premium play sand' it had a picture of a blue castle on the front with a flag so could it be the newcastle I've heard about, on the back the company's name was "something??? mountain silica" so I guess that means it might be silica sand or the same company sells silica sand also, it didn't say on the bag if it was silica or argonite based though, it cost about $2.80 for 50 pounds
OK, I used to work at Lowes, and I wanna tell you about the "premium Play Sand". It is manufactured by Quickrete (I personally would not want anything made by a concrete manufacturer in my tank). Second it is just rinsed and washed. It's not sterile. I'm still in the process of finding a good corporate dealer of southdown or something like it. But I wouldn't buy the stuff at Lowes for my tank if it was a penny a pound.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
I would suggest adding the Southdown to the new tank, add saltwater and let the water get really cloudy. Remove the foam (mud foams) from the water surface and add your live rock. Let the tank cycle and then add the live sand. Feed the live sand until you get fish.
I stand by this proceedure.

 

[j-cal]

I plan on upgrading my 55 to a 90 in the near future.....if i put additional soutdown sand on the bottom and carefully transfer my sand from the 55 on top of the southdown and slowly add water will I get clouding?
Also I can get aragamax for a little cheaper than southdown. Would it be better?

 

[zanemoseley]

what kind of argamax can you get? I'm guessing its not Caribasea argamax cause its $27 for 30lb from my LFS and southdown is only like $5