CC or sand bed

[sly]

As long as you are seeding your tank with LS, you shouldn't need to put any cc in from your other tank. The argonite will seed it on its own. If you do want to put in some cc, dont mix it with the sand. Put the cc in a filter sock or panty hose so that the bacteria will seed but the cc won't mix with the sand. Also putting in water from another tank will probably not speed up the process either. Most of the bacteria is in the substrate, not the water. Water will not effectively "seed" a tank. Your best bet is to be patient. It will take around a month to cycle your tank no matter what you do. Putting in your LR quickly is one of the best things you can do. It is a very effective way to kick off the cycle and give the bacteria plenty of waste to consume.

 

[lazarus]

OK, its a deal. Thank you very very much! i will post pics of my new tank soon. its awesome!

 

[celacanthr]

Originally Posted by 100 Guppi
ooopppps i ment sandsifting star
i dont have a very good memory
well what do you expect i'm only 11

that bannanna dudes cool
Sandsifting stars are generally a very very bad idea. I believe ophiura did an IOTM about them not too long ago.

 

[engineer]

All sand is SILICA, (except aragonite sand) correct? On here people have posted that they have had good luck with Quickrete brand sand. I personally cant get southdown sand anywhere around here. I am getting ready to set up a 120 with a DSB and need to get this figured out.

 

[celacanthr]

the only problem with silica, is that it can scratch glass.
I believe their are many different types of sand

 

[lazarus]

i was looking at this quickcrete today b/c i cannot find southdown either. here is a site with some comments about silica sand, as well as some options
http://aquarium.union.rpi.edu/articles/setup.html
i did not like the look of the quickcrete and it seems VERY fine, almost too fine. my LFS sells a Calcite based product for $30/50lb. its still more than quickcrete but i may go this route to be safe.
if others have used quickcrete with good results, i would be interested to hear bout it.

 

[engineer]

Somewher on here I have read that people have used quickrete, I am trying to get through to Quickrete on the phone and see exactly what the play sand is made up of, but phone is busy(probably hudreds of other people calling to ask them the same thing

)! Lazarus, I checked out that other link you sent, I am just taking what he/she said with A GRAIN OF SAND, seems like for every 2 that agree there are 2 that disagree!

 

[lazarus]

i just came from Home Depot and saw the product...its silica. let me know what you decide! you may be a few days ahead of me.....i have a new 100g but am waiting on some equipment to arrive for it, so i continue to investigate this.

 

[maxsmart]

I used a mix of sand and crushed coral and it worked great. I got a cucumber to cycle through the sand/CC, it looks great and my tank is perfect. I should also include that I also added some of that "live sand" with the water in the bag - so maybe I got some hitchhikers along with that that helped.
Crushed coral should provide all the minerals corals need, since it *is* coral. That's the reason I got it. That and the way blennies in my LFS play with it - something that doesn't happen in my tank unfortunately.

 

[engineer]

OK finally got through to quickrete, they are telling me the Quickrete playsand and initially drawn from the ocean, then they go through the crushing stage washing stage and the kiln dried stage. I asked him where the sand came from and didnt tell him why I wanted to know, so I hope he/they werent just telling me what he/they thought I wanted to hear!

 

[maxsmart]

Originally Posted by engineer
All sand is SILICA, (except aragonite sand) correct? On here people have posted that they have had good luck with Quickrete brand sand. I personally cant get southdown sand anywhere around here. I am getting ready to set up a 120 with a DSB and need to get this figured out.
"Sand" is actually a mix of granules of different materials - mostly containing silicon. The most prevalent is Silicon Dioxide. (that's the one you make glass from)
I got argonite sand, very happy with my choice.

 

[lazarus]

if you decide to put it in i would like to hear how it goes, how it settles, how it looks, etc.
have you figured out how you would vacuum this substrate? it seems lighter than air.

 

[engineer]

Dont think I am too much ahead of you. I am still in the investigation/planning stage. I am still battleing with the sump refugium issue. I am so obsesed with it I lay in bed at night thinking about it. The thing is I am a perfectionist so its hard for me to just get something, I want it to be/work perfectly. I am currently trying to design and build my own sump/fuge. That way I know I have enough room for everything in it and so forth!!!!!! BLAH BLAH BLAH

 

[engineer]

Well from everything I have read you dont vacuum it. That is one thing that worries me LOTS is the fine-ness of it!

 

[lazarus]

funny...did you ever see "close encounters" with richard dryfuss building a volcano in his kitchen. That's us! can't describe the obsession, we just surrender to it.
i wrestled with the refugium issue and decided NOT to build a DIY but to buy a complete filter/fuge/skimmer combo after much discussion on this site. the hard core guys prob. wont talk to me now. but, it seems like a good system. you can probably search the site to find my research on this subject. if not, let me know and i'll recap.

 

[engineer]

I found a website who claims to have live sand for sale with "real live sand with pods and zoos" for $0.99/lb. I think it had a flat shipping rate also. They got a nice pic, but we all know pics can be deceiving!!!!! Does anyone have a take on this? i can give you the website, but I am not sure what the rules are on here for stuff like that.....

 

[engineer]

Yeah I have read the post on the sump/fuges thousands of times plus. I have researched the ones on the web thousands of times, I am just afraid of getting it then not having the room to fit in my UV sterilizer or have it to operate like I want. IDONTKNOW!!!!!

 

[lazarus]

the combos come in all shapes and sizes...they can also swap out components (ie skimmer) if you have limits on height.
$1/lb for sand is still alot. if you are close to 100g in display, i recommend 20-40 lb of LS and that will seed the rest, once you decide what the rest is.
clearly, you can spend alot on this hobby if you want to. its a secondary hobby of mine to prevent getting ripped off by the LFS and others in my life.

 

[engineer]

I know it is still expensive, I was just talking for the 10-20 pounds of live sand i would use to seed the other sand faster. Just seemed a lil hoxy that you could buy any amount with set shipping.

 

[engineer]

Ok, for those of you on here that say that you have used that kolorscape sand by old castle/southdown I finally foung some and the bag says on it "do not use for aquarium" Plus the grain size is considerably large, and sharp.
One more question for whoever: Is there such a thing as too fine of sand? I have seen on here about the different sizes, but by the time time you get down to MM I cant tell when I look - sand grains and tell/guess the size.