confused on sand depth

mp32

Member
I looked on the live rock live sand section on this web site and it told me for a 1" sand bed I need 70lbs of sand, my lfs told me that seems too small of an amount for a 180. I bought 80 lbs of aragonite and when I read that it says 1lb per gallon. So what is the prefered depth I am not going deep in the DT I will in my fuge. I understood 1/2 inch to 2" for shallow is this correct. Is 80lbs enough for the DT?
 

spiderwoman

Active Member
What are the dimensions of your 180? That dictates the amount of sand you'll need to cover 1inch of the bottom.
 

mp32

Member
24x72 are my dimensions. the only thing is, is Iam wondering if I should go with theirections that are on the bag?
 

spiderwoman

Active Member
I think that is a bit light for those dimensions. I'm going with 160lbs of LS for our 150, maybe even more. I already have 60lbs of dry aragonite and 20lbs of LS and have an order out for 100lb of LS. Dimensions of my tank are 72x18.
 

mp32

Member
I added up the sand depth on the calculator on this site and if I go with 180 pounds of sand it puts me in the 2" range on depth, which from what I have read is not a good depth to be at correct? So again I ask do I go with the directions on the bag or do I put in less or more? I know it is probably a stupid question to ask but I really do need to know, I want to make sure I do everything right the first time around.
 

spiderwoman

Active Member
The way I'm planning on adding the sand is this...
I order more than I need because I'll be adding it to the large refugium too. I pour in the sand and see when I reach about 1.5 inch level on average. You don't want to have an *even* bottom, but wavy or different depths at different parts of the tank. Also add your LR first and then the LS around.
 

mp32

Member
That does make sense because i was not thinking about the rock. I will have a refugium also so I will need the extra sand. Someone wrote on here not to buy the live sand that is in the bags, is that personal preferance or are they a waste of money?
 

spiderwoman

Active Member
I've only had good experience with the bagged LS. I'm using Arag-Alive Special grade reef sand in 20lb bags. Yes it's more expensive, but I haven't had the nasty sand storm in my 75 when I set it up in March. For the 150 I do have 60lbs of dry sand that I got really cheap from a fellow reefer in our club. I couldn't pass on a good deal.
 
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