Curious what you use for substrate

bullshark

bullshark

Member
Im having a bad time with my substrate. This tank was started as a reef setup, but at 120 gal thats way too expensive so I put all my reef stuff in my 38gal. The 120 I started with 100lbs of Southdown Playsand from Home Depot. On top of that I put 45lbs of live sand from this site. I added an additional 12lbs of live sand from my lfs. Since taking out the reef stuff there are now 3 very large groupers living in the 120. Thoses fish just kick up the sand all day, and the southdown is like dust particles. The tank is WAY cloudy because the sand particles are too fine. I plan to remove all 160lbs +/- of sand and dump it. I have purchased a bunch of aragonite sand (much larger particles) and will rinse it very well before placing it in the tank.
Kinda want to get an idea of what everyone else, with aggressive fish, is using.
Thanks!
 
D

daniel411

Guest
I did practically the same thing, went from a 90 down to a 38g for a smaller reef. Can't help you regarding an aggressive sand bed.
Does the Southdown Playsand look as good as the Carrib-Sea Aragonite?
 
coloradodeb

coloradodeb

Member
I also have the southdown, bought it set up that way. But the fish I have are creating a horib;e sand storm, so I bought some aragonite (larger bore) and put in on top of the southdown. Much better. But still had some floating around. So in my overflow ..I bought some polyester fiberfill from Walmart, tucked some in overflow, and now I have the crystal clear water.....hope this helps......
 
bullshark

bullshark

Member
Southdown is dumped behind my house. The aragonite sand is now in there. Its gonna be cloudy for at least a day or so. All live rocks and fish are in a 100gal tub waiting to return home.....
The southdown was fine as a reef, but horrible with my groupers. The arag looks excellent in my oh so humble opinion. I will be setting up the 450 soon, so Im glad to be doing this now to get a look at a different substrate before making a mistake with 300 too 400 lbs of what I dont want.....
 
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