DSB question?

[miek]

I have a 46 gallon tank I am setting up as a reef tank. I have a few questions as far as the bottom goes. I would like to have a 4" deep live sand bed. I am not sure how many pound of live sand to purchase in order to get a 4" deep bed. I am also wondering, do I need to purchase all live sand or can I do like a half and half bed with half live and the other half with just regular sand from the LFS. Also as far as live sand goes, I was looking at getting the live sand from this site, anyone have any experiance with it?

 

[burnnspy]

I believe DSB need at least 5" for it to work properly.
If you build a plenum then 4" is exactly what you need and it will cost a little less since it won't need detrivores and less sand.
BurnNSpy

 

[miek]

I thought about going with a plenum, but decided not to. I'll go with 5" of sand then. Anyone know how many pounds I would need for that. Also if I can mix the sands live and regular. I was also thinking about mixing in some crushed coral for buffering. Should I do that? Do I mix it or layer it?

 

[salisbury a d]

46 gallon Bow front? If so I have the same tank. One 20 pound bag is about one to one and a half inches.
Adam

 

[fraggle]

well, I just bought 80 lbs of live sand for my 55 gallon, that should be enough eh?

 

[miek]

Yep, it's a 46 gallon bow front.

 

[beth]

The formula is lenght of tank x width of tank x inches of sand bed divided by 20.

 

[burnnspy]

If you want buffering then you need to make sure you are getting aragonite gravels.
BurnNSpy

 

[miek]

Is it ok to mix Fiji live sand with regular aragonite gravels?