Help! Hurry
- Thread starter t11t5
- Start date
arkey.d
Member
Originally posted by t11t5
How thick should I have the live sand in my tank? I have a 37 gallon. Thanks
If you want a DSB then I believe it's like 6 inches. Me I used a pound/gallon of Live Sand in my 29gal and about 70lbs in my 55gal. Gave me a depth of about 3 inches.... Up to you how deep you want to make it.....
1.5"- 3" Medium Grain Substrate
The 1.5"- 3" deep, moderate particle size (1-2mm) coral or aragonite sand substrate is probably the most common and has been around for some time. Finer sand beds over about 1 1/2" start to have the ability to act as nitrate reduction areas. My tanks mainly rely on this type and there are many successful tanks constructed around this type of substrate. This setup also has the advantage that it does not consume excessive amounts of the tank depth like the following two options can. This is probably the easiest, safest and cheapest route to take. Of course reef keepers hardly ever take that route since there is always a better way of doing things right around the corner (or so we hope).
Deep Sand Bed (DSB)
DSB's are the newest thing to hit the substrate scene. These consist of one more layers of fairly fine sand that is piled deeply in the bottom of the tank. In some ways, it is similar to a plenum system, but without the plenum and the sand depth is usually deeper. The only known downside to the DSB system is that it occupies a lot of the tank depth and can be somewhat unsightly when viewed from the front. The benefits are reputed to be many. The major one is that it’s depth encourages a wider range of biological processes to occur in the tank than you get with thinner sand beds. This mostly relates to the substrates ability to reduce nitrates to harmless compounds. There are no known long-term problems with DSB substrates yet, unlike plenums, but the technique is still fairly new. To minimize the cosmetic impact, some reef keepers are implementing DSB's in external tanks or sumps. Whether you should use a DSB is mostly dependent on what kind of reef keeper you are. If you want a fairly easy, nice cosmetic setup, I would recommend staying with option ‘b’ above. On the other hand, if you’re a tinkerer and want to be leading edge and you have the tank depth to accommodate it, then DSB is worth looking into. The article 'Muddy Waters' by Dr. Shimek in the Further Reading section below is excellent reading on this topic.
Live Sand
There is one last spin to the substrate question and that is the topic of 'Live Sand'. Live sand is sand that comes from the ocean presumably with all the varied sand dwelling organisms still in it. The idea is to use some amount of live sand to 'seed' the remaining substrate with sand dwelling organisms. In concept, live sand makes perfect sense to create a thriving sand bed with a myriad of organisms in it in the reef tank very quickly. Many current hobbyists swear by the value of live sand. I am somewhat doubtful as to exactly how much benefit there is to be gained by its addition for two basic reasons. First, any 'dead' substrate seems to quickly be populated by organisms from the live rock. Second, much of the live sand I have seen appears to be pretty sterile looking sand which is stored in conditions that would preclude much of the larger life forms from surviving. If you decide to go this route, make an effort to get as fresh of sand as possible to get the most value for your money.