How much live sand?

[bigred]

Just wanted to see how much live sand to add to my tank?

 

[whipple]

4 to 4.5 nice and white and full of life

 

[fshhub]

4 to 6 inches of sand, but it does not have to all be live, and if you got lr, you could get by with no ls

 

[miner]

I have 4 to 6 in. of san in both tanks. Lots of live rock in both

 

[ttimur]

I have 5 in mine

 

[twoods71]

I have 2 - 3 inches.
It all depends on the grain size of the sand.
1" of super fine grain sand will do the same job of 6" of really coarse sand.

 

[nitrex]

I think before you can really answer this question, you first need to determine what your goal is...
If you want to use the sand bed as a denitrafication (reduce nitrates-I can't spell) tool, then I think it's impossible to use only 3 inches b/c more than likely oxygen will provide respiration to the batcteria...if all you want to do is develop a sand band that converts amm. and trites to trates, then 3 inches if fine.
I think this poll needs some more qualifications, like what are your really trying to achieve.
<img src="graemlins//confused2.gif" border="0" alt="[confused2]" />

 

[ebeckels]

i use 4 inches in my tank and about 5 inches in the fuge

 

[adrian]

4"

 

[twoods71]

I think this sums it up nicely.
"Using a coarse substrate, the bed would have to be very deep, perhaps six or more inches, to create sufficient denitrification. Finer substrates can have this effect at 4-5 inches. Ultrafine substrates can even accomplish denitrification in under an inch of depth. The difficulty in setting up a successful deep sand bed arises from the lack of proven formulas for success. Finding the right depth and grain size are more a process of trial and error than calculation."

 

[chevron tang]

I think 4-6 is ideal.