How Much Sand?

[rickt4du]

How many lbs of sand will it take to put 4 inches on the bottom of a 90 gallon All Glass. Been a long time since Mrs. Bains math class. Thanks....

 

[thereefman52]

with my 90- i had about 40 in there to make an inch.. i just added 50 more.. to start i would add about 150 if you want 4 inches..

 

[keitho]

i have about 20 lbs of crushed coral under about 60 lbs of live sand. in my 100 gallon tank that equates to about 3-4" of sandbed. don't get too hung up on that 4" of sand thing...my configurations produces massive amounts of nitrogen bubbles...

 

[up north hermit]

Rick here is the actual formula for ya:
length (of tank) x width (of tank) x desired depth of sand bed (in your case ,4.0) = lbs. of sand needed
Its alot of sand! My 40 gal/br figured out to 187 lbs for a 5" bed. I used 140 lbs. ESV "dead" aragonite, and seeded it with 20 lbs live sand from another mature tank I have.
As already stated, you don't have to be exact. However, IMHO, don't skimp on this part. Next to lighting, I feel its the MOST important part of my "equipment".
HTH
Hermit

 

[thereefman52]

also if you are looking to a good sand bed, dont mix sand with crushed coral, even if you put the sand on top of the crushed coral, over time the sands smaller particles will slide under the CC and it will be your top layer

 

[up north hermit]

OMG!!!!!!!
I forgot to give you all the formula!
Again,
length x width x desired depth of bed x .0579 = # of pounds of sand
Sorry......forgot my pill this morning....
Hermit

 

[car guy]

double the weight in sand for the size of the tank, just in case you can't remember 90x2 will give you 180, which is a little ore than 4 inches

 

[rickt4du]

Wow! Thanks! My 40gal is 2 years old and I would love to use some of the substrate in the 90 but, it's crushed coral and I wanted to get away from that. Not really sure how I'd do it anyway since I'll be transplanting the reef to the bigger one. I was thinking about using the crushed coral as a base for the Live rock and new live sand for the rest. Any thoughts?

 

[thereefman52]

like i said before if you want sand for the top layer, adding crushed coral ANYWHERE in the substrate would not work. as the small particles in the sand will "sift" throught the crushed coral, and then the crushed coral will be right back on top

 

[joetst2]

I have a 120 gallon acrylic and have 160 lbs of live sand. My sand depth is about 2.5 inches. Therefore I would say you need exactly 200 lbs for a nice 4" DSB. It should check out based on the formula posted above as well.

 

[wally]

This is a little off topic but I hope it helps. You said that you were starting a new tank and you have an established one right now. While I will agree that you should not mix crushed coral with sand, your old crushed coral can still help out your new tank. Take a handfull of the old crushed coral and place it in a "nylon knee high stocking" then hang this in the new tank somewhere where there is a lot of water movement. This will very quickly "seed" your new tank with good bacteria and will help it cycle faster. WHen it is done cycling just remove the bag and toss.
HTH