maeistero
Active Member
if you have to vacuum your sand then you probably don't have enough sand sifters.
i don't see any reason to use cc, unless you have nothing that touches it on a regular basis or just like the look. it'll most likely cut up any bottom dwelling fish and will kill most snails. i wouldn't personally use it on a tank with rays, engineer gobes, sharks or anything like that. in my own thoughts that's why everyone is shifting away to sand. cc has to be a very light bed, and sand can stabilize your levels better with deeper depths. i do 3" on my arag, but i've seen a lot going 4-6 for more bacteria. if you change your water more often you will likely want to go deeper than 3. if you don't then a shorter sandbed will hold beneficial bacteria for a shorter time, but other levels need to be monitored a bit more closely. a deeper sandbed in an established tank is more stable.... (i guess obviously) i don't like to have to check my testing levels so much as would be required with cc or a really low sandbed. :thinking:
as far as water parameters, it seems to me that it's a lot easier to stabilize a newer tank with aragonite. once you get a long term tank then a deeper sandbed would eventually stabilize enough for longer times between testing.
jmho.... :thinking:
i don't see any reason to use cc, unless you have nothing that touches it on a regular basis or just like the look. it'll most likely cut up any bottom dwelling fish and will kill most snails. i wouldn't personally use it on a tank with rays, engineer gobes, sharks or anything like that. in my own thoughts that's why everyone is shifting away to sand. cc has to be a very light bed, and sand can stabilize your levels better with deeper depths. i do 3" on my arag, but i've seen a lot going 4-6 for more bacteria. if you change your water more often you will likely want to go deeper than 3. if you don't then a shorter sandbed will hold beneficial bacteria for a shorter time, but other levels need to be monitored a bit more closely. a deeper sandbed in an established tank is more stable.... (i guess obviously) i don't like to have to check my testing levels so much as would be required with cc or a really low sandbed. :thinking:
as far as water parameters, it seems to me that it's a lot easier to stabilize a newer tank with aragonite. once you get a long term tank then a deeper sandbed would eventually stabilize enough for longer times between testing.
jmho.... :thinking:
