Is my ls really ls?

[reeferkeeper]

I purchased my ls about three years ago before I knew about swf.com. I thought it was live sand, but after reading so many post about ls and cc I am a bit confused. My "sand" had all kinds of cc in it and isnt at all the texture of sugar. I wanted to add more ls to switch to a dsb and get rid of my wet/dry, but I am reading you should NOT add ls ontop of cc. Is ls supposed to be free of cc completly? Or do I not have ls at all? My test readings have all been really good.

 

[shootonsite]

Sometimes stores will try to sell you live sand and show you a tank full of mud and silt. There can be pieces of dead coral and rock in the sand, but it should have that sugar texture consistently througout. The grain size is pretty important when it comes to DSB. The size of cc would make it difficult for worms, copepods, fauna, etc. to move and sift through causing the gas exchanges and denitrification that you want. That is why you can't pour ls over cc. It's good to hear that your water tests are positive. Just imagine what you could do if you got rid of the wet/dry filtration and completely switched to sand. Hard corals and clams wouldn't be too far away.

 

[twicklund]

Now I am a bit confused...
I thought it was good to have different grades of "sand" in a dsb. I currently have about 2 inches of aragonite (fairly small pieces), and plan on adding sand on top of that...Will this be ok?
tw

 

[shootonsite]

Various grain sizes are OK. Just as long as their small enough where you can imagine a small bristleworm being able to manipulate the sand and burrow through it. If it can't, than you'll never establish a live sand bed. It's these tiny creatures that complete the cycle.

 

[reeferkeeper]

sos, I do have small bristle worms and other critters that I can see from the side that are crawling through the "sand". I just dont know that they are throughout the sand bed. And, if the sand is actually ok and I get smaller grains...wil it be ok to add the smaller stuff on top? Maybe I will try to get a pic of the sand so you can see what I am talking about. Thanks

 

[shootonsite]

I'm sure your substrate is fine if you can see all that through the glass. Adding more ls with smaller grains could only bring more positive results.