Mix new sand bed

entice59

entice59

Active Member
well yet another sand bed question from me, ok i added the sand bed and finished, look at the picture below,
Should i mix up the sand bed? or just leave it in layers? wouldnt mixing it up make it turn live quicker? and this tank is not even cycled yet, and plan to start later today with liverock
 
entice59

entice59

Active Member
thats not cc, its actually smaller, i compared it to the crushed coral in the store and my old crush coral, its less then half the size of it
heres a pic of the larger sand
 
foulbrew

foulbrew

Member
You'd be suprised how much current there is in the sand bed, mixing it up will speed things up a little but not as much as you think. I like the layered look, so I'd leave it. I did a similar thing with fine silica sand (sand blasting) on the bottom and Natures Ocean on the top. It worked out well.
 
entice59

entice59

Active Member
thanks for you comment, it looks soo wierd to me personally like a layer cake but i think i'll keep it that way, i just wanted to make the process faster
i hope you dont feel insulted if i ask... any other thoughts?
 
foulbrew

foulbrew

Member
Actually, you may want to consider putting down some pvc pipe - I know it sounds crazy. Let me explain. Quite often you'll see people asking whether they should put down the sand first then place the rock on top or put down base rock and fill the sand around the rock. Both have their strengths. Sand first gives you alot more sand working for you, but is structurally weak, limiting the critters you put in to those that don't burrough (and some really cool critters burrough). Rock first is structurally more sound, but with much less sand working for you. It also can make re-arranging messy and tricky. I like having the best of both worlds so I purchases a piece of 6" PVC piping and cut it into 5" pieces (the depth of my sand bed). I then drilled and cut large holes in each piece for water flow and layed them in the bottom about 5" apart with sand inside and out. My rock actually sets on the PVC and is structurally sound with little loss of sand. If I need to rearrange I don't need to disturb my sand bed.
For what it's worth...
 
entice59

entice59

Active Member
interesting....
when the cloud settles i wil consider that, i was planning to use pvc pipes for some burrowing creatures(if they even use it), i also heard eggcrates are also good, but i only thought i would need that for glass tanks since they can crack
 
worm

worm

Member
i did the same thing. regardless of how you do it, the smaller grain sand will reach the bottom of your tank forcing the larger grain sand to reach the top. If you invite a fish such as an Engineer Goby, he will quicken that process.
If you dont like the layers, you can take your hand and push the smaller grain sand down (against the glass - viewing areas) to hide the larger grain. It worked for me, but as mentioned earlier, water current moves at the sandbed too and the larger grain sand will make it to the top. You can try like hell, but gravity always wins! :)
FWIW
Good Luck!
oh, btw, never thought of the pvc idea, sounds like a winner!
 
entice59

entice59

Active Member
ok after further inspection, it actually is small type of crush coral, smallest type i have seen.. should i mix it up anyways? would the sand bed help denitrafiy the tank still? even the if the smaller cc is on the top?
 
entice59

entice59

Active Member
when i do put things in.. wouldnt it be bad if i had c/c like im planning to move my blennie to the larger tank but it sucks up some of the sand and spits it out, what about this smaller type of crushed coral, wouldnt it choke it or something? if i mix it up it would look kind of like my friends tank(pic below), is there anything i cant buy since i have this type of substrate on top of sand?
see how its finer on the bottom, basically im just freaking out if i made a major mistake buying a mix of sand and c/c and wasted 40 bucks and couldnt get what i really wanted like creatures that primarily stay on the sand like a jawfish
 
xxvietxjustinxx

xxvietxjustinxx

Member
dood don't get C/C....
I think you know this but..
I had C/C and now I wasted all the money on C/C and now, I want to go LS. C/C and LS both have there ups and downs but to me, LS has to win.... most ups and less downs then the C/C... also looks better to me.
If I were you, I would take out all the C/C right now before u add the LR..
 
entice59

entice59

Active Member
what is the main reason why i should take it out? its not as large as regular crushed coral if you look at the pics above, i have already layered it, and there another picture with the ruler for an example, its not completely c/c and isnt even an inch
 
justinl

justinl

Member
You should be fine leaving the layer you have on top alone. There is no need to remove it. The particle size is that of the typical aragonite sand you'd find at your lfs, i.e. carib sea fiji pink. Don't sweat it.
 
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