Reef sand bed??/

[chilidog]

I was wondering what do i use for a sand bed.I cant aford 120 pounds of LS so what do i get?I was looking into Aragamax sand.It says its a aragonite sand and .2-1.22 mm grains.Is that good?

 

[boomper]

Yes anything aragonite based is good sand.

 

[big slick]

Even though most people say to add live sand onto your aragonite....I say add your live sand first, then place your just rinsed aragonite on top of it. I realize it will all mix in time, but I've found that the live sand doesn't get beat around the tank as much as you first get rolling.
*** you must have your rinsed aragonite ready to go though as your live sand will need water to stay alive right away***

 

[dragonboy]

Already alive you mean Nature's Ocean or Agra-Live?

 

[big slick]

Yep. I went around to the 4 LFS that I frequent and asked all of them for a scoop or two from their show tanks. When I was done, I had quite a diverse substrate. I would recomend you try this, as all of your LFS's will do this for you if they wish to keep your business. You will cycle all that much faster for it, and your water quality down the road will reflect it.

 

[dragonboy]

Just wondering how is it different from if you add live rock with your sand wouldn't eventually become alive? Unless your just talking about cycling it faster. And whats the difference if you get like Nature's Ocean and Agra-Live sand?

 

[big slick]

No, you are correct when you say it all becomes alive. I did this because later when you get that fish that swims to the bottom and decides to stir things up a bit with his tail, he won't disrupt a large amonia pocket that often times forms under the larger granuels of live sand found in LFS tank bought scoops of LS. In my picture, you see the tank bought LS underneath the crushed aragonite. It all ends up being alive, but the pockets are much harder to disturb this way, and the bacteria ends up taking a stronger hold in these little "caves."