Sand

[dn010]

Hi everyone, this is my first post but I’ve been reading a lot around the forum and trying to educate myself before I ask questions but this one I feel I need a little input on.
I know there is a lot of debate about using sand vs. crushed coral or aragonite so I am kind of stuck on what I should do.
Basically I have a 75 gallon salt water tank with a few inches of fine sand – it’s been up and running for a few years now. I only have fish in the tank, a few crabs and a few conchs along with some large shells for the fish or crabs to hide in, etc. I don’t have a lot of room in the stand or around it so I use a large canister filter and clean it regularly. The sand looks awesome when its clean but it doesn’t take much for it to get dirty, and also I’m getting kind of tired of everything else in my tank getting that coating of sand from “sand storms” that the fish create when they take off near the bottom. Because of this hassle of sand storms and the fact it gets sucked up when I vacuum the bottom – I’m looking to replace the sand with something else.
Yesterday I wiped down the inside of the tank, cleaned the filter and tried to get all the sand off my shells. I’m not sure if I hit a pocket of something in the sand but after a few hours my fish began dying one by one slowly; after 24 hours I still have 1 left that seems to be doing fine. This is no big deal, these fish were just random fish I caught and threw in the tank since I live so close to the gulf.
I do want to start getting some nice fish in there, and so now with only 1 fish and maybe a few crabs still living in the tank – I feel that this may be the opportunity to get all of the sand out and replace it with crushed coral.
So the million dollar question – pros to doing this, and cons? I clean the filter and sand at least once a month and also wipe down the tank inside when I notice any spots forming on the glass. If its going to be worse for me trying to keep crushed coral clean then obviously I would want to stay away from that but I keep reading people saying its easy to clean – it’s hard to clean; so I have no idea what to do! Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Dan B.

 

[jay0705]

Fast answer crushed coral sucks lol. Its not great for alot of fish u may want to keep. Now u can get a coarser sand that wont get moved as easily.

 

[trigger40]

my freind uses pool filter sand. its working great for him. the sand is thick so the only way the fish could move it is by picking it up in their mouths. lol

oh and its really easy to clean.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dn010 http:///t/397412/sand#post_3541963
Hi everyone, this is my first post but I’ve been reading a lot around the forum and trying to educate myself before I ask questions but this one I feel I need a little input on.
I know there is a lot of debate about using sand vs. crushed coral or aragonite so I am kind of stuck on what I should do.
Basically I have a 75 gallon salt water tank with a few inches of fine sand – it’s been up and running for a few years now. I only have fish in the tank, a few crabs and a few conchs along with some large shells for the fish or crabs to hide in, etc. I don’t have a lot of room in the stand or around it so I use a large canister filter and clean it regularly. The sand looks awesome when its clean but it doesn’t take much for it to get dirty, and also I’m getting kind of tired of everything else in my tank getting that coating of sand from “sand storms” that the fish create when they take off near the bottom. Because of this hassle of sand storms and the fact it gets sucked up when I vacuum the bottom – I’m looking to replace the sand with something else.
Yesterday I wiped down the inside of the tank, cleaned the filter and tried to get all the sand off my shells. I’m not sure if I hit a pocket of something in the sand but after a few hours my fish began dying one by one slowly; after 24 hours I still have 1 left that seems to be doing fine. This is no big deal, these fish were just random fish I caught and threw in the tank since I live so close to the gulf.
I do want to start getting some nice fish in there, and so now with only 1 fish and maybe a few crabs still living in the tank – I feel that this may be the opportunity to get all of the sand out and replace it with crushed coral.
So the million dollar question – pros to doing this, and cons? I clean the filter and sand at least once a month and also wipe down the tank inside when I notice any spots forming on the glass. If its going to be worse for me trying to keep crushed coral clean then obviously I would want to stay away from that but I keep reading people saying its easy to clean – it’s hard to clean; so I have no idea what to do! Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Dan B.


Hi,

Welcome to the site...

First, why are you vacuuming the sand? I have never in 15 years of keeping saltwater fish, used a vacuum, that went out with the freshwater backache of cleaning the tank. IMO the joy of saltwater is that the cleaning critters actually do their job.

Little critters such as nassarious snails will keep the sand nice and clean. Since they burrow under the sand they also move it, so stuff does not accumulate on it. You might want to check your water quality if all of a sudden you see the sand staying "dirty" looking, but from what you posted, it sounds more like just a lack of a good CUC (clean up crew).

Crushed coral is hard on the cleaning critters, now that stuff they have trouble keeping clean, and most who have it, must have to vacuum it... so I wouldn't recommend it.

A coarser sand would work (aragonite), but what a hassle to swap it out....I would just up my CUC. Not to mention the sand you have in the tank is all loaded with healthy bacteria and fauna that you wouldn't have unless you went with live reef sand.

 

[dn010]

Thank you all kindly for your replies, I appreciate it! I may have had my tank for a few years but there is still much for me to learn. So, crushed coral is out and the recommendation is course sand.
Flower – thank you for pointing that out – I will get more of the CUC critters in my tank. I get brown areas of uneaten food that form here and there on the sand; I have the amount of food being given to an amount that leaves very little left over on the bottom – the problem is when my wife or someone else feeds the fish they tend to overfeed and then I end up with a ton of uneaten food. The conchs I have now disappear under the sand for a long period of time before reappearing; I suppose I’ll get a few more of those as well as the snails you mentioned. At one point I had a sea urchin in there which did a great job of cleaning up everything so I’ll go out and get more of those too.
As far as the courser sand – would it be feasible to just add an inch to my existing sand in order to keep the sand storms down or would it eventually settle into the fine sand with all the burrowing of the conchs?
Thanks again for your replies.

 

[jay0705]

Also shrimp are excellent for eating extra food. I probabably over feed my tank to make sure my draggonets get enought to eat aswell as the other fish. I souped up my cuc for that reason. I use hermits, narsisus snails, shrimp, and my fox never stops eating lol

 

[silverado61]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dn010 http:///t/397412/sand#post_3542012
As far as the courser sand – would it be feasible to just add an inch to my existing sand in order to keep the sand storms down or would it eventually settle into the fine sand with all the burrowing of the conchs.
With course sand you also get a heavier grain of sand. As the sand is stirred up, the heavier grains will work it's way to the bottom defeating the purpose. Like Flower, if I were you, I'd just leave it alone, up the CUC and stop vacuuming altogether. Attempting to clean the sand might be what killed most of your fish, releasing the bad gunk trapped underneath the surface.

 

[dn010]

That is what I was afraid of – larger grain sinking under fine grain. So unless I want to spend all the time and energy removing the fine sand and all the stuff I already have in there I guess there is no way around the sand storms and sand coverage over all the stuff in there. The water has cleared up and is stable, the last fish and all the other crabs and critters I have are alive so I’ll leave the tank alone and see what happens with more cleaners in there. I am also thinking about adding a protein skimmer so that will be another research session for me.
I’m glad I asked about the sand/crushed coral because I was ready to hit purchase; now I know what my problems likely are and can continue on from here.
Thanks again everyone for your input!