setting up crushed coral and sand bed

[skipb]

I have a new tank the is currently cycling with 50 lbs of LR and crushed coral as a bed. I've seen so many beautiful pictures of beds with sand that it makes me want to try it. My question is, can you put sand ontop of the crushed coral and if so, how much and is there a perticular brand of sand to get. I currently have the LR sitting on the glass base of the aquarium and the cc in the front of the aquarium to where it meets the LR. Can I still use this techique with the sand or is it best to have the LR sitting on the sand where the sand covers the entire base.
Thanks

 

[fshhub]

replace the cc completely
yes you can use that method(sort of)
it is best to have your lr on the glass ar above the dsb anyhow
but you shouldnot put the lr directly on a dsb
HTH

 

[cyn]

Fshhub,
I am confused. I am getting ready to remove my cc and replace it with dsb, but now I do not understand how to place the rock. I have base rock, should I put that on the glass then build the dsb up around it? Right now I have cc with 1 inch of LS on top and the LR and base rock is sitting in the sand. It is very secure, and I do understand things that stir the sand can upset the LR. What should I do?

 

[karlas]

if you remove the cc since you have base rock put that right on the glass and build the sand around it. if you have any burrowing fish and they are able to tunnel underneath the rock, it can come tumbling down on top of them, doing this can make it more secure. also the dsb makes aneraboic zones (harmful gasses)to reduce nitrates and with lr sitting on top of it will get trapped underneath you should let that uncovered so they can escape, they turn nitrates into nitrogen gas and it escapes the tank. also i had cc and ls mixed and i used a decent sized fish net to seperate it. worked great left all the cc in the net, and gave me a extra net for the tank

 

[fshhub]

she is 100% right, and one extra note, not only do you have to worry about burrowing fish, but snails or crabs, anything that borrows
you cna replace the cc with sand without moving your fish , just pile the rock, so you can work, get 2 dividers, section off a part of your tank(@1/3), change that amount, and wait for a week or 2, you are waiting for your life to populate the sand as well as for your water to stabilize, then section off another section and repeat, until you are done, then position your rock(as best as possible) while you are doing that section
HTH

 

[cyn]

Thanks! I now have my post Christmas project. You guys are great. I am figuring on around 180lbs of sand. Is that too much? Not enough?

 

[dad]

CYN, a dsb is about 4". with you having a 55g tank I would guess about 90 to 100lbs of sand? This depends on the dimentions of your tank and the weight of the sand per square foot.
If you give me your dimentions(length etc)I'll give you a better answer.

 

[cyn]

It is a standard 55. 48inches long, 12 in. deep and 19 inches high. Thanks again for the help.

 

[justinl]

My 2 cents-
I had a thin layer of CC on the bottom of my tank and rater than remove it when upgrading to a DSB I left it in place.
I then got a couple bags of carib sea sand of varying grain size and put the sand in layers from biggest on the bottom to fine, white sand on the top. I then took my fingers and stuck them about 2 inches deep in the sand and twisted about 90 degress to mix it a bit (only a little bit).
I made sure to vacuum the CC surface to get all of the junk off the top before putting down the sand.
I have not had any problems at all, and as a bonus I was able to save all the creatures living in my already established CC substrate so I didn't have to wait for my tank to cycle again.
I woul dnot put your rocks directly on the glass if for nothing else to avoid cracking the glass if a rock sould fall from your hand while placing them in the tank. Just leave them on the CC, or put down some PVC or flat stones to protect your bottom (make sure they are safe to put in your marine tank.) Sometimes you can find good pieces of flat Live Rock.
Like I said, this is just my experience, but I have no regrets about leaving my CC in the tank.

 

[skipb]

I kinda did what you did, I left the cc there and put in 3 inches (40lbs) of LS on top. I put some plastic flooring down that was cut from the trays that bakeries use to stack the bread. This got the rock off the glass and made for a more evenly weight distributed flooring than having the LR just sitting on the glass. I covered most of the floor with LS however the sand under some of the LR is more like an inch or two deep than the 3 inches in the front and sides of the LR.
I also removed the wet/dry trickle filter to allow the LR/LS to do the filtering job...I have yet to stock the tank. I do plan to get a clown this week and watch the ammonia / cycle carefully to see how things go by just using the 50lbs of LR and the 40lbs of LS. If things look good, I'll start populating the tank slowly while monitoring...

 

[hillbilly]

Amen to that. I was in the same boat. Cycled tank with lr on cc.
It killed me but I pulled the 4" of CC out completly and replaced with 4 1/2" of sand. I had fish, invertabrates, zoanthids, and mushrooms in the tank at the time.
The ammonia spike was minimal and short lived due to the live rock. Didn't lose any livestock.
Never do things half way. You're losing a lot of what you made the change for.
Hillbilly

 

[skipb]

okay, okay, I will remove all the cc. There is very little in there anyway so before I put any thing else in the tank i'll remove it.

 

[ubeturwrasse]

have you read Dr Ron Shimeks article on DSBs??? if not, you definately need to before you begin.
http://rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm
and also:
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a.../1/default.asp
will help you make informed decisions with your tank.
now for my .02:
I personally would keep the little bit of CC in the tank. You allready have lots pods, worms and detrivoresin your tank, and healthy. by mixing the sand(at least on bottom) will add to your biodiversity. the grain size diversity is not a large issue in this case. is is just important to keep the most oolitic sand on top. I would also add the sand in small ammounts periodically over the course of a week, just to let the critters have a fighting chance. Some may disagree, but the critters and life forms that move through the sand is what MAKES the DSB work, and you want to keep all you can.
also to clarify on the sand sifter/dsb issue. things that slightly move the sand will not hurt. I dont have a problem with hermits, but starfish can be very bad. They are bad because they graze on the critters in the sand bed (nearly all stars do this -- even brittles). You just dont want anything that will disrupt the sand, such as anything that burrows. After all, the things moving (sifting) the sand play an important role in the denitrifying process.
HTH