Your Substrat Type Preference? I want to change mine.

[areijin]

I have super fine sand but want to change to a larger size. Here are my chooses so tell me what your experiences are.
Fiji Pink Sand
Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand
Bermuda Pink Sand
Florida Crushed coral
Second Question: How many inches in depth are you guys keeping this sand? I think I remember a 2-4 inche depth was about right. Is that correct?
Third Question: My tank is pretty well esbalished, BUT should I buy special "Live Sand" to mix or add some of my fine stuff. Or does it not really matter sine my tank has been up and running for a while now?

 

[pyro]

I would advise you to stay away from crushed coral - too much space for detritus to build up, decay, and then start a nitrate factory.
Why do you want to change?

 

[who dey]

i use argomite, works fine for me!

 

[xnikki118x]

Just agreeing with Pyro--I have crushed coral and I regret it. I've never had a problem with nitrates, but I just like the look of sand so much more.
As for the type of sand, sorry I can't help ya there, but the pink one sounds nice!

 

[areijin]

I have super fine substart. In the front of the tank it builds up algea. I know the algea is only there since everytime I move a rock or something it is not in any other part of the sandbed. I also just prefer the look of the slightly larger substart.
Here is a pic of my problem. It has been stable for a long time now I I'm not too concerned of it.

 

[thomas712]

That pic shows what I would consider a perfectly normal looking sandbed. Thats what happens with DSB's.
If you do try to remove it be advised that with a super fine sandbed you will no doubt have sulfide pockets in there. Not a happy thing to break into. They would be black areas of anerobic bacteria.
Thomas

 

[areijin]

Thomas712
I know you saw this pic before. I was asking if this was normal and you two debated over DSBs. I'm not even sure what to think. I said that most of it is a five years old and you said that you would replace it if yours is that old. I haven't really had a problem with it but I prefer the larger gain look. I need/want to replace my tank; it has scraches and a good sized cheap on one corner. So if I was going to go through all that work anyway I figured to replace the substart.
If I did then switch then what depth should I go with?

 

[krustytheclownfish]

I'll stay away from the whole DSB debate. Here's what I did. I started off with crushed coral and then heard(a lot) about DSBs and fine sugar-sized sand. Decided to make the switch. After awhile, my tank started to have problems. Whether that was from the DSB or something else, I don't know. I also started to read that other people were having problems with their DSBs(again, staying away from the DSB debate...). So I redid my tank and put only about a half inch or so of the seaflor special grade reef sand down. Basically just enough to cover the bottom. I picked that sand because I wanted something I could vaccuum and not have it get sucked up. Not wanting to completely give up on the DSB, I put one in my sump. That way if it gave me problems, I could just disconnect the sump from the main tank. I did also look at the fiji pink sand, but wasn't sure if I could vaccuum that. HTH

 

[thomas712]

Originally posted by AREIJIN
Thomas712
you said that you would replace it if yours is that old.
If I did then switch then what depth should I go with?
And I stick by that answer, If I had a 5 year old DSB, but thats my opinion. The number of people with 5+ year old DSB's are few and far between, they seem to get switched out for one reason or another.
What I did with my main tank was go with about 2 inches of very fine grain sand, Southdown/Yardright to be exact. Of course my system has also evolved with a 55 gallon fuge with DSB, so I can see what is happening with yours may also happen to mine, but if it ever does I will be able to shut off my fuge and remove the sandbed and replace if ever necessary.
Go with a shallow sandbed, thats my vote and my opinion.
Thomas

 

[acrylic51]

I agree with Thomas!!!

 

[unleashed]

I have CC in one tank and fine sand in another.the CC I found has been easier to keep clean.the sand however may possibly be a better substrate but omg its a pain to keep clean and whenever sifting algae I end up throwing more sand away than i do the algae.so im still not convinced the sand is nicer to look at.

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
I used argonite sand. It's not a fine grain though. Granted, the tanks only been up since 8/04, but it's doing well. Had a cyno problem for a while, but changing my flow and cutting back light helped it. I think I"ve got less then 4" in there, but haven't taken a ruler to it.
Next tank I do will be a shallow sand bed. I don't quite like the look of a bare bottom tank.
Meadbhb

 

[cveverly]

Originally posted by Thomas712
Go with a shallow sandbed, thats my vote and my opinion.

That would be my choice, I would also consider using argomite inplace of fine sugar sand. Just my opinion.

 

[bailey52]

Hey thomas.. i have a 90 gal, and i put 80lbs southdown, and 15 lbs LS on top to seed it, it is, in the deepest part, maybe 3 1/2" to 4" and 2" in the shallowest. I thought this was in the middle of a shallow DSB and a deep one.. any thoughts on this??

 

[bailey52]

sorry... Also, i will be adding about 80-100 lbs live rock soon also, (no fish in here yet) what are your thoughts on this?

 

[ctgretzky9]

Man, I'm tired of the bad rap cc gets. It is like a diet fad...this week it's good and deep sand bed is bad...then its deep sand bed is the way to go...then its back to cc...then it's no do only a 2" sand bed etc etc...
Ive had cc fo ryears, don't have a problem with trates because I keep up with it. My water changes consist of using the vacuum to lightly suck up everywhere, as close to the rocks as possible, and that is what I take out of the tank for the water change.
If you aren't willing to do this, get a sand bed and hope that whatever thickness you are using is flavor of the day according to whoever is having a good day with the thickness of the sand...2", 4", even deeper, no sand, etc...
If you have high trates, it's not because of the cc, it's because youa ren't doing the proper things to keep it from becoming a detritus collector, or you're overfeeding, or your bio load is too great and probably a hundred other things.
It's all a fad. No one is right or wrong. Go with what you like, and just be sure to do the things that will make it work.

 

[bailey52]

gretsky.. i dont think anyone has said CC is bad no matter what. But you hit the nail on the head with one downfall of it. It requires a good amount of maintenance.... So some people dont do that.. and have a bad experience.. DSB seems to be less maintenance... .not nessicarily better

 

[ctgretzky9]

Bailey,
Yea, I agree, it is the maintenance that is the bad part. When I first had a cc, I had problems, until I was told to change water by vacuuming it, then I never had another problem again that I could relate to the cc...I had trate problems in the past, but it was definately from overfeeding ( I used to feed my fish sometimes more than twice a day-like if people came over to the house I'd get everything to come out by feeding, or if my kids wanted to see everything lol) or too much of a bioload, which I still probably have now but I do water changes now at least once every 2 weeks.
PS-Landscape arc is what I took as a minor in college along with horticulture...had my own scape design and maint company for years until I sold it and took over family business...but I miss doing all of that stuff. Luckily the house I bought 2 yrs ago needed EVERYTHING on a 2 acre plot, so last year I took delivery of over 150 perennials, 30 or so odd woody ornamentals, and a bunch of trees. Can' wait for the spring now to see how it all went together.

 

[bailey52]

very nice.. good luck, im in the temple university landscape architecture program.. never heard of an associates program for this major

 

[lizzard]

I use the Fiji Pink Sand which is a sugar grain size sand. If you went to keep a dsb go with 4- 6 inches, but 6 is recommended. Since you have a well established sand bed, you will only need to use the top layer of it to seed your new sand.