Is fine aragonite considered DSB?

[Zeb]

I know, a dumb question....

but I threw in 25 lbs of crushed aragonite to my 20 gallon extra high, which gave me about 3 inches.....

I know from talking to FW people on the subject of "sand" that anything under a certain size is considered sand, not just bags of playsand.

Well, if I add LR....would my aragonite be acting as a DSB? ( Even though I'd need more..) Or would it be too thick?

To give you an idea of it's size, if you have ever seen or handled peace river rock for FW...it is like that. It feels like gravel, but sticks to your hands easily, and is very easy to form...much like sand.

I was also told on another forum that if you have a DSB, less LR would be needed. That's why I was wanting the DSB. :)

[OrionGirl]

Sand is not defined but it's composition, but by it's grain size. As long as you have something the consistancy of sugar/table salt, you're fine.

I wouldn't reduce the amount of LR though--they serve a different purpose. Fish don't hide in sand--they need to rockwork (or comparable structures) to hide in and feel secure.

[Ray Pollett]

Here is a good idea of sand bed composition.

http://www.inlandaquatics.com/info/faq_lsand.html

Most of use just use playsand from Home Depot Or Lowe's.


Ray

[Zeb]

I have bags of the Home Depot santized play sand....didn't use it all when I thought I would.

But it's so hard to get clean...I'm surprised you used it in SW tanks.

[OrionGirl]

By clean, do you mean dust free?

I've never rinsed sand. I put it in, and then put in some rocks, or a bowl and slowly pour the water onto the object so it doesn't swirl the sand around, and I have never had a dust problem. Using aquariam planting gravel, I've had lots of dust after lots of rinsing, but never a problem with sand. The key is to avoid disturbing it--don't pour water onto it. You actually don't want to rinse away those fine particles--they are the best bacteria media around, and the help the sand from compacting.

[Zeb]

Maybe that's it...

I would put a small bit of sand in a 2 gallon washing buckets, and add water....stir, rinse, stir, rinse. There would be alot of muddy brown water......and the dust was quite bad.

And when I do water changes on the tanks with it, the water gets disturbed and again becomes "dirty".

Anyways....maybe I should try using it one my new SW tank I'm setting up.

[Ray Pollett]

ZEB,

Use the ply sand you have. Works fine.

Best Wishes,
Ray