live sand

[Robert]

i have a 265 gal tank with the current substrate consisting of about 200 lbs of crushed coral. wondering if it would be possible to add live sand without haveing to tear the whole thing down and remove the crushed coral. if adding seems feasable about how much would be good?

[gcvt]

I would recommend removing the crushed coral and adding a deep sand bed of 4-6" in depth.

Here's a good article on swapping sand: http://fishwhisperer.homestead.com/articles.html
It's the second article on that page.

And here's a good article on sand beds: http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

Hope that helps.

[Robert]

thanks for the articles. But this brings forth another question, with the bottom surface area of my tank being around 84 inches by 30 inches ( 2520 square inches) about how many pounds of sand would be necessary to create a 4" to 6" DSB?

[VoodooChild]

<http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/> has a good equation to figure it out.

[gcvt]

Hmm....

Okay, in an 84" x 30" tank you'll get about one inch per 100 pounds of sand. That's just an estimate but it's pretty darn close. :)

You can find a good sand bed calculator at http://www.garf.org

In a tank that large, a 6" sand bed would work (and look) great! If you can find the coveted "Southdown Tropical Play Sand" at your local Home Depot, you're in luck. If not, post back here and we'll give you some other ideas on sand. Definitely check on the Southdown first though.

[VoodooChild]

Menards has some good stuff. It's very small, white silica play sand. They call it "all purpose play sand" or something to that extent. I think it's pretty much the only kind they sell that isn't a cement or for truck weighting purposes. I couldn't find the southdown at all, so maybe this'll help.

[Robert]

Agian thanks for the input. Went to home depot. no south down, they do have play sand but it contains silica. I've been under the impresion that silica is bad for a marine tank. is that correct or have I been misinformed?

[slipknottin]

misinformed.

Its been a long holding belief that silica sand causes diatoms. When in fact, the glass of your aquarium is far more accessible to diatoms than the sand is.

[gcvt]

I couldn't get Southdown out here either so I used silica-based sandblasting sand. It's been in the tank for a year now and it's working out just fine.

[Robert]

i"ve swithched to sand wish me luck. By the way is driftwood safe in saltwater? Thanks for all of your help.

[Saltyone]

Thanks for the info guys im switching to sand this week as well I hate the coral.
And its not a good idea to use driftwood in a SW tank. ive heard of it turning the water colors due to the wood