I've had a 20 gallon tank for a good five months or so, everything has lived that I've put in there (2 clowns, a hermit, and a watchman goby) has lived, everything is getting along pretty well, I used the sand from Home Depot, the Newcastle type, but it's not really as fine as I'd like it to be. I see other tanks with the finer sand, and they look fantastic. My tank was lacking something, and I think it's the sandbed. Is there a way to change it? Could I just add a few bags of a finer sand to the mixture, while taking some of the old sand out?
Sand from Home Depot not as fine as I'd like it...
- Thread starter kgb
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If you're going to change the sand, I'd recommend changing all of it. If you leave some of the larger grained sand in, all of the nicer finer grain sand will begin to work its way to the bottom due to the sifting of the goby and clean-up crew. Eventually, you'll end up with two distinct layers.
I tried something similiar when I started with a lot of cheap Home Depot sand and 1 bag of LFS sand. All the less attractive sand ended up on top in about half a year.
I tried something similiar when I started with a lot of cheap Home Depot sand and 1 bag of LFS sand. All the less attractive sand ended up on top in about half a year.
Crown Royal said:
I agree. with my first marine tank I didn't buy enough sand, so I put a thin (1/5'') layer of cc in the tank first, then put the sand on top. within 6 months the sand was on the bottom and the cc on top. the upside is that it'll be easier to remove the bigger particles a few months down the road (just lightly vacuum them up with a python)....
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Something to consider before you make this change--the finer sands will frequently cloud more readily, especially when you have a sifting or digging fish in the setup. Just a caution--I had super fine sand, almost silt, and the engineer goby was able to keep a 120 completely clouded up with it's activities.
I agree, I switched from coarse sand to a finer sand and cloudiness from working on the bottom lasts much longer. I also happen to like the character of coarse sand better... Goes well with shell, rock and dead coral frags that I "litter" my tank with.