A couple quick Sand Q's

calivivarium1

calivivarium1

Finished the fight
May 5, 2008
1,432
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51
Fresno, California
Where the heck can I find reef sand in bulk? Everywhere here locally sells the bags of "live sand" but that is about it.

For a reef tank, is there a grain size I should really stick to? I am thinking I would like to have some sand sifting gobies, will this effect which sand I buy? I had at one point found a decent webpage that explained the different sizes, but I cannot find it again.....

Thanks in advance
 
I prefer a mix of sizes--anywhere from fine, sugar-like sand up to large rubble the size of a golf ball (and of course live rock). I have about 45% fine sand, which is less than 1mm on average, 35% larger grained sand (all over 1mm to about 2mm), 15% gravel-ish (crushed coral), and the final 5% all large rubble (several centimeters or more).
 
Quicksand trap.... haha. Thanks Amp, do you keep gobies/sand sifters in your setup?
 
Amp, below you mentioned crushed coral. I thought that there was a thread here against the use of crushed coral and that the use of sand was better. Is that just someones belief or is there a real reason? Thanks
(oh yeah, not arguing just asking)



Amphiprion said:
I prefer a mix of sizes--anywhere from fine, sugar-like sand up to large rubble the size of a golf ball (and of course live rock). I have about 45% fine sand, which is less than 1mm on average, 35% larger grained sand (all over 1mm to about 2mm), 15% gravel-ish (crushed coral), and the final 5% all large rubble (several centimeters or more).
Click to expand...
 
xsdbs said:
Amp, below you mentioned crushed coral. I thought that there was a thread here against the use of crushed coral and that the use of sand was better. Is that just someones belief or is there a real reason? Thanks
(oh yeah, not arguing just asking)
Click to expand...

Good question. That thread talks about using nothing but crushed coral as a substrate. There is nothing wrong with mixing some in. Heck, some of the areas in my tank have so much flow that that and large rubble are all that will stay put.

calivivarium1 said:
Quicksand trap.... haha. Thanks Amp, do you keep gobies/sand sifters in your setup?
Click to expand...

Not beyond the meiofauna/infauna that you naturally find in the sand. Most other sand sifters eat these guys and they happen to be the most important critters for a sand bed.
 
Okay, good points about the sand sifters eating infauna/meiofauna. Do you have a DSB or just a normal sandbed?

I have a great source for rock and some of my sand at this time(sand is apparently slightly smaller than crushed coral in diamter). I will pick up some approx 50lbs of the sand then(which he is giving me) and plan on mixing that with rubble and fine sand.
 
I prefer very small fiji sand, which is super fine. Not good for the diggers because it caves in, but it is awesome substrate. The smaller the grain and the deeper the bed IMO is better for a reef. The depth of the bed is somewhat controversial with a range of opinions. Mine is about 4 inches deep and I have had zero problems with my set up, which is now over 3 years old.

You must remember Amps set up is a small tropical storm, well maybe not so small :) If you plan on his type of flow fiji sand would not be a good choice nor would most soft corals. Make a good choice for your set up because replacing the substrate on an established tank sucks! That is the voice of experience.

Maybe Amp can find and bump his small tropical storm video!
 
I'd have to make a new vid. The old one was when I had my 75 set up. Now I have nearly the same amount of flow in a 40g.
 
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