substrate

Detrivores eat detritus - i.e. crap, crud, poo, junk, etc.

You need something to process this stuff before it sits around and rots. Different creatures eat different types of crap.

For example, astrea snails eat algae; cerith snails like astrea poo (among other things); nassarius snails are vultures and eat deat tissue; shrimp eat leftover food; etc. etc etc.

The key is to have a variety in sufficient numbers to deal with the many different types of algae/crap that arise. Each creature has its own job.
 
They can't eat the detritus in the c.c. because they can't get to most of it . It's soo much easier to dig through sand after all ;)
 
I switched out the substrate to Arag-Alive aragonite sand (not sure which specific kind, I think the standard, which is 1.0-2.0 mm). I have 3 bags which makes about 2", my boss at the LFS suggested this, he claims he has had success with 2" and that it will denitrify without "problems" of deeper sand beds. Is this true? Will a 2" sand bed be anaerobic and allow denitrification?
 
Nope Liz you'll want 5 or 6 inches of sand to have anoxic areas . You don't have to use all live sand any plain old arogonite based sand will turn to live sand soon enough.
 
The only sand my LFS carries is Arag-Alive. I am so overwhelmed, my 6 hours of work a week isn't sufficient to pay for my cellphone bill and contacts this time around and I am pretty into debt with my parents, so I odn't know when I'll get around to deepening the sandbed.
 
Get a bag of white play sand from wally world or where ever when you get the cash. It'll work nearly as well and not cost nearly as much, if you can find southdown that's great to. Also, try the local concrete yard they should have arogonite based sands.
 
Doesn't play sand have silica though?
 
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