Alternate Substrate

[2_zoa]

Not sure if this should be here, or in Reef Discussion? If this is not the right place, Mods, please move this to the appropriate place. Thanks.

I know this will get more hits in a different forum but....

So I'm still new to the hobby (about 5ish years) and I've taken a stent away from RC for a good while. Now that I'm revisiting, I'm seeing a much different trend in the hobby. Maybe this has gone on behind the scenes all along, as I never really did much REAL searching. I believed to know about reef keeping but....I now know that what I thought I knew was, regurgitated, parroted info, that had very little background and logic to it. I have a much more open mind and have started to see things differently now. At any rate...

While I'm still very green, I've noticed and been hit with a huge push and fight against Po4. I mean, I knew about GFO and the such, along with carbon dosing. What I didn't catch on to, was folks running super clean systems and vacuuming their substrates. I knew of a few but it didn't seem the vast majority was. Obviously folks were running bare bottom tanks. I'm rambling, sorry.

So, with Po4 being a problem in our systems. Along with folks not liking a BB tank, (Me) why can't we use a different substrate all together? I know some will put in star board for a base but, Couldn't we use something like plastic injection beads for industry as a substrate? It would seem on the surface to solve an issue of calcium absorbing Po4 and still give someone like me a substrate to look at. Take a little pressure off the reefs, like man made rock does. Of course getting any of this material (and what type) on a small scale might be an issue, but I thought I'd start here.

Any takers for thoughts on this?

 

[Sprink669]

i am going to be starting a 40 breeder with a "starboard" bottom. if u do a search u will find it. i wanted to give it a shot, i purchased the set-up from a local guy who never got it going

 

[behlke]

PO4 build up is from the trapped detritus in the substrate, not the type of substrate you have in the tank. People have bare bottom tanks so they can see the detritus at the bottom of the tank and clean it out. You should be able to use any inert substrate in the tank, just make sure you clean it on a regular basis and everything should be fine.

Later,Adam

 

[SweesFeesh]

But the reason for trapped detritus is not enough substrate interruption. Any number of things can fix that problem, like an under gravel filter, or a good clean up crew. With sand, the yellow sea cucumber can be a beautiful fix to the problem of detritus build up, and its not poisonous when it dies.