any reason to use sugar sized sand?

[Deranged-Jester]

howdy all,
MY LFS has two different sizes or prepacked live reef sand by caribsea. one is called reef sand other is bahaman oolite. one is sugar sized other is just a bit larger. i like the looks of the oolite better. any benefit or downfall to sugar sized sand?

 

[WaterKeeper]

In sand small is usually better. The organisms that move the bed about are tiny and larger particles are not a fluid in a DSB. That is why I tell people not to wash their sand as even the fines can provide an environment for some sand dwellers.

 

[Lion_Babe]

I have fine sand in my 180g and my 40g. The 75g has larger sand. The fine sand causes more sand storms in the begining, but long term I haven't noticed anything bad with either. IMO the fine sand looks cleaner. It really doesn't matter, just go for what you like.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Lion,

The fine sand looks cleaner because it is gently turning over. You can't see this motion but it does occur and material that falls into the bed is gradually draw down for further processing. In a course bed, like crushed coral, there is virtually no bed movement and after awhile the bed clogs with decaying detritus. Using course sands is why DSB gets criticized my some reefers.

 

[XtrmCHoPZ]

One other thing that has somewhat been mentioned is how smaller sand stays or looks cleaner. If youve ever had a tank with large peices of crushed coral you will know that they collect algae alot easier than small bits of sand. Small sand constant gets turned over, even though we dont reallt notice it ( like waterkeeper said) The larger peices are too heavy to be constant moved over each other so they eventually get algae growth. In my 300 g I have 80% sugar-sized aragontie and 20% CC that is about 1-3mm large in size. I have to move the CC around every once in a while so it doesnt grow alga on it. Hope this helps.

 

[Deranged-Jester]

in a 20g H ( 24x12 ) how many lbs would you recommend? also if i get the koralia 1 ( 400gph ) and a fluval 105 will i have a horrid time trying to keep the sand on the floor if i use sugar sized sand?

 

[racrumrine]

Sugar fine is best.

Once the sugar fine sand bed gets seasoned with critters, etc it won't blow around (as you'd think it would).

Until then, don't point your powerheads downward.

Best of luck,

Roy