Aragonite substrate questions

[jason.stephens]

1. I was wondering what are the pros/cons of different depths of aragonite substrate?
2. What are some suggested sizes of aragonite?
3. Should I consider sand if I am to build an acrylic aquarium?
4. Should I consider sand or Miracle Mud (MM) in the refugium instead of aragonite?
5. What are some of the favorite brands I should consider?

I am going to be building something between 120g and 225g from scratch. This will be a reef aquarium. Never built stands, led light fixtures, sump, or aquarium before. Should be fun!
Thanks

 

[Dr. Reef]

i personally went with pink bermuda sand(aragonite sustrate) 3" deep in my 240g tank.
1.pros: it dont get stuck in cleaning magnets and scratch up the glass. cons: its not sand more like a gravel look.
2. one i used is 2-4mm grains
3.if u can be very carefull with sand and magnet glass cleaners then go for it but acrylic scratches faster than glass.
4. thats personal choice i always used sand.
5.like above i got pink bermuda sand.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I prefer just enough oolitic aragonite to keep the bottom looking like a sand bottom and holding some things in place (rocks, corals, etc). Maybe 1/2 to 1" deep in most places. Over time it gets larger bits in it (bits of coralline, shells, etc.).

I no longer have any sand substrate (other than settled deteritus) in my refugia. I'm not convinced it dis much when it was 6" oolitic aragonite, so I eliminated it after several years. So now they are just rocks with some macroalgae on top.

 

[jason.stephens]

Thanks for the input guys. Any others wish to share? Looking for lots of opinions to get a feel for the community at large.
Thanks

 

[jwilson]

Randy, Could you elaborate a bit on the difference between oolitic aragonite and aragonite in general?

One thing I found is that the CaribSea Oolitic range is 0.5-1.02 mm, which seems similar to sugar sand, which has a range of 0.2 to 1.20mm. Lot's of folks have complained about the sugar sand blowing around too easily and leading to cloudy water. Does the minimum partical size of 0.5mm in the Oolitic product prevent that?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, Could you elaborate a bit on the difference between oolitic aragonite and aragonite in general?

One thing I found is that the CaribSea Oolitic range is 0.5-1.02 mm, which seems similar to sugar sand, which has a range of 0.2 to 1.20mm. Lot's of folks have complained about the sugar sand blowing around too easily and leading to cloudy water. Does the minimum partical size of 0.5mm in the Oolitic product prevent that?

Thanks,
Jim

Aragonite is just a crystal form of calcium carbonate. Most coral skeletons are aragonite, and can be huge chunks.

Oolitic aragonite is a special form of spherical aragonite which forms in a few places in the oceans (or lakes). It is quite small, usually, so it can blow around if you have very high flow (I do not). Here's a close up photo:

http://www1.newark.ohio-state.edu/P...ty/jstjohn/Sediments/Lacustrine-sediments.htm

 

[jwilson]

So it's basically the same as any other aragonite except spherical. I suppose the circular form enables a bit more water permeation because of the larger spaces.
Thanks

 

[RNX CTD]

I like tropic Eden very clean sand. I got the reef flakes look good and
Not many vortec storms

 

[jason.stephens]

Anyone else have an opinion on the depth of substrate?