Best Substrate to Use ( Upgrade )

[Maverick27]

I'm upgrading tanks from a 30G Oceanic Cube to a 58G Oceanic Show. Same tank, just doubled in size. Right now I have in there very fine grain sand. Its probably about an inch and a half high. Before this I had crushed coral. I was wondering what is the best substrate to go with as far as beneficial wise. I don't want to go bare bottom, but need some advice. Should i go with live sand with the finer grade? Also adding a refugium to the sump under the new tank. Also what would be the best for down there.

 

[Blown 346]

I would go with regular fine grade base sand, Live sand is not worth it. Live sand only has bacteria in the bag, it doesnt contain (live critters). I would take some of the sand (5 or 6 cupfulls)you have in the 30 gallon and use that to seed the new sand.
I have the oolotic fine grade sand in my reef and love it, plus it is great to have for gobies or anything that goes through the sand like snails etc.

For the fuge I would also go with sand about 2 to 3 inches deep with some macro algae. I like to use Chaeto, it is easy to keep, you dont have to worry about it going sexual like culerpa does.
You can even add some liverock down there as well if you wish.

 

[Maverick27]

I actually used to have a sump on my 30G and had that live sand with bacteria and put that in there...don't know why, thought it was live with copepods and stuff like that. I had a piece of live rock in there and it seemed to make dead spots in the refugium. There was buildup of sediments all on the back side of the rock and weird mushroom looking things growing. Also, as far as the fine sand, I'm curious because i have what looks like brown cyanobacteria growing on the substrate none stop. Too the point that it starts to lift i guess from the air underneath it. Maybe its not even sand? or too little flow? Just don't want the same thing to happen

 

[bertoni]

Good live sand will have a fair array of animals in it. billsreef.com has gotten some good reviews. Whether it's worth the cost for a shallow sand bed is really a personal choice. It might help keep the sand active longer.

 

[Monkeyfish]

IMO - use regular reef sand about an inch to 1.5" deep.

The "brown stuff" sounds like cyanobacteria caused by inadequate flow and/or too much nutrient in the tank. Increase or rearrange flow to avoid dead spots and you may want to cut back on feedings or step up your water changes for a bit.

 

[Maverick27]

Yea i thought it might be cyano also. I don't really have a lot of water flow in the tank ever since i ripped the sump out. It had a Mag 7 providing flow from the return on the sump. Ever since i ripped that out all i have for flow besides filtration is a maxi-jet 400 with a reciprocating head on it and a minijet 106 i believe. I didn't want to set up any kind of external pump yet considering i'm going to be settin up the larger tank. So with adequate flow i shouldn't have any cyano building up on the substrate? I just don't want to set up this new tank and have nothing but dirty substrate everywhere haha. Was also wondering best ideas for natural type of filtration through the substrate. Thanks for all the info tho guys