Choice of Sand bed

[danthemanj]

In preparation for my 215 gallon setup, I'm trying to choose a sand bed. My previous tank had Southdown but I'm thinking of going with either Fiji Pink, Bermuda Pink, CaribSea Special Grade or a combination of the 3 with Southdown layered under it. I would like to keep the Sand Bed between 4-5 inches.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[USC-fan]

I like the bigger size sand. It doesn't blow around that easily.

Do you plan to keep any fish like a jawfish?

 

[danthemanj]

Yes. I've decided to go with a layered approach with 1 inch of southdown on top of which I will have 1.5 inches of sugar sized Aragamax sand on top of which I will have 2 inches of Bimini Pink sand which ranges from .5mm to 2.2 mm in size, good for burrowing fish like jaw fish.

 

[USC-fan]

i would also mix crushed coral throughout each layer.

 

[Blown 346]

I myself would avoid cruched coral as it will only detritus and can do more harm than good.

 

[AaronKelly]

scientist are doing more research on sand beds and are finding that larger grain sand beds are more beneficial than smaller sand beds, just something to think about.

 

[USC-fan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11147911#post11147911 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blown 346
I myself would avoid cruched coral as it will only detritus and can do more harm than good.

If you have a jawfish, you have to have small snells/cruched coral with the sand so it can make it burrow. When i got my blue spotted jawfish i had to do this.

 

[danthemanj]

That's why I'm using the CaribSea Bimini Pink sand on the top layer because it includes larger pieces (upto 2mm) in size in it. In addition, I'm going to have a lot of flow in the tank (about 7000 GPH) so the finer sand would get blown all over the place.

 

[curthendrix]

The mix I would use:

sand bed

 

[danthemanj]

Great article, thanks.