New Tank New Substrate New Question

[Uncle Dmerr]

I'm in the process of setting up a 90 gallon mixed reef tank with a 30 gallon sump. During this process I was GIVEN (5) 20lb bags of Nature's Ocean Live Aragonite 0.1-0.5mm. I realize this probably isn't the greatest substrate for a shallow bed, mixed reef (but hey, if it's free it's for me and if it's free I'll take three). I was able to put most of the aragonite in my sump's DSB refugium, and about a 1" layer in my DT. My question is; will it be "œokay" to add an additional thin layer of a coarser aragonite over the top of the existing fine grain aragonite? Should I mix the two substrates together or just layer them? I'll keep my DT's substrate under 2" but I'd like to add something to cut back on the sand's movement with the water's current.

 

[thegrun]

I would let it be for now. If you have issues with it getting blown around after a couple of weeks (the sand grains will start to bond to each other over the first few weeks and be less inclined to get blown around) then add a layer of larger grained sand on top. If you mix the sand eventually the larger sand will end up back on top, so just start with it on top.