Sand, Crushed coral, or BB for SPS

ashish

ashish

New member
I've used every single substrate and all have advantaged and disadvantages. IMO Crushed coral was easiest to clean with vacuum. Sand seemed to get syphoned out faster than detritus - which i found impossible to maintain clean look. But I am reading Crushed coral is a nitrate factory??

New tank dimension - 42"X26"WX24"H

Currently what I am leaning towards: less than 1/2" of substrate - Fine crushed coral.

Has anyone had an issue with Crushed coral overtime with nitrates? Please note I am using maybe 30LB
 
Carib Sea Special Grade if you want sand. I have had sand in the past and I'm running all three tanks BB for a change.
 
In my experience Sand is difficult to keep clean and will surely cause bare spots along the bottom. I've used Carib sea for along time and its the same problem. The reef flakes seems to be heavier based on many reviews.

I'll add 30-40LB to start, When I vacuum the tank I always remove tons of sand...I will surely remove a good portion per year so will just top it of accordingly. I definately want some sand but want to avoid a nitrate factory and eventual crash.
Thanks for your inputs.
 
ashish said:
Thanks. I had not heard of this brand until now and it has great reviews. Did u use dry or live ?

I figured 30lb should be enough. REEFFLAKES IT IS
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Dry. It's really great stuff. I wanted some larger grain sand because I have crazy flow and I got tired of sand blowing everywhere. Yes, I do get the bare spots. I have learned to live with it. I still want sand.
 
kevin.st said:
Dry. It's really great stuff. I wanted some larger grain sand because I have crazy flow and I got tired of sand blowing everywhere. Yes, I do get the bare spots. I have learned to live with it. I still want sand.
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Yeah I too have come to live with Bare spots but will try everything I can to minimize this on this build. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks
 
I use a mixed grade like the carib sea. It is a good barometer to see how your flow is. I have never found that enough flow to make it move is any better than just a bit less flow to keep it in place.

I got a recent batch of mixed size from marco. Although I would never use dry or dead rock, I am quite pleased with this sand. Eventually, the larger stuff heads to the top and the smaller stuff to the bottom.
 
IMO if you plan to stir and clean the sand then it's for aesthetic purposes only so you can go as low as you want. Depending on your flow, you might have the bare spots if you don't have enough sand, as you already know.
 
I like bare bottom. My most successful tanks have been without sand. I know they look sterile at first, but once you put a few non-encrusting LPS and let it age a bit the sterile appearance goes away.
 
Wazzel said:
I like bare bottom. My most successful tanks have been without sand. I know they look sterile at first, but once you put a few non-encrusting LPS and let it age a bit the sterile appearance goes away.
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Yup, I agree. I've been BB for several years and just like the simplicity of it.
 
Honestly I prefer sand. A 1/2" sand bed makes your tank BB-ish.

Whatever you do, make sure the paint the bottom black. Best decision I ever made while keeping a shallow (1") sand bed.
 
Rakie said:
Honestly I prefer sand. A 1/2" sand bed makes your tank BB-ish.

Whatever you do, make sure the paint the bottom black. Best decision I ever made while keeping a shallow (1") sand bed.
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I plan on adding about 30-40LB of sand so around. anything more will surely become a nitrate factory. Why paint the stand base black? I thought white would serve as a good reflector for the underside of corals?
 
You're correct -- with one caveat.. White looks ugly lol. And honestly the sand is fairly reflective as well. Whatever you do, just make sure you paint the bottom -- Even white looks better than the sump area!
 
What do you mean by nitrate factory? I hope that you mean that they are a factory to remove nitrates because that is what a sandbed does. They don't add nitrates to anything. If you don't maintain them or replace the sand after 4-5 years, they can stop binding phosphate and people blame the sandbed for leeching it, but in actuality it just stops binding it. The get a bad rap after a while on the phosphate thing, but the sand was really covering up bad maintenance as long as it could.

I like about a 2-3" sandbed.
 
jda said:
What do you mean by nitrate factory? I hope that you mean that they are a factory to remove nitrates because that is what a sandbed does. They don't add nitrates to anything. If you don't maintain them or replace the sand after 4-5 years, they can stop binding phosphate and people blame the sandbed for leeching it, but in actuality it just stops binding it. The get a bad rap after a while on the phosphate thing, but the sand was really covering up bad maintenance as long as it could.

I like about a 2-3" sandbed.
Click to expand...


Nitrate factory - in a negative sense - build up of excess waste in the sand can lead to tank crash.. I won't have this issue as my aquascape will be suspended and open. This along with strong water flow will avoid dead spots and keep waste buildup to a minimum. As long as I don't overdo the sand I know I will be fine. The sand does serve as a good biological filter but Id say to replace about 50% every 2 years at minimum.
 
You will be fine even if you do overdo it. Sand beds do not crash tanks. They do not add nitrate to the system. They don't do any of this.
 
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