sand in refrigium?
- Thread starter ninjamini
- Start date
carlosngloria
Active member
I would get new sand.
coralfragger101
Gone Postal
Leave the sand alone in your fuge. It is good for the little critters that will flourish there. You also don't want to chance digging up any nasty pockets on the bottom of that sand and possibly releasing toxins into the tank.
Buy new sand for the 56 gal.
Buy new sand for the 56 gal.
racermike27
Premium Member
I agree, when I upgraded the only thing I changed was the sand. I went ahead and bought new sand. I never had any problems and the tank did't even really go through cycle period. All of the old sand I just threw out in the garden.
I'm going barebottom slowly. I'm tired of this "dirty sand" b/s. I don't want a goby digging up my sand and eating the microfauna, I don't want the sand sifting starfish eating the microfauna, I don't want the detritus settling in my sand giving me nitrates (I don't get nitrates, but detritus settles. How this works? I don't know..). I don't want to have to limit the ammount of flow I have, as I want all detritus in the skimmer, not in the sand. MORE FLOW!!!
As far as a sump/refugium.... I would leave the sand, leave it as a de-nitrating sand bed, depending on depth and surface area. If you're moving everything anyway, the best thing I could say to do is clean it out, move all that sand into a remote deep sand bed bucket (5g bucket plumbed), and use that for nitrate removal, then leave the sump bare, so you can siphon any detritus that settles.
As far as a sump/refugium.... I would leave the sand, leave it as a de-nitrating sand bed, depending on depth and surface area. If you're moving everything anyway, the best thing I could say to do is clean it out, move all that sand into a remote deep sand bed bucket (5g bucket plumbed), and use that for nitrate removal, then leave the sump bare, so you can siphon any detritus that settles.
cubano2480
In Memoriam
to me a tank with out sand looks like %$@*
I used to feel the same way, but it's totally dependent on the type of biotope you choose. I feel that a tank like that UK guy's awesome looking 180g would look retarded covered with SPS on the rockwork and some zoos in the sand.
It's all about how you want your tank to look. I'm a big fan of the biotopes. My problem is that I didn't know a dang thing and had NO plan in mind when I bought my tank 2 years ago. I'm also lazy. Both of these situations prevent me from having a suitable biotope atmosphere in my tank.
I'm still debating on whether an SSB would be worth it, or to go all the way BB. Going SSB is a poor choice, but that's a topic for another thread.
Everything in this hobby is a personal choice.
For the OP, you can use the sand, just be sure to rinse it first if it's going into an established/running tank. If it's going into a new/cycling tank, then you don't really need to rinse it, but you should anyway.
It's all about how you want your tank to look. I'm a big fan of the biotopes. My problem is that I didn't know a dang thing and had NO plan in mind when I bought my tank 2 years ago. I'm also lazy. Both of these situations prevent me from having a suitable biotope atmosphere in my tank.
I'm still debating on whether an SSB would be worth it, or to go all the way BB. Going SSB is a poor choice, but that's a topic for another thread.
Everything in this hobby is a personal choice.
For the OP, you can use the sand, just be sure to rinse it first if it's going into an established/running tank. If it's going into a new/cycling tank, then you don't really need to rinse it, but you should anyway.
racermike27
Premium Member
I was debating to go bare bottom as well when I set up the 90, but the wife quickly solved that problem! She said if the tank doesn't have sand then she doesn't want it LOL. So I have a retarded shallow and deep sandbed. Shallow in some areas and deep in others. I don't mind it, yes it does get messy once in a while but it is not a pain. My tank is stable and I have no color loss or growth problems in any of my corals.
I mean I have a good bit of flow and I have a pretty big skimmer. Some of my shallow spots in the sand are due to excessive flow from my seios but that is the trade off I guess.
I mean I have a good bit of flow and I have a pretty big skimmer. Some of my shallow spots in the sand are due to excessive flow from my seios but that is the trade off I guess.
