sand??

[ReefKid15]

Im starting a 60 gallon tank and i would like to know what type of sand i should use.

play sand, or live sand from an LFS. play sand would help the budget but live sand would actually be live... does play sand from somewhere like home depot eventually become live?
and the last question, how many inches of sand should i have? is 3 or 4 enough?

 

[basssnake]

I wouldn't use play sand myself. I would buy a bout a inch worth of live sand and then order a few bags of caribsea aragonite sand from doc fosters(its only like 23.00 and a little shipping per bag for 30 lbs.) and put about a 3inch bed of that on the bottom and then put about a inch of live sand on top. The bottom layer will become live from that and cut down on cycling time. Otherwise, it will take your sand bed quite some time before it becomes live with bacteria.

 

[ReefKid15]

okay. thanks but i dont have a job and my parents wont help with the purchases. about how long will play sand take to become live with bacteria

 

[useskaforevil]

use play sand. i have for my lst 3 tanks with no problems and so have many others. and don't buy live sand, try and get like a cup worth of sand from an lfs or local reefer. it will seed fairly quickly. if you plan on curing your rock in the same tank thats actually probably good enough, as thats all i did for my first two tanks.

playsand is like $3 for 50lbs. don't waste your money on aragonite.

i did for my last tank however use about 2-3 inches of playsand, and 10lbs of garf grunge (80gallon tank) to seed this one, and i've been very happy with the results, it skidna cool finding tons of brittle stars and pods you don't remember adding.

 

[basssnake]

I don't have any experience in using play sand, so maybe it won't hurt anything. But if you use aragonite sand, you know it is useable since it is from the ocean, plus it will release needed minerals into the water and help with ph, where play sand won't. Saltwater tanks aren't cheap, so why go cheap?

 

[bill-fit]

I used a quarts sand for my last tank and it worked great. The sand came from the beach at Newport Oregon it was free.

Dont worry about getting help with PH or minerals from sand that isnt what its for its just a home for bacteria

There is one thing about this sand its a very small size and the play sand is too. I had a lot of trouble keeping it from blowing around and my glass was always getting scratched.

Thats why in my current setup the beach sand is in a remote sandbed.

 

[useskaforevil]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12563412#post12563412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by basssnake
I don't have any experience in using play sand, so maybe it won't hurt anything. But if you use aragonite sand, you know it is useable since it is from the ocean, plus it will release needed minerals into the water and help with ph, where play sand won't. Saltwater tanks aren't cheap, so why go cheap?

you go cheap on sand because its near worthless to waste your money on aragonite. thats like saying you might as well get a tank with a starphire bottom because otherwise you're cheaping out.

 

[ReefKid15]

thanks to all of you.. it does seem like a waste to throw down $60 on sand when i can use it for corals or fish... i was also thinking of grabbing somw sand from the near by beach, does that hurt anything?

 

[Reef'in Colorado]

def get some beach sand....go cheap!!

Rinse well to be safe though.

 

[useskaforevil]

make sure its legal, but if you rinse it well and its a non polluted beach it should be fine.

 

[cmor1701d]

I wouldn't use beach sand due to the pollution possiblity. Playsand is fine, just seed it with some LS from a reef tank. Some lfs will give you a cup or sell you a pound or two, or find a firendly local reefer to get some from. It doesn't take much and LR will help seed it too.

 

[useskaforevil]

yea, he's right, honestly you should just buy it, i mean, max your talking what $6-7 bucks for clean playsand. just make sure to rinse it to get rid of dust

 

[Mykel Obvious]

I'd have to say you need to research sand types and decided what you want and why...

If you are going for appearance only, then a thin layer of play sand is fine, but if you want to build a true DSB for de-nitrification then you really need to go with Aragonite and make at least part of it Live Sand...

Here's where I'd suggest starting so you have a better understanding of How Sand Beds Really Work

Here's another good article on Sandbeds: Natural Filtration - Part 2

And yet another one Here

My personal opinion is an Aragonite DSB with at least 50% Live Sand... that's what is going in my 65 when I finally get to set it up this year

Hope that helps some,
later

 

[useskaforevil]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12564759#post12564759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mykel Obvious
but if you want to build a true DSB for de-nitrification then you really need to go with Aragonite and make at least part of it Live Sand...

why does only aragonite work for this? and the need live sand part is already addressed when you use a cup of sand from another tank.

 

[Mykel Obvious]

UseSka, I take it you didn't read any of the articles I posted? Sand shape is important to both de-nitrification and the sand bed critters...

One of the major factors is that silica/play sand is sharp and jagged in shape, and the aragonite is smooth and round, thus doing no harm to the critters that live in it (this IS what they are use to living in after all)

Read the articles and all will be revealed...

 

[basssnake]

Do as you wish. Aragonite sand will help with ph and water tends to want to become neutral and that is not suitable for saltwater. If you don't want to have to add buffer all the time and help keep the time in between using buffer longer, then use the aragonite. I mean give me a break, if you can't afford to spend 60 bucks on sand, you shouldn't get into saltwater, because you won't be able to afford it. Most real reefers, spend thousands of dollars to get going and it costs a bunch to keep things running. I luckily got most of my tanks already set up and saved money that way. But, if you can't afford sand, you might want to find a new hobby, cause the poor animals you put in that tank are going to suffer.

 

[useskaforevil]

I rearely add buffer to my water. as often as a water change. lol. most "real" reefers

none of those articles said you shouldn't use silica, in fact 2 of them said theres no real problem, with one off them mentioning they are sharper, but like i've said many of us have never had a problem. i havent had any sand sifitng animals but others have. also the buffering effect isn't that great according to one of your articles.

and for fun since we're making eachother read http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen9.html

this points out hat apparently aragonite can absorb phosphate, whihc seems to me to be a bad thing as eventually it will leach back out.

 

[ReefKid15]

to basssnake: i am a teenager without a job who loves fish tanks, and though ive used playsand in my past tanks they havent really been a reef tank. if all of you came to the conclusion and told me to put 60 dollars down on sand i would but i just posted this thread because i wanted to see what others did and thought. Money isnt an issue, im just trying to be smart with the money that i have.

to the bunch: the local beach isnt the cleanest so i guess i wont take the risk. Im leaning torwards buying playsand and adding a cup or two of live sand. the only thing i dont like about play sand is water flow makes big craters in the bed, in past tanks anyway. hopefully since this tank is taller it wont be that way.

 

[cmor1701d]

Adjust the power heads so there is less flow on the sand. I have a DSB and 2 Koralia-4's in my 125. I have enough flow to make sps on the sand wave, but not so much that craters are formed. Of course if the MJ1200 falls and points down, then I have huge a sandstorm.

 

[ReefKid15]

this will probably sound really dumb but what does DSB stand for? im guessing something sand bed but i am not reefcentral lingo smart...