SSB in this situation

[JustinReef]

I have had my FOWLR BB for a while and liked it a lot. But I am setting up a new FOWLR and want sand. I do not like the look of no sand. How well do SSB work? I just want the look of sand. How much sand would you recommend...1 inch or less?

 

[newrossman]

Current will be a problem, but put in 1/2 inch on base and keep some sand/rubble spare when the current starts you will see some sand start to drift, just fill up with sand rubble mix or add LR or move LR. After a few days things settle down.
If you just want white sand for looks then a light dust will do as you can suck up and replace as needed.
Even with a BB system I always have a section in back corner with a pile of sand/rubble for me pods/fish to dig. A simple plastic tray 2-3 inchs deep is perfect for a bolt hole for sand loving creatures

 

[Alaska_Phil]

Both my tanks have shallow sand beds. I don't completely trust deep sand beds not to crash, and don't like the looks of bare bottoms. Use coarser sand and it won't get moved around much by current. I use Tahiti black moon in one tank and it's pretty stable.

I use 1 to 1-1/2 inches of sand, so there's plenty of depth for worms, narsarius snails and other sand loving detrivors. A small sand sifting fish will keep it looking nice and clean. My 20 gal tank has a Rainfords goby, who's constantly sifting the top of the sand and keeps it looking spotless.

Phil

 

[Macimage]

Alaska-Do you have any photos of the Tahiti Black sand in your tank? I am setting up another tank and would love to see what it looks like.

Thanks!
Joyce

 

[Alaska_Phil]

Sure, the tank doesn't look so great right now, but I'm slowly setting up a web site for it.

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~wanderer/tanks/tank.htm

It certainly gives the tank a different look, especially when coupled with a black background.

Phil

 

[JustinReef]

Thats exactly how I want my tank to look! Still with white sand but I absolutely love how natural looking it is. Love the amount of growth. How did you get it like that? How old? Did you plant all the macro algae or did it just grow quickly? Really nice!

 

[Alaska_Phil]

Well, I wish I could say it was deliberate, but it just sort of evolved that way. The tank is 16 months old. All the macro and turf algae appeared on it's own. I suppose you could call it a combined display/refugium. Anyway, here's what I've done with it.

June 06 set the tank up with dry dead sand and 18lbs of live rock. I'll update the web site with a photo of how it started soon. It's got a Whisper 30 HOB filter for circulation and to run carbon or phosphate sponge. And I originally had a Prizm protine skimmer, but later removed it and added a penquine 550 powerhead.

The tank ran with just the live rock till October 06, when I started added the corals and fish. Fish were only 1 red antenna goby and the Rainford's goby until I added the baby false perc clown recently. I've always had a very small clean-up crew, just 3 small hermits and 2 to 3 snails. I went through a lot of different algae on the way to where it's at now. Including hair.

So I guess the trick is to just be patient and don't add many critters that would eat the macros or turf algae.

Phil