substrat

[soverjas]

whats the best substrate to use in a sps . Here are the details of my tank and my concerns. I wanted to run a DSB using a sugar fine grain. The system is rimless 36x18x18 so I will have the water level at about 17 inches. If I put a 5 inch DSB in the main display that will give me about 12 inches of water. I will have 1 mp10 on each end of the tank and a RIO dual turbine Polario centered on the back. If I center the pumps at about 6 inches will they only blow the sand all over the tank or should I be able to adjust the flow to where I have enough water movement and not disturb the sand bed. I am thinking the alternative is to maybe use a slightly larger grain or abandon the DSB all together in the main display. suggestions and alternative solutions wanted.

 

[spsphreak]

I dont like deep sand beds anymore for a few reasons, but this is one of them. With a tank of that height, I think you will have sand blowing all over the place with that much flow. The sand will get a bit heavier as bacteria colonizes on it, but I still think it will move all over the place. On my current 75 gallon, I only have a sand bed of about 1 inch, and my two 6105s still blow particles around. This is precisely why on the tank I am upgrading to I am only using about .5 inches, and I am going to use tropic eden reeflakes, which is a bit larger size. I think one of the best options is barebottom, but my wife hates the look.

 

[allsps40]

I like a 1 1/2 to 2 inch medium sized sand sand bed. The larger sand does not get moved around as much by water flow. I also dont like DSBs, ticking time bombs.

 

[SputnikNYC]

DSB is stone age and a 50/50 success/disaster, with all that modern variety of filtration i don't even know why people still considering it!

 

[toofrigginswt]

I agree with the others. I would personally steer away from doing a dsb. I keep mines shallow... about 1-1.5 inches at most and I siphon it every water change.

 

[danil]

I would go with BB or just put some thin layer of 'heavy' sand to get that view. MPs will blow your sand around and your rock structure will sink (collapse) if not installed properly. Plus no one likes side look of it.

 

[spsphreak]

I would go with BB or just put some thin layer of 'heavy' sand to get that view. MPs will blow your sand around and your rock structure will sink (collapse) if not installed properly. Plus no one likes side look of it.

agree with this 100%

 

[BrassMonkey]

i have the same tank. one mp40 and one mp10. i tried out 3 different grades of sand and like the .5 to 1mm size. also keep the sand bed at maybe 3/4 inch.