substrate question

[crny1]

Well since i had to leave for work for 2 weeks i have had some noticable changes in the tank since i havent been home to care for it myself. I currently have crushed argonite in the tank and was wondering if i could change it out for regular "white" sand. I have enough left from when we aet up our sons tank and it is the white sand like used in pool filters (fine... sugar sized) My nitrates have now went up from me being gone and i have noticed alot of "stuff" trapped along its coarser grains. Would it be helpful to change it out to the finer sand as not to trap as much stuff or should i consider going BB?? It is a mixed reef and going BB concerns me as the softies like alittle dirtier water than SPS do. Any concerns in this area? I have a 4 inch or so DSB in my fuge also and about 2 inches in the display. What would you all do? Suggestions?

Wes

 

[scbadiver]

I don't care for BB personally. I love the white sand look because that is what I see in the ocean. My opinion is go with as fine of grain white sand as you can find but keep it 2 inches or less in the tank. I also find that if you put your rock on stands, you get less decay under them. I use PVC pipe cut to 1 3/4 inch lengths. The sand covers the stands but they make the rock less likey to fall and still allows the sand to shift under the rocks. JMO.

 

[DrBDC]

FWIW I'm currently using the Carribsea special grade reef sand and am thinking about a slow switch back to an oolitic type from carribsea. My last tank used southdown and it seemed to be a better nitrate remover than this slightly larger type.

 

[Nanook]

In my 40g fish QT tank, I used 1.5" of very, very, very well washed E.S.V. sugar-sized oolitic sand....I wanted all the fines removed...I like this look a lot compared to the large amount of fines that were in previous DSB's.