Back in the stone age when Fred and Wilma were my nieghbors and I mowed my lawn with a turtle I had my first reef tank. At that time everybody had a bare bottom. "In the tank that is I wore a brontosaurus skin". No one I mean no one had sand in a reef. Then Sprung started writing about the Germans having sand in their tanks and the benefits it produced. Well in a year or so everybody that was anybody had sand. Note; This was when Bennehanna was like 3.. Now I read debates for the removal of sand beds and the benefits,"Hrmmmm benefits with sand, and benefits without......." What to do???? So what does the NFMAS think? Has any of you leaped on the BB bandwagon? Let me know, :hmm2:
To sand or not to sand.
- Thread starter mbdave
- Start date
I remember starting out, back in the day, with just enough sand to cover the bottom. Now I prefer to have about 1" to 1-1/2" of argonite. I like the activity that it brings to the bottom with all the crabs digging around, the goby and pistol, etc. I don't think I would like the aesthetics of a 5" DSB. JMHO.
mpdharley
New member
I prefer to have sand in my tank, about 4 inches and a DSB in a fuge. I also think the type of sand that you use is important. This is what I used in my fuge and it has worked great for pod populations, etc. It is what I'll be using in my main tank when I rebuild my reef, upgrading it from the current 125 gallon to 180 gallon tank:
http://www.purearagonite.com/home.html
http://www.purearagonite.com/home.html
I can see if you're recreating a reefcrest were the corals are not normally near the bottom a bare bottom tank might be merited. In that case I'd say to make it so that the bottom glass cannot be seen via a raised edge on the stand. When I look at a BB tank all I can look at is the fact that there is nothing on the bottom. Very asthetically unpleasing.
I have always had substrate in my tanks because of asthetics and, as Ikaria said, for all the activity it brings to the tank. My next tank will be a seagrass bed so I'll have lots o' sand in that tank.
ED
I have always had substrate in my tanks because of asthetics and, as Ikaria said, for all the activity it brings to the tank. My next tank will be a seagrass bed so I'll have lots o' sand in that tank.
ED
QMCSO?????????
QMCSO?????????
Quartermaster Chief Senior don't get the O??? Hey all in AFM there is a great article by Harker I think it is on aquascaping. It mentions sand but has some interesting stuff on rock placement. I recomend checking it out if you see the mag.:rollface:
QMCSO?????????
Quartermaster Chief Senior don't get the O??? Hey all in AFM there is a great article by Harker I think it is on aquascaping. It mentions sand but has some interesting stuff on rock placement. I recomend checking it out if you see the mag.:rollface:
GoldStripe
New member
Southdown
Southdown
What's the deal with the Southdown sand? A lot of people rave about it. Seems like it's a PITA to me with the storm it produces. Are there any benefits to using such a fine grained sand? What is it about Southdown that makes it different?
Southdown
What's the deal with the Southdown sand? A lot of people rave about it. Seems like it's a PITA to me with the storm it produces. Are there any benefits to using such a fine grained sand? What is it about Southdown that makes it different?
mpdharley
New member
Re: Southdown
Re: Southdown
There are some ways to reduce the storm also. BTW, the storm can also happen with almost any time of substrate. One way to reduce the storm is to use trash bags and a bowl:
Starting
Filled. There was still some cloudiness, but it really wasn't that bad:
Re: Southdown
There are some ways to reduce the storm also. BTW, the storm can also happen with almost any time of substrate. One way to reduce the storm is to use trash bags and a bowl:
Starting
Filled. There was still some cloudiness, but it really wasn't that bad:
nikonosis
New member
Re: Re: Southdown
Re: Re: Southdown
what kinda sand is that?
Re: Re: Southdown
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6841096#post6841096 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mpdharley
There are some ways to reduce the storm also. BTW, the storm can also happen with almost any time of substrate. One way to reduce the storm is to use trash bags and a bowl:
Starting
Filled. There was still some cloudiness, but it really wasn't that bad:
what kinda sand is that?
mpdharley
New member
That was some stuff I found some time ago that I really like. When I upgrade my 125 to 180 (happening soon), I'll be using it for the whole sand bed. Here's the link:
http://www.purearagonite.com/
A couple of years ago, I got Atlantis to be a distributor. I don't know if that has continued though. I'm trying to get Rob to become a distributor though as I'll need 360 lbs minimum when I upgrade my tank.
http://www.purearagonite.com/
A couple of years ago, I got Atlantis to be a distributor. I don't know if that has continued though. I'm trying to get Rob to become a distributor though as I'll need 360 lbs minimum when I upgrade my tank.
GoldStripe
New member
So is it just your preference Mike, or is there actually an advantage to using Southdown. Seems like if would be difficult to keep the storms down with a lot of flow in the tank.
mpdharley
New member
I like the sand from Pure Aragonite because of it's size and composition. It was also quite a bit cheaper than some of the other substrates out there (except for Southdown, which I could not find).
As for the storms, I haven't had one, except when I point a power head directly at the substrate. And that didn't last long once I removed the power head.
One note though. I just tried to go their website and now their domain name has expired and is awaiting renewal or cancellation. So, I don't know if the company is still around. I'll be checking for their site later today/tomorrow.
As for the storms, I haven't had one, except when I point a power head directly at the substrate. And that didn't last long once I removed the power head.
One note though. I just tried to go their website and now their domain name has expired and is awaiting renewal or cancellation. So, I don't know if the company is still around. I'll be checking for their site later today/tomorrow.
mpdharley
New member
Interesting. I've checked it from various DNS servers in the US and get the same result. The name keeps coming back as an alias to resalehost.networksolutions.com.
Very interesting. Probably something just got corrupted in DNS land and the fix hasn't caught up yet. I'll check again tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know.
Very interesting. Probably something just got corrupted in DNS land and the fix hasn't caught up yet. I'll check again tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know.
