what size sand

[codydemmel4]

Hello! S

o I am setting up a 180 gallon tank and I want to have sand, around 1inch on the bottom. I am going to be running 2 gyre 150s on each side of the tank and wondering what size grain I should get for the sand. I do not want any sand storms in my tank so I was thinking about buying 100 lbs of the special grade live sand (caribsea) on bulkreefsupply. What are your guys thoughts on this, should I go a bigger grain size or is this okay?

 

[GimpyFin]

That grade should be good for staying put. I have the bahamas oolite (Fine) and it's fairly touchy. Even the fiji pink is a little more on the coarse side than the fine stuff.

 

[username in use]

That's the sand I like. Not too big and not too small so it tends to stay in place.

 

[thegrun]

The CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand is very good, but I would get the dry sand, not the live. The live sand often has more dead than live organisms/bacteria in it, will cost more since you pay for the water it is packaged in and since all sand should be washed in my opinion to remove the fines (dust), live sand would need to be washed with saltwater to preserve what life may still be present making it even more expensive and difficult to wash. With dry sand you can dump 5 pounds or so in a 5 gallon bucket, take it outside and flush it with a garden hose until the water runs clear. If you don't wash the sand you will have a cloudy tank for days or even weeks.

 

[codydemmel4]

thanks for all the opinions. I think I will go with dry too.

Do you think 100 lbs is enough for a standard 180 gallon tank, to have around .5-1 inch sand bed?

 

[username in use]

Calculator says 90lbs for a 1" sand bed.

 

[snorvich]

The CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand is very good, but I would get the dry sand, not the live. The live sand often has more dead than live organisms/bacteria in it, will cost more since you pay for the water it is packaged in and since all sand should be washed in my opinion to remove the fines (dust), live sand would need to be washed with saltwater to preserve what life may still be present making it even more expensive and difficult to wash. With dry sand you can dump 5 pounds or so in a 5 gallon bucket, take it outside and flush it with a garden hose until the water runs clear. If you don't wash the sand you will have a cloudy tank for days or even weeks.

What he said. Live sand is not necessary.

 

[codydemmel4]

awesome, I didn't know about that calculator, that helps a lot!

 

[blaujess]

For me live sand wasan easy job drop itin the tanks next day everything clear. Whit the dry sand seem to never finish clean it

 

[MiddletoM]

i spent absolutely ages rinsing my caribsea special grade. i bought 100 pounds and i think i spent over an hour rinsing it 2 bags in a bucket at a time. Lots of milky water and quite a few twig-like bits, no metals at all. Still wasnt perfectly clear but when i put it in the tank with water the slight cloudiness went within half an hour.

 

[codydemmel4]

i spent absolutely ages rinsing my caribsea special grade. i bought 100 pounds and i think i spent over an hour rinsing it 2 bags in a bucket at a time. Lots of milky water and quite a few twig-like bits, no metals at all. Still wasnt perfectly clear but when i put it in the tank with water the slight cloudiness went within half an hour.

Yeah I think I saw that a couple other places too. how is it staying put?

 

[davocean]

Caribsea special seaflor grade user here on a number of tanks now, pretty much stays put even w/ fairly strong flow
Also prefer dry to live.

 

[Shawn O]

When you rinse sand, the finer the sand, the slower you need your water flow. When I rinsed 2 bags of fine and two medium, I lost about 1/2 a bag of fine and none of the medium grain size.

 

[WWIII]

Tropic Eden Reefflakes. Perfect size and extremely clean. I barely rinsed it and had zero cloudiness. It's unbelievably clean.

 

[MiddletoM]

It's staying put really well! I have two gyres set at about 4 on constant but alternating between the two and the sand doesn't move at all. The sand between my two Islands started to move and create a "bowl" when the gyres are at half power. But that's a lot of flow. Two xf150's in a 5'x2' with a 2 inch sand bed.

 

[codydemmel4]

It's staying put really well! I have two gyres set at about 4 on constant but alternating between the two and the sand doesn't move at all. The sand between my two Islands started to move and create a "bowl" when the gyres are at half power. But that's a lot of flow. Two xf150's in a 5'x2' with a 2 inch sand bed.

thanks this helps a lot!

 

[mcrist]

tropic eden reefflakes. Perfect size and extremely clean. I barely rinsed it and had zero cloudiness. It's unbelievably clean.

+1 No need to rinse.

 

[pfan151]

I use sugar fine sand. I like that there is no space in it for detritus to get into. It does blow around at first but it seems to stay in place reasonably well after a few weeks.