What substrate do you use?

[kimbertent]

I currently have cc and am in the process of deciding what I should do when I get rid of it. Just vote which one you use and why.

 

[antony1103]

4-6 inches of special grade reef sand DSB. I believe the benefits of a "well maintained" DSB along with a good skimmer are much greater than a SSB or BB.

 

[kimbertent]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8000393#post8000393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by antony1103
4-6 inches of special grade reef sand DSB. I believe the benefits of a "well maintained" DSB along with a good skimmer are much greater than a SSB or BB.

what do you do to keep it "well maintained"?

 

[antony1103]

Regular water changes, good amount of critters, light feedings, and stiring the top 1/4 inch of sand ever so often so the filters catch the nasty stuff.

 

[dhnguyen]

Hmmm... I don't stir my DSB at all in fact I fear that doing so could release alot of unwanted pathogen into the water column.

 

[antony1103]

I don't stir teh whole thing just the top 5% of it or so. I did this from the beginning to stop some of the waste from going deeper and causing problems.

 

[kimbertent]

bump, come on I know everyone has something on the bottom of thier tanks lol

 

[ReefEze]

I used to have a DSB on my display tank... Occasionally I wished that I had gone BB just for the cleanliness aspect, but if your really trying to mimic a reef enviroment your need the sand.

It was really cool just watching my sandbed, especially from the side of the tank. I could see brittle stars, worms, worm tunnels, and amphripods and copepods scurrying all over. Very cool.

Watching bare glass isn't half as fun:rolleye1:

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8001016#post8001016 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kimbertent
bump, come on I know everyone has something on the bottom of thier tanks lol

Actually, no, some of us have absolutely nothing on the bottom of our tanks....except maybe some coralline.

 

[petoonia]

In our old 55g tank we used crushed coral about 5" deep. It got so infested with bristle worms that we had to remove it, We learned our lesson. We went bare bottom with our new 65g.

 

[PatrickJ]

deleted. post twice.

 

[PatrickJ]

Deep sand bed, using the smallest particle sand possible.

Crush coral is the worst way to go IMO, because of its particle size. Food falls to the bottom and gets stuck at the bottom. Thats got to be worse than bare bottom.

Food falls on a fine sand bed, it stays on top, allowing more time for animals to eat it.

Deep sand bed works very well. At the store I work at, we have all our show and display systems DSB (from 15 gallons to 800 gallons). All our customer's tanks are DSB ranging from 10 gallons to 1,500 gallons. Our coral sale tanks are DSB's. Our green houses are deep sand beds. We dont even bother to check nitrates, its not even considered. Thats why we are the leader of coral, live rock, live sand in the south, because our customer's tanks do so well and it is passed on by word of mouth.

Bare bottom works if you keep the bottom bare, but I would not go that route. Looks unnatural and and many fish miss that sandy bottom, plus it just looks pleasing to the eye. White sand contrasting with purple rock and colorful corals and fish.

 

[bhdmc]

4" Caribsea Aragamax Sugar-size sand

 

[dhnguyen]

Agreed totally. Use sand or nothing at all. Crushed coral should never be considered as a substrate IMO.

 

[kimbertent]

bump

 

[myakkareef]

Starboard covered in Coralline....

 

[Henry22]

I voted other for some reason, but I have a shallow sand bed, the deepest part is two inches maybe. I think I used arganonite sand or something. I think it might of been considered live but I dont know.

 

[vanmo92]

I have a 2-4" in the front but because of the way the flow is in my tank there are spots in the back of my rock that its bare bottom.

 

[kimbertent]

looks like I am picking up ls from a fellow reefer tomorrow! yay I cannot wait, becuase I am switching from cc to ls what would you guys recommend the most, compltely taking all my live rock and fish out and put the sand in all over the bottom, or leave the cc under the live rock and just put the sand around the rockwork so i do not have to take the whole thing down?

 

[piscesblue]

When the term "Crushed Coral" is used, do you guys mean the big chunks of shells and stuff? I use Carib Sea Argonite with a diameter of around 4-5mm. Is this the stuff you guys refer to as crushed coral? Heck, within a year, it breaks down to sand anyways as it dissolves. Just wanting some clarification so I can know what side of the fence I'm on.