Live Sand Bed

[nosy-naso]

I was wondering, just how much sand should I have at the bottom of my tank? My lfs told me that a thick layer of sand is good because it works as a filtration, but I read that more than 2in. of sand will promote bad bacteria growth. So, what's the truth about this matter? I've got about an inch of live sand now.

4+" is pretty standard for a deep sand bed, 6 isnt uncommon. Another populkar myth held over from the good old days is dont use really fine beach like sand, the stuff promotes decay, use the larger crushed coral so that it can breathe.These are hold overs from the days when undergravel filters were considered mandatory equipment on marine aquaria.
Well guess what? Large grained crushed coral provides a million places for uneaten food and other detrious to sink out of sight and slowly rot. It doesnt support near the population and diversity of benthic infauna( thats the good worms,bugs and germs) that the finer grain sand beds do nor do they develop the proper low oxygen zones needed by anerobic bacteria to process nitrates, carbons, and sulfur compunds.
The key is to add as much diversity as possible like different origin live rock and sand, adding specific critters to the tank to perform specific tasks.
I live sandbed takes quite a while to mature and once there can process an amazing amount of food stuffs. Best to start out slowly adding more sand and letting it settle in before adding more


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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[FishDaddy]

N-N,
What Doug said. Here is an authoritative article by Dr. Ron Shimek that goes into more depth: http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog...ek_090698.html
This site has numerous sand bed articles and links: http://www.reefkeepers.org/faq/cache/33.html
HTH
Dick

[bill-e]

nosy-naso,

hehe, I just talked WindWalker into buying 400lbs of Home Depot sand for his 126. He's got a full 6" sand bed.

Then add to that some fiji live sand and your good to go.

The latest bleading edge thinking is that with a full DSB, you can use a lot less live rock.... just enough for aquascaping.

MiNdErAsR, on this board, is doing just that.

By the way, that Home Depot sand will blow around alot until it grows some bacterial film which will help to keep it in place.

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Bill Esposito
bespo@cereal.mv.com
JAqua for the AquaController 2
http//cereal.mv.com/jaqua.html
My Reef Page
http//cereal.mv.com/reef
The box said "Use Win 95 or better", I chose better so I run OS/2!

[B.Lo.C.Level]

Hey there I used fine sand in my 90 gal reef for 8 years. It looked good, there were lots of live stuff in there. However, the sand was always blowing around and worst of all getting all over my rock. On a side note kids play sand comes sterilized now.
Have fun, Doc

[nosy-naso]

Thanks you guys, this board really knows their stuff. I'll go add more live sand and probably lose my burrowing starfish. Thanks again for the info.

[bill-e]

hehehe, we fooled another one!

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Bill Esposito
bespo@cereal.mv.com
JAqua for the AquaController 2
http//cereal.mv.com/jaqua.html
My Reef Page
http//cereal.mv.com/reef
The box said "Use Win 95 or better", I chose better so I run OS/2!

Hehehe Bill, I take it you got the SouthDown franchise
When setting up a deep sand bed the live sand you add on top is usually a little coarser and helps to keep the fines from blowin all over.
FWIW when I started stockin up to move into the 75 I poured about 70# of aragonite sand into a large rubbermaid tub and soaked it in water from water changes to establish the bio film and bacteria on it. Its one of the contributing factors to successfully setting the thing up in less than 24 hrs

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com