Sand Help!
- Thread starter Albz
- Start date
Depends on how much flow you are going to have and what livestock you want to keep. Live sand like Arag-Alive doesn't hurt but you don't absolutely need to get it. It is good for kick starting the biological aspect of your system so it is beneficial.
Oolite sand is fine and great for things like sand sifters and a natural appearance. But if you have high flow because you keep for instance a lot of SPS it will blow around. Great for buffering and calcium additions as the fine sand breaks down easily if your calcium levels get low. Should be used if you plan to have sand sifting goby.
I myself like CaribSea special grade. Great all around all purpose substrate. Small enough that it doesn't clog with to much waste, it is small but doesn't blow around like Oolite sand. Great for buffering and all around performance and is great for food web production. This size fits most needs unless you want find sand sifters like a small goby as any larger pieces can damage the gill raker that sift the sane for food particles. This grade you can mix larger sized crushed coral for substrate dwellers like pistol shrimp\Goby or anything else that might burrow.
Black crushed coral does add cool contrast and a different look then normal crushed coral but doesn't have the buffering characteristics of Aragonite so is therefor inert.
CaribSea super reef. If you want stuff like pistol shrimp/goby combo that do a lot of burrowing the other options\sizes mentioned before don't work as well as this one because they are mostly to fine for a solid structure. Unless you plan to mix rubble, Florida grade course crushed coral or shells into the CaribSea special grade this blend is better as it retains shape better. Anything to much larger then CaribSea super reef and you risk compaction and a build up of nutrients and you will soon have constant nutrient issues unless you do a lot of bed maintenance.
Oolite sand is fine and great for things like sand sifters and a natural appearance. But if you have high flow because you keep for instance a lot of SPS it will blow around. Great for buffering and calcium additions as the fine sand breaks down easily if your calcium levels get low. Should be used if you plan to have sand sifting goby.
I myself like CaribSea special grade. Great all around all purpose substrate. Small enough that it doesn't clog with to much waste, it is small but doesn't blow around like Oolite sand. Great for buffering and all around performance and is great for food web production. This size fits most needs unless you want find sand sifters like a small goby as any larger pieces can damage the gill raker that sift the sane for food particles. This grade you can mix larger sized crushed coral for substrate dwellers like pistol shrimp\Goby or anything else that might burrow.
Black crushed coral does add cool contrast and a different look then normal crushed coral but doesn't have the buffering characteristics of Aragonite so is therefor inert.
CaribSea super reef. If you want stuff like pistol shrimp/goby combo that do a lot of burrowing the other options\sizes mentioned before don't work as well as this one because they are mostly to fine for a solid structure. Unless you plan to mix rubble, Florida grade course crushed coral or shells into the CaribSea special grade this blend is better as it retains shape better. Anything to much larger then CaribSea super reef and you risk compaction and a build up of nutrients and you will soon have constant nutrient issues unless you do a lot of bed maintenance.
Well im most likely will have around 4-5 fishes. No gobys. And i will have decent flow enough for any kind of corals. The carib-sea special grade sounds like a good one. Might as well go with that! Any sites that sell it and ship it for decent price.. ??
I have been using the same carib-sea special grade in my bed for over 20+ years, I finally am having issues with compacting because it is old as dirt and will be replacing it all in the next few weeks. Just goes to show you how good this grade is.
Pets and ponds sell it but since it is heavy it is an extra $22 in shipping. You are better off going into a place like big als to pick it up as any savings you get online will probably be gone because of extra shipping costs. I would get a 60 pound bag so you have some extra for top up. At the very least get the 40 lbs.
Pets and ponds sell it but since it is heavy it is an extra $22 in shipping. You are better off going into a place like big als to pick it up as any savings you get online will probably be gone because of extra shipping costs. I would get a 60 pound bag so you have some extra for top up. At the very least get the 40 lbs.
shamous113
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2015
- Location
- Stratford
To cover a 12"x12" area to a depth of 1" you'll use 8-9lbs of sand
shamous113
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2015
- Location
- Stratford
yes roughly. I'm calculating using a weight of 95lbs per cubic foot of sand