Sand Thread

[Jesse biocubebeginner]

Big reefer got me doing a bit of research for sand just wondering about egg rate. Depth of sand, pros and cons of bare bottom and sand in sump/fuge. All thoughts or comments welcome


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[heath]

it is a personal thing, I am currently using egg crate in both tanks but in my previous tank didn't use it, both tank were fine.. did have sand in the sump but have since removed it, I like the bare sump for cleaning purposes...I also have an engineer gobie in the big tank so I like a deep sand bed..not sure if this is going to help or hinder your research...

 

[Jesse biocubebeginner]

Does the egg crate hinder snails from cleaning the sand?


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[heath]

I don't believe so, maybe some else that has experience could chime in...

 

[unibob]

Egg crate can cause gas pockets below sand if it isn't being constantly turned over. A better option to egg crate is just a sheet of acrylic, you would just place your rock on it so it's not sitting on glass.


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[Pistol]

In my next build I am going to incorporate a crosshatch of thin silicone beads on the bottom under where the rock work will be, this will give the rock stability from shifting without causing dead spots and gas pockets and shouldn't hamper the sand dwellers.

 

[Jesse biocubebeginner]

Is about one inch of sand the norm? Any tricks on keeping tabs on what's going on underneath? My surface seems clean but I have two big snails with a single periscope that stay under all the time. They must be eating something.


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[Pistol]

Those would nassarius snails, they come out at night and scavenge on leftover food.

 

[Kman]

You don't really need egg crate unless you are doing the plenum style deep sand bed where you have to section off the deep layers from being disturbed. I have been putting the rocks right on my bottom glass in my reef tank that I have been been using for 15 years with no issue. I myself would not unless you are doing the DSB method. It can create pockets of higher nutrients where the detritus settles between the spaces but most times it is not an issue.

For sand in the sump it depends on how you are setting it up. If you want easy siphoning of detritus off the bottom bare bottom works. I find this works best if you are adding Macro algae like Caulerpa to a refugium as you can easily blow some into the water and it will stick to the algae for easy removal.

If you are going with a sump with a deep sand bed then you can add it so you can get all levels of nitrification. (Aerobic, Anaerobic and Anoxic)

It is really personal preference though.

 

[Neopimp]

I have egg crate over the entire bottom of my tank and the rock sits on that then a couple inches of sand....

Never a problem and have had many areas get turned up that have been stagnant for a long time... I did it to minimize point loads from rocks on glass.

 

[scubasteve]

what "i" like best is egg crate on entire bottom with 4-6" seafloor special. in my sumps i always add a fuge section for macro and add about 8" of seafloor special there too. i havnt siphoned anything from the sandbed in almost a year but i also have 2 conch snails, about 15 nassarius snails and a gold head goby that seem to keep it looking like new. I also run an algae scrubber in my fuge to further suck out the bad stuff. barebottom has its benefits for keeping nutrients low but requires almost a daily scrub to keep it looking clean. i personally just like the natural look better but do use a barebottom in my seahorse fry breeder tank for ease of cleaning.

 

[sLAsh]

I put the rock directly on the bottom and dropped the sand in around them. I knew was going to get a yashi with a randall shrimp and didn't want egg crate to interfere with his digging