What kind of substrate ?

[blaked]

Im setting up a 46 bow front, i have some bulk critter shop sand, white sand with the odd black peice...

i dunno if this is good for my dt , i dunno if this sand is good period ?
should i stay with my cruched coral ? or should i go agramax ?

im thinking of a 30 gallon sump/ deep sand bed aslo, i have mixed info on granular size. 
  not to sure here....

 

[Exotic Reef]

I would stay away from that sand as its usually silica based..... therefore you will have tons of algae problems...

I personally like the Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand.

 

[Cal_stir]

I prefer Caribsea Aragonite Seafloor Special, not too fine, easy to vacuum without sucking it all out.

 

[blaked]

now that u mention it i had a carpet of algea in my brackish tank with this sand...

!!!!!!!!!  i have it in my new tank as i type, will my water b ok if i remove the sand  now ? !!!!!!!!!

 

[phi delt reefer]

keep an eye on your nitrate and phosphates. i would siphon it out if i were you and just  do a couple 25% water changes every couple of days for a week. Better play it safe than be sorry.

 

[Cal_stir]

if the sand is new and has not cycled then you can remove it, if it has cycled then you should remove it in sections allowing the replacement to cycle then remove the another section and so on, once the sand is removed the water will be ok, the sand leaches the silicates slowly over time.

when adding sand, i use my vacuum tube, i cut a piece of rigid plastic a little bigger than the diameter of the tube, i put a knot in a piece of string ind pierced it thru the center of the rigid plastic, feed the string thru the tube and pull the rigid plastic to the end of the tube, fill the tube with rinced aragonite, lower it into the the tank and release the bottom, the sand drops out without clouding up the water.

 

[pulpfiction1]

eco-reefer sells the perfect sand for substrate and DSB,never had any issues with it

 

[MDGraves]

I went bare bottom, no issues, lol

 

[shayneh]

I agree...bare bottom always gets my vote!

 

[BigReefer]

Glass Bottom setup eliminate a lot of potential issues but for myself at least having the sand(ish) substate is one of the largest characteristics of having a marine aquarium

 

[Cal_stir]

I agree, I have a barebottom QT, it just doesn't seem right, but is necessary for a QT.

 

[blaked]

i was going to go BB but im worried about rocks, im clumsy some times, dont wanna crack my tank bottem.
i hate the dirty substrate look, havta be on that daily i guesse

 

[teebone110]

BB gets my vote.

 

[blaked]

to u guys that run BB do yall have deep sand beds or refuges in your sumps ?

 

[shayneh]

No remote DSB or refug per say. I only ever had some chaeto and mangroves in the sump. My train of thought is no sandbed anywhere to maintain means I never have to worry about detritus build up or sandbeds going bad. I have never had issues running bare bottom and after a short period of time the coraline covers the bottom and once some corals start spreading...no one is the wiser.

 

[pulpfiction1]

im 95% BB but i am gonna fill my overflows with sand to make 2 remote DSB,i ran one on my last display,never had any issues exept i didnt like the looks after awhile,you cant really clean a DSB to deep

 

[blaked]

sounds good,  I like the clean sand look but never had success in the past.
i think BB will be ok if i pre drill and peg my live rock .
planning on making a nice cliff edge soon as i find in-stock eco rock slabs,  dont want em tubbling

 

[pulpfiction1]

i used egg crate,thats why i put some sand in,to cover the egg crate

 

[blaked]

yeah i saw ur egg crate, and u said u were getting rida that sand. im gonna use pvc pipe to suport the rock bottoms off the glass if i go bb mabye

 

[MDGraves]

I used purple epoxy and stuck the rocks to the bottom and back glass and glued each pc of rock to eachother, my whole rock scape is solid like cement, I just hope I like my configuration in 10 years, lol