Substrate question

[RonnieB1089]

I am setting up a new tank and was wondering whether or not substrate is good or bad. I wanted to use crushed coral but my friend says no substrate is the way to go. I just don't like bare bottom tanks.

 

[mott768]

I personally like a 2-3" sand bed in my tanks, just make sure you get a diverse cleaning crew, differant kinds of snails a cucumber or sand sifting gbby stuff like that to keep the sand clean. Crushed coral will need to be manually cleaned otherwise it will become a nitrate factory.

 

[chazotte]

I used a fine grain white sand (live) on the bottom of my tank. (I forget exactly where it came from) I also have a diamond goby that keeps it clean. After a year and a half, the sand looks great.

Specs on the tank: 120 gallon, 150 lbs of live rock, the sand is about two inches deep.

 

[Phyl]

I think you'll find as many opinions as people on the board. The last time the question was brought up it turned into quite a thread: http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=2640.msg24017#msg24017

There was also a recent poll on the topic: http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_pollxt&task=results&Itemid=1&id=2

Crushed coral as a substrate is known to be a nitrate factory and I would recommend aragonite sand instead. If you're looking at wanting an SPS tank down the road then getting used to bare bottom where you can increase flow without the worry of disturbing a sand bed would be the way to go.

 

[RonnieB1089]

thank you all for your advice. i was going to use crushed coral because i have 100lbs of it but after reading i think it isn't a great idea. didn't know it was a nitrate factory. still learning. i will probably go with 1 to 1.5 inches of sand for aesthetic purposes only. what is a good sand to use for this purpose and how do you prevent it from blowing all over the place from powerheads, water changes, and siphoning it?

 

[Carlo]

The crushed coral in itself won't cause any problems but because it is so big a lot of stuff gets caught between the crushed coral instead of getting filter out (IE skimmer). Then it "rots" and goes through the ammonia/nitrogen cycle and ends up as nitrates and phosphates in your tank.

Carlo

 

[RonnieB1089]

I am leaning more towards using sand but need some feedback from people that have experience with 1 to 1.5 inch sand substrate. I just want to know how difficult it is to clean and keep from blowing around the tank from the return and all the powerheads.

 

[Brian]

Once it gets covered in bacteria it should stop blowing around. I have about that much sand in my tank and did have problems with it blowing around for awhile, but it's settled now and I don't have any problems.

I never siphon it, I have a nice clean up crew that takes care of it.

 

[Phyl]

As long as you stay away from the sand sifting and engineer gobies you can position your powerheads to keep the sand in place. We've had a sand bed for 3 years and when we went from our 120 to 180 we added the extra sand to keep the sand bed at 1.5 or so ".

Our sand is always a nice bright white.

 

[Candi]

There are even more discussions on what type of sand to use so you'll probably end up doing lots of reading before deciding. Many of us (I'm still pretty much a newbie at just over a year, but many of the much more experienced reefers also) swear by plain white playsand you can get for a couple dollars a 50# bag. The infamous Old Castle was a favorite, no longer made under that name/bag. I purcahsed mine this summer at Home Depot... blanking on the name but it's a blue & white bag. I rinsed it very well and had virtually no cloud when filling my tank. As long as your powerheads are angled right you shouldn't have any issue with it blowing around your tank and your cleaning crew will keep it nice and white.

Don't use the CC, I have/had it in my 50g and while it's full of critters it's also full of gunk no matter what I do and a pain to keep the nitrates down, I'm so glad I'm upgrading and tossing it out!

 

[mott768]

Ronnie, be carefull what sand you use, I will only use sand that is for aquariums I don't like taking chances when it comes to my tank. Here's a post from awhile back

http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=3861.msg36035#msg36035

 

[RonnieB1089]

Thanks for all the feedback. I bought 60 pounds of carib sea live sand and put it in the tank. I have a super fine powder in the tank that wont go away now. It's been three days. I have read that eventually it will go away so I am just waiting.

What are good cleaners for a sand bottom tank. I heard that there are snails that burrow in the sand, but hermit crabs will eat them. I want to get a really good cleanup crew but am not sure what to get for my tank.

 

[mott768]

are you running any filter floss? either in your sump or in some kind of filter? also make sure you have good flow in the tank and on the water surface. It does take a couple of days to clear up, just be patient. Test your water for Amn, Nitrite & nitrate, once you get 0 readings than you can start adding some critters, like snails hermits and so on, if you want to speed up the cycle add bio sipra to the tank, then you can add your clean up crew and a couple of hardy fish after 24hrs if everything tests 0. make sure to have a extra bag or 2 on hand just in case. Not many people will agree with me about using bio spira but I've used it in all my tanks and never had a problem. There is also a lot of other people that use it.

 

[mladencovic]

What are good cleaners for a sand bottom tank. I heard that there are snails that burrow in the sand, but hermit crabs will eat them. I want to get a really good cleanup crew but am not sure what to get for my tank.

Nassarius snail (Nassarius vibex) is probably what you were talking about. It is a good scavenger and detritus eater, and will go after any uneaten meaty food. Its burrowing helps turn the substrate. I never heard of it being bothered by hermits because a) it is bigger and stronger and b) it is FASTER then hermits!!! At least the one I have in my tank. But then again, there might be other situations as well.

Other cleaners are, hermits of course - good scavengers. Then the whole set of stars. The brittle/serpent stars are excellent scavengers and controllers of any excess food. My bubble tip brittle star even helps control the cyano bacterias on my sand, probably by eating the microscopic organics from the sand surface that cyanos are feeding on. Sand sifting stars are excellent, as the name implies - sand sifters , but they require large sand areas or they would starve. Sea cucumbers are also very good sand sifters but there are issues with their extreme toxicity and great danger to the rest of the tank. Then there is a variety of sand sifting/burrowing/algae eating fish - blennies and gobies. Here I have to brag about my latest acquisition - Rainford's goby (Amblygobius rainfordi)

Now, these were some of the sand cleaners that you would normally consider "pets" . The ones that you might not, but are probably far more important, are what makes the sand live. WORMS !!! PODS!!! and other small creatures, rumaging through your sand . The "live" on the sand bag you bought is just a marketing gimmick. It is nowhere near as live as you want your sand to be. Fortunately it is easy to "seed" your sand with real life by adding just a small amount of sand from someones established tank. And even adding a bit of water from a good tank could be a god start since many of these organisms will be releasing eggs and larvas in the free water column.