Sand preferences

[ledford1]

I am hoping to get some input on sand preferences. Do people like to go with only oolitic/sugar-sized sands such as Southdown, etc, or is it better to mix oolitic with slightly larger grain sizes?

[Gargausius]

I friggin' hate oolitic sand. Don't get it. I curse the day the pet store I used to work at put that crap into the systems! That stuff's very hard to maintain. It blows all over the place. Nothing really likes to dive into it because it's too fine a grain. And it's hard to remove once it's in.

Get fine grain, which is a larger grain than oolitic and won't get blown all over the place as easily. Wrasses like to dive in there. It's also relatively hassle free compared to oolitic.

[Gargausius]

Don't mix sand grains! You'll create traps for detritus. I'm going to be very adamant about this...DON'T GET OOLITIC AT ALL, AND DEFINITELY DON'T MIX OOLITIC SAND WITH ANY OTHER GRAIN OF SAND, YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT IN THE END!

[cuongvynguyen]

I having torn down the sandbed in my refiguim, do not use olithic sand, it is way too fine and compacts down way too much. Get fine grain sand as mentioned which is about 1/3mm in diameter. Its much easier to maintain and vacumn when needed during water changes.

[romunov]

I mixed mine. But I use calcite. There is no way a detritus can get trapped in there - flour fine. But it's not sand, it's silt, so... But it all depends on your setup and stock you wish to keep (flow).

[MCsaxmaster]

It depends on what you want to do. Fine sand (oolitic) is very useful for creating a naturalistic sand bed. A lot of critters can live in this if you innoculate with some excellent live sand, or just the critters directly. A very small amount (a handful or two) of larger grade sand might be alright on top, but this should be 1/4" thick at most. Using naturalistic sand beds is my preferred approach. If not using this approach, I'd use nothing at all (gravel tends to trap detritus and let it rot) and instead have a barebottomed tank. Again, this is not my preferred approach, and I don't really like it, but it is better than using coral gravel and trapping tons of detritus.

Cheers,

-Chris

[ledford1]

I am able to get an area reefer's sand bed. It's a live DSB of Southdown from a 72 bowfront. He's leaving the hobby anticipating a future move.

I would like to use that for a SSB for my 180 FOWLR. I also have two bags of Arag-Alive already. In the 180, I will have my Volitan, Naso Tang, and Dogface Puffer. I would also like to add a Blue Tang and a Majestic Angel.

I'm also looking to replace the sand in my 90. I plan to convert the 90 into a mixed reef, with a few low maintenance corals and about a 4" sand bed. In it, I will keep my Algae Blenny and Yellow Tang. I will also add fish such as a Black Cap Anthias, Scooter Blenny, Firefish, and perhaps a couple of sand sifting gobies.

Should I use the live Southdown in the 180 and add some Arag-Alive for some variety, or leave it only as Southdown, and use the Arag-Alive as part of the sand bed for the 90? Any advice on which sands to use?

Thanks everyone.

[antony1103]

I use ootlic sand with no problems. It does blow around at first but after it settles it makes a cool ripple effect like on the beach at low tide.