best substrate for sps

[ronnie]

Fiji pink is my favorite thus far. Really good color and small size (but not oolitic)

 

[Touring]

No sand

 

[footballdude2k3]

I got 40 lbs of the live aragonite, was cloudy for about 12-16 hours, looks like glass now, have about 4000 GPH going in a 4' 65, have a 1500 gph pump, and an MP40 on 65%, the cheap pump will be getting swapped with a second MP40 in the next month or two.

 

[jackson6745]

I like a mix of crushed corals and aragonite reef grade. I like the different grain size and it stays put in high flow.

 

[hart24601]

The big SPS reefs are rock based in the wild, you don't see sand there so why put it in our tanks? Don't get me wrong, some coral are found on sand, but SPS really are not. Make the bottom rock to break up the flat BB look if you like, but for sps sand isn't really "natural" anyway.

 

[shred5]

Fresh sand always blows around. After a few months my sand always settles down and I pump up the flow on my MP40's.

Yep agreed...

I have have used southdown before and that even stayed put after a while in a sps tank..

I now use special grade reef sand.

I have done lots of bare bottom tanks but just never liked the looks...

I love the look of a giant open sand bed like what AJ_Tsin did, it makes his tank look far bigger than what it is..
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/member-tanks/165100-aj_tsins-47g-shallow-rimless.html

Its open and clean and not littered with all those little frags.. Just looks nice..