Favorite type of substrate.....and why?

Chelle's Ocean · Jun 17, 2012

Hello all R2R members

Starting to put some ideas down for my tanks- and the main being my 150g, a thread to begin soon (yay!)

Looking for some ideas I haven't thought of, and curious to see who uses what, with what outcomes?

What kind of substrate do you use in your reef tanks?
What size grain of sand (if you use sand)?
What do you do to minimize the effect of blowing sand on the corals?

Thinking of going a different route this time around... I like the sugar sand look, easier to burrow, but gets on coral (especially when your midas blenney spits it on the coral, lol) Not a big fan of crushed coral- but I do like the way the corals lay atop it... ideas? Opinions? Share away

mallorieGgator · Jun 17, 2012

I honestly like the look of starboard. It gets grown over with coralline algae. One thing I really like is that you can have powerheads at the bottom of the tank which allows no detritus to settle.

ss95003 · Jun 18, 2012

Look for Reeflakes, I think Premium Aquatics is the only US seller. It is a larger sand that allows for more flow.

wysiwyg · Jun 18, 2012

i use argonite it has grains about 1/8 of an inch doesnt blow around and is easy to clean and i love it

AJreefs · Jun 18, 2012

Funny, i am debating on star board or reef flakes for my tank, I will be following closely. I am leaning towards starboard and adding a refugium

droblack · Jun 18, 2012

Have tried a few different ways, including bb and local reef sand. Just switched to Seaflor special grade reef sand. Large grain, and looks nice. Doesn't blow around, but then again I only have a return pump and 2 Tunze 6055s.

AJreefs · Jun 18, 2012

droblack said:
Have tried a few different ways, including bb and local reef sand. Just switched to Seaflor speci
al grade reef sand. Large grain, and looks nice. Doesn't blow around, but then again I only have a return pump and 2 Tunze 6055s.

I am curious; what size tank is this

droblack · Jun 18, 2012

Oceanic 76 gallon half circle. Think it is an Eheim 1260 adjustable output (max) return. Used to have 2 Tunze 6100's in there. Wonder if the Seaflor would get blown around by them, old substrate certainly did.

zoous · Jun 18, 2012

I have a bare bottom for my main tank. Easier to maintain for me. But if you plan to get wrasses or any sand burrowing animals it definitely good to have a nice sandbed for them. Caribsea Aragonite Carribean for another tank. Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand.

Aquaph8 · Jun 18, 2012

I use the seaflor special grade but I kinda wish I would have gone with the reef flakes, it seems to get better reviews. I have a bunch of flow and the seaflor did blow around at first but after it builds up some bacteria it doesn't move around as much.

slugwall · Jun 18, 2012

I like the black tahiti sand the size of sugar... I also have the normal live sand in another tank thats white and the size of little crumbs. So far in my 55gl I have 3 blowers and unless I point them right at the sand it will blow it around for a few seconds, it does settle. once I upgrade my other tank it will be sugar sized white sand to see what that looks like. Hope this helps

myzislow · Jun 18, 2012

Never again will I use anything but Tropic eden substrate that is sold at premium aquatics. The stuff looks fantastic and is CLEAN. Hardly anything comes off of it on the rinse buckets. I've had all kinds of nasty stuff in my sand from other companies...everything from plastic bits to bark. Tropic eden is the way to go. I mix reef flakes and the grand select for the higher flow zones.

KSzegi · Jun 18, 2012

Used Tropic Eden for the first time when I did my upgrade .... and I second myzislow ..... will never use anything else again. I use a dsb so I went with the sugar sand and then added a bit of reef flakes on the top. Blew around some at first then settled in ..... still get a few interesting dips and sand movement if I change the flow pattern but for the most part I don't get a snowstorm and i think some of the sand scaping looks nice. For what it's worth .... I have a 300 gallon with 4 mp40's and a pretty good amount of flow from the return pump.

mallorieGgator · Jun 18, 2012

I have never heard of reef flakes before. Sounds interesting.

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Saltgator · Jun 18, 2012

Tropic Eden mini flakes and reef flakes mixed in on my 240. Love it. Had both coarse and fine sands before, but never really was happy. From here on out, tropic eden gets my vote.

Country boy using tapatalk on a HTC Evo

myzislow · Jun 18, 2012

mallorieGgator said:
I have never heard of reef flakes before. Sounds interesting.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

It's just a sizing for one of the Tropic eden products. I believe it is in the middle as far as their sizing goes. I mix it with the grand select sizing and it is perfect IMO. I do not like sugar sand so maybe thats why I like this blend so much.

AJreefs · Jun 19, 2012

What depth sand bed would you suggest on the reef flakes and how often should that sand need be maintained at the recommended depth? Appreciate the advice

Saltgator · Jun 19, 2012

AJreefs said:
What depth sand bed would you suggest on the reef flakes and how often should that sand need be maintained at the recommended depth? Appreciate the advice

My mix is 3 inches and only about .5 inches gets turned over time to time by different livestock within the DT. After it becomes ''live'' it bonds together.

Country boy using tapatalk on a HTC Evo

AJreefs · Jun 19, 2012

Saltgator said:
My mix is 3 inches and only about .5 inches gets turned over time to time by different livestock within the DT. After it becomes ''live'' it bonds together.

Country boy using tapatalk on a HTC Evo

I let my sandsiftings stars and such do the work for me; ok, thanks for the info. I had done that previously but something went wrong ; my nitrates were rising to the 5-10 range. I didnt want to set this up inccorectly; this put my mind at ease about the sand I beleive I had the incorrect depth on my sand bed.

Chelle's Ocean · Jun 19, 2012

Thanks for the input everyone

I am looking into the reef flakes- had not heard of them- I like the dsb as well.
- Also considering a bag or two of coral bones- to scatter here and there- saw a pic of it, liked how it looked in one of Matt Pedersen's articles (re: the lightning project)

Have not had alot of info on starboard- anyone want to post pics, how is it installed, how to use/cut it, do you simply just cut to size and put on bare bottom, or attach it in place? Opinions of it, how long to coralline over it as mentioned above?

As far as the black sand. I now cannot remember what it was I had, the fiji black, or the moonlight black? I had black in the octo tank, and will most likely set up again before xmas- I loved my little Octopus

xo and the colors were so nice against the black bottom