rubble sand bed?

nater · Dec 9, 2009

i think i am sick of my sand bed and defiantly my sand sifter. is a rubble sand bed a good idea? i know there can be calcium benefits. anyone have any tank set up this way. i know i have seen some. any media that would be good so i don't have particles flying every where and wasting away filter socks. thanks

Ike · Dec 9, 2009

There are no calcium or buffering benefits at the PH we run our aquariums anmd that's just marketing nonsense from the people that are trying to sell it to you. The problem with rubble is it's really good at trapping detritus. You're be better off using a larger grain sand such as caribsea #2 or going bare bottom.

650-IS350 · Dec 9, 2009

+1 it does trap detritus, it makes it harder for cleaning creatures to get to them since the food and crap gets stuck down in the rubble and crevices. Sand is soft and lets creatures filter through and move around the sand.

nater · Dec 9, 2009

glad i have you guys. didn't even think of that at all. +1 on the larger grain i think. sand particles are constantly flying around. needs to end.

Angels 2010 · Dec 9, 2009

I know how you feel and am in the process of removing my sugar sized to go to a 1-2mm size. Hopefully this will still be good for my diamond goby to sift and my wrasse(s) to sleep in....

nater · Dec 9, 2009

thats my problem as well , i think i am going to just put larger grain in the front where there is more flow and my wrasse can sleep in the caves with the finer grain.

Azurel · Dec 9, 2009

One of my first tanks had a 3'' bed of shells collected from the beaches of Florida. I had so many pods, copapods, mysis it wasn't funny. It was realitivly easy to clean with a siphon tube. It was actually the cleanest sand bed in any tank I had ever had, notgood for bottom dwelling fis but looked really cool.....