Sand bed in new aquarium questions

[Adrian in Ontario]

Hi all, I recently started setting up a salt water 55gallon. Set up the tank yesterday. Got the numbers all where they should be as far as kh and alkalinity today. Added in bagged live sand from my LFS today. I used the numbers on the bags to determine how much to buy and put it all in today. Now from my reading it looks like I am in the middle between a thin bed and a deep bed of sand sitting right around 2". My goal is to slowly make this into a reef tank and I like the look of the sand bed. My understanding from what I have been reading is if I buy sifters they may starve as the bed isn't deep enough but is now too deep to properly rid itself of possible buildups of bad stuff. What are my options here? I was considering a few ideas; maybe only get a couple of snails or a gobie that will sift, sift the sand every couple of weeks when I do water changes, or take some of the sand back out and just keep enough to cover the bottom with about an 1".

 

[mta_morrow]

Ok, 2” is not a deep sand bed. I would say it is a very typical depth.

For sand sifting gobies, a few things to consider.

Your tanks need to be established and stable and they feed off the microfauna living in the sand bed.

6 or more months may be needed before adding a sifter.

If you are going to have coral on the sand bed, be prepared to possibly have them buried.

Also, sifting gobies are not al all necessary to have a nice clean looking sand bed.

 

[ndrwater]

2" should be fine for goodies and the like. LrobabPr also deep enough for wrasses that like to sleep in the sand as well.
As for other sand sifting CUC like sand stars and cucumbers, time is the key here. In new systems, there orobaborobabpr isn't enough microfauna to keep them alive for long currently. Time will help this.
Sand beds are really a personal preference. Some like the look, some don't. Depends on what YOU like.
A regular cleaning with things like a gravel vac will help things stay nice and clean as well as not allowing the sand to go anerobic in the long term

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

2" should be fine for goodies and the like. LrobabPr also deep enough for wrasses that like to sleep in the sand as well.
As for other sand sifting CUC like sand stars and cucumbers, time is the key here. In new systems, there orobaborobabpr isn't enough microfauna to keep them alive for long currently. Time will help this.
Sand beds are really a personal preference. Some like the look, some don't. Depends on what YOU like.
A regular cleaning with things like a gravel vac will help things stay nice and clean as well as not allowing the sand to go anerobic in the long term

So my plan this week is coral and live rock added to sand base and then cycle the tank. Any good plan as to how long it will take before I should be looking at a sifter or two to maintain the sand bed?

 

[ndrwater]

1st off, I wouldn't add coral and THEN cycle. Do it the other way around. Adding benificial bacter like Dr Tim's or Microbacterial 7 will help speed things along, but I would be checking for things like Ammonia and Nitrite before adding corals. Corals NEED stability to survive and thrive. Having a new tank, parameters will bounce around a bit before adding corals would be advisable. Once things settle down, then think about corals. As for sand sifters, same rule applies. Add some bacteria, monitor ammonia, and then see where you are. Cucumbers and sand stars, IMO, should be added about a year in to increase their chance of long term survival.

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

1st off, I wouldn't add coral and THEN cycle. Do it the other way around. Adding benificial bacter like Dr Tim's or Microbacterial 7 will help speed things along, but I would be checking for things like Ammonia and Nitrite before adding corals. Corals NEED stability to survive and thrive. Having a new tank, parameters will bounce around a bit before adding corals would be advisable. Once things settle down, then think about corals. As for sand sifters, same rule applies. Add some bacteria, monitor ammonia, and then see where you are. Cucumbers and sand stars, IMO, should be added about a year in to increase their chance of long term survival.

sorry I didn't mean to include Coral in there, I was thinking dry or live rock to help get the cycle going.

 

[Aquavaj]

After having a diamond watchman goby to sift the sand I would never again. It dug burrows and made dunes everywhere. Constantly burying my corals on the sandbed too. Got rid of it after 2 weeks.

 

[lapin]

My goal is to slowly make this into a reef tank and I like the look of the sand bed. My understanding from what I have been reading is if I buy sifters they may starve as the bed isn't deep enough but is now too deep to properly rid itself of possible buildups of bad stuff.
What are my options here? .

If you like the sand bed, then its a done deal. No need to change it for now. Posted above "a gravel vac is your best friend" if you use it. You will need to use it if you want to keep a neat sand bed, free of what you call "bad stuff"
This is the mild brandon429 version of sand beds
In a few weeks you tank will be brown. No worries. Then it will turn red, then green. These are changes that all new tanks go thru. Just monitor your water perimeters. You will need to do some scrubbing and vacuuming. When you see the green stuff starting to grow its time to add a clean up crew. Assorted snails. Each species has its own preference. Some work the rock, some work the sand. If you find they cant keep up, get more. Just give them some time to work. Hermit crabs will eat your snails so unless you like to buy snails...... Also I would stay away from a sand sifter ( fish) if you want your sand to be where you place it. There is no sand under my rocks. It is in big mounds all over the tank. She even drops it all over my rocks when she thinks they need a light dusting of snow. Not to mention my red macros and coral near the bottom of the tank. Before bed I think she does this at the front of the tank to get my attention. Thinking she will get fed again. She does like to eat, and is usually near the front of the line when the turkey baster starts shooting live worms and frozen food in the tank.
After 6 months if you are having a problem then there may be other issues to address (over feeding ect....)

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

After having a diamond watchman goby to sift the sand I would never again. It dug burrows and made dunes everywhere. Constantly burying my corals on the sandbed too. Got rid of it after 2 weeks.

ah good to know ty, the more I research the less I am interested in the fish and more the making of an ecosystem which fits my history with freshwater tanks as well. Have another 55 gallon upstairs thats Planted and vibrant with just some guppies and shrimp in it so a fish ruining what I am trying to build would be bad.

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

If you like the sand bed, then its a done deal. No need to change it for now. Posted above "a gravel vac is your best friend" if you use it. You will need to use it if you want to keep a neat sand bed, free of what you call "bad stuff"
This is the mild brandon429 version of sand beds
In a few weeks you tank will be brown. No worries. Then it will turn red, then green. These are changes that all new tanks go thru. Just monitor your water perimeters. You will need to do some scrubbing and vacuuming. When you see the green stuff starting to grow its time to add a clean up crew. Assorted snails. Each species has its own preference. Some work the rock, some work the sand. If you find they cant keep up, get more. Just give them some time to work. Hermit crabs will eat your snails so unless you like to buy snails...... Also I would stay away from a sand sifter ( fish) if you want your sand to be where you place it. There is no sand under my rocks. It is in big mounds all over the tank. She even drops it all over my rocks when she thinks they need a light dusting of snow. Not to mention my red macros and coral near the bottom of the tank. Before bed I think she does this at the front of the tank to get my attention. Thinking she will get fed again. She does like to eat, and is usually near the front of the line when the turkey baster starts shooting live worms and frozen food in the tank.
After 6 months if you are having a problem then there may be other issues to address (over feeding ect....)

Thanks, I have always used a vac when doing water changes. Find its easiest way to make sure things are clean. Sand can be a bit of a pain to do it with but I have found with the one I have if I keep it at a 45 the sand falls back at around half way up.