sand for fuge help

[obi]

I am in the process of making a 20 gal fuge for my 30gal,and am planning on having about 10 gallons of water in the fuge and was thinking about adding some live sand in there.So my question is what brand/type of sand should i go with?what would be best?Thanks

 

[stedfast82]

i would use some from my DT if i can if not cant really tell you whats best

 

[obi]

I have a barebottom so no sand in the dt...

 

[JR's Reef]

I would get dry sand of whatever brand I liked then get a cup of sand from a buddy or LFS to seed it with

 

[BASA]

I finally got a something to set my fuge up in this weekend and was talking with a buddy of mine who has been keeping reefs for 10+ years. He recommends using crushed coral and this is why. Rooting Algae will be more successful and rooting in that kind of sub straight vs oolitic sand and it will hold more waste making it a better environment for things like algae to grow.

Just my 2 cents

 

[joelq]

I started off with a deep sandbed in my refugium, but decided to take the sand out and go barebottom about 6 months in. All I have is chaeto in my refugium, and I have no problems keeping my nitrates at zero.

In my experience, sand in the fuge is a pain to deal with. Detritus will eventually collect on top of it, and it's much easier to vacuum out when there's no sand to work around.

So if you were to ask me, I'd skip the sand and just go bare bottom, and get a nice handful of chaeto in there to start with.