Substrait Opinion

SeaSlug · May 19, 2009

Thinking of buying some Tropic Eden Mini Flakes to help hold down sandbed from moving around through flow . Problem is shipping is almost as much as the bag of sand itself . I don't mind paying if it's worth it , so please chime in if you use mini flakes and give me you opinion good or bad .

SeaSlug · May 19, 2009

No one uses Tropic Eden ?

Alti · May 21, 2009

Never used it. How old is the sandbed? Your sandbed moves over time and as long as your flow isnt changed around most of the heavier particles will end up in high flow areas and All the finer grains will settle in lower flow areas. Unless you have a sandstorm in there I would leave it alone until it finds and equilibrium.

stunreefer · May 22, 2009

SeaSlug said:
No one uses Tropic Eden ?

I do and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

Best substrate ever, clean as can be... really puts CaribSea to shame.

I couldn't recommend anything over it - and I've tried 'em all through the years.

However, I use "Reeflakes", not "Miniflakes": http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...t_Code=TE-TE03616R30&Category_Code=Substrates

This substrate stays put pretty darn well, but I doubt the smaller sizes would, however they'll still be the cleanest around!

AZDesertRat · May 22, 2009

Why do people have problems with their sand bed moving? In my 100G reef I have 330 lbs of Southdown sugar sized sand, 2x K4 Koralias one of them with a prop mod, a OR 3500 closed loop through a OM Squirt two way and a OR 3500 return pump for like 35-40x turnover and my sand stays put.
In my 16G bowfront I have 25 lbs Southdown sugar sand, a K1 Koralia, a MJ900 and a modified AC500 refugium and it stays put too.
I think your flows need to be redirected or something.

SeaSlug · May 22, 2009

Recieved my Tropic Eden sand today and I have to say I agree with stunreefer , it's very clean and looks great . To reply to AZ , I run a very shallow sand bed in all my tanks ( about 1/4 inch ) . It does break down over time and I need to add about one cup every couple years . When the sand bed is this thin it does not take much to create bare spots on the bottom of the tank . My 30lb. bag of mini flakes will last me more years than I can even begin to estimate .