Substrate Questions

Tmm87 · May 20, 2017

Hello,

New to the forums (and the hobby to a degree). I've been keeping freshwater tanks for 16 years now and only recently got into salt within the last year. My current tank is a 70 gallon FOWLR (I do have a couple zoas and a candy cane).

In a couple weeks I'm moving and will be upgrading to a 120 and was looking into a deep sand bed. Current tank has a 2 inch bed of CaribSea Hawaiian black which wasn't expensive to set up but with a DSB I'd be looking at somewhere in the 280-300+ lbs range for sand.

First off I'm looking for opinions on DSB vs SSB. I've done research and the idea behind the DSB is very appealing to me as it will allow for different types of fish as well as the denitrification aspect. My current shallow bed is easy to maintain, I have no issues with debris and detritus buildup. I know there are countless threads on this but I was hoping for some current info in case there were some articles/studies/etc that I may have overlooked.

Second question is grain size. What are your preferred sizes? I know CaribSea is limited in what they offer, but I'm sure there are other brands out there. I love the way the black looks in my tank now but contemplating swapping to a lighter color for the larger tank not only to mix things up but because I was told that lighter sands will reflect the light better and help with coral growth, etc. I know smaller grain is better for sand sifters such as a Diamond goby which I plan to add to the tank down the road but my fear is also snow storm from the power heads.

Third (and it ties into question #1), if I end up going with a DSB is there an option for a sand that won't get kicked up by the power heads that will still be relatively inexpensive? I'm not looking to go super cheap but I also don't want to shell out a full paycheck just to purchase the sand I need. Even with my discount at work I'd be looking at around $25 for a 20lb bag of CaribSea. In my searching I found lots of old posts about a bulk "Play Sand" made by a company called South Down, which then became Old Castle/Yard Right. These sands seem to no longer be aragonite and are all silica based. I know MarcoRocks sells bulk Oolite aragonite but everything I read on it leaves me hesitant to purchase. Most reviews said it was very messy and took forever to really settle and not get kicked around. Other places I found that had reasonable grain size were charging upwards of $2/lb not including shipping.

Thanks in advance for any information and replies.

reefwiser · May 20, 2017

If you want to do deep sand bed I would do it in a refugium sump area.
Easier to maintain the back sand is area of concern as it can introduce certain toxic elements. I used play sand 30 years ago in tanks. The big issue is maintenance of the sand bed a animals like aiptasia infesting the sand bed. This is my current tank issue. Which requires removal of the sand bed as the like to play hide and seek with animals that eat them or other treatments. Using a sand bed in a separate area gives you control over the process. There are also reactors that do denitrication even better. But your tank will be new Gerri g a good skimmer and a algae scrubber would be better path to take currently.

brandon429 · May 20, 2017

that's true. only remote deep sand beds. everyone did display deep sand beds in the 90s and that phased out for a reason. not that there aren't any holdovers but we can see the percentage nowadays doing true hands off sandbedding in the display tank is declining. when you see people dosing carbon into their system its typically to assist with waste a deep sand bed is producing vs off gassing

the many things people do to assist with nitrate are by and large in tanks that have untouched dsb's in the display tank. detritus offsets.

that being said, Ill never be without a deep sand bed in my display tank

the only reason I can get away with it for so many yrs in a small tank is the sandbed is regularly cleaned and stores no waste, so its no liability. it has no impact negatively on the tank when its just grains at the bottom...the mud and detritus of the oldschool sb in the dt is is real issue

rinse your new sand 100% so that it cannot cloud the new tank before use. rinse with tap water just fine not a big deal, even if you bought wet pack live sand. tap doesn't sterilize bacteria or hospitals would sanitize surfaces with tap water. the contact time of a rinse and then setup with saltwater is brief enough to remove silt and preserve bacteria on the grains.