Was fine sand the biggest mistake?

[BangedUp]

Same story but thought I’d share. I first had fine Fiji sand in my 180 but it was always being blown around when the wave pumps kicked on so one day I added 40lbs of crushed coral and have not had a problem since. I never vacuum I just let the clean up crew do it’s thing and my top layer is almost always pretty white, not sparkling but white.good luck in whatever route you take. Happy reefing.

Do you have super high flow for spa? I never really have a problem with pink Fiji

 

[Susan Edwards]

I have 80 lbs of dry aragonite pink fiji coming tomorrow and 20 lbs of live pink fiji. Needed something for my sand sifter who is currently in the display refugium and will get moved to new tank (hope I don't regret that move!) My current tank has bimini pink. It sometimes blows around. I just adjust and live with it Right now, lots of the bigger bits are on top (and all green and discolored) and I may add new sand on t

 

[mtraylor]

I use pink Fiji sand in all of my aquariums. When you first buy it as stated above by another reefer, it will be easily blow around with you power heads. After a week or so it gets settled in with bacteria and critters and is harder to move around. You will also need to adjust your pumps when you first get it to stop what you have going on now. YOu can crank them up more a bit later when the sand settles in.

The golden headed sleeper goby is a great fish however they usually wait till they get to the top of the water column to release the sand on top of your rock and favorite coral. So that was not a good fish choice.

Get yourself the following for your sand.
1. Tiger Goby.
2. Nassarius Snails

 

[brandon429]

How to change sandbeds in a reef all at once and not recycle
This may help with the big job

Also, pre rinse your live sand before use, saving a hundred headaches.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

 

[BangedUp]

Do you have super high flow for spa? I never really have a problem with pink Fiji

I have 80 lbs of dry aragonite pink fiji coming tomorrow and 20 lbs of live pink fiji. Needed something for my sand sifter who is currently in the display refugium and will get moved to new tank (hope I don't regret that move!) My current tank has bimini pink. It sometimes blows around. I just adjust and live with it Right now, lots of the bigger bits are on top (and all green and discolored) and I may add new sand on t

i heard pink Fiji is not fine enough for sifters but good for shrimp/goby pairs to burrow

 

[reefndude]

I use Fiji pink as well. It did blow around and shift when first added. After a week or so everything settled and good now.

 

[mtraylor]

i heard pink Fiji is not fine enough for sifters but good for shrimp/goby pairs to burrow

Its real good for sifters. My tiger goby sifts like crazy.

 

[jd371]

I've got the fine sand in my 2.5 year old 75g. Like was mentioned above it will settle down with time. With trial and error I have it so there's enough flow to get detritus off the sb without creating a storm. To keep it clean I have 2 Conch's and a couple of months ago I added a Rainfords Goby and my sand looks great. If anybody is looking for a great sifter there is none better than a Rainfords, it sifts all day without making a mess. Most other sifters swim into the water column when sifting and the sand blows all over, the Rainfords sifts right at the sb so it doesn't blow around. The worst I get is a light dusting of corals on the sb, I've never had to dig out a coral because of the sifting. I'm sure my Melenaurus loves that he has something soft to burrow in too.

 

[Susan Edwards]

i heard pink Fiji is not fine enough for sifters but good for shrimp/goby pairs to burrow

I searched for the sand size needed for sifters and the Fiji pink fell into the range. It's one step up fro oolite. Got mine from BRS

 

[Susan Edwards]

Like the look of the rainford goby. I have a gold head sleeper goby and he makes a mess. I'd prefer to NOT put him in the new tank but he has to go there as I'm taking down the display refugium he's in. Have coral on bottom of my 66 and he'd bury them for sure in that smaller tank. Don't want to take him back to a lfs as that is prob. a death sentence. He's cool just messy and destructive. But he does the job well...

 

[ca1ore]

Although I use the really fine stuff in my RDSB, I only use the special grade reef floor stuff in the display. It's fine enough for bottom dwelling animals, but not so fine that it blows everywhere.

 

[Blz14me1]

You could do it by water changes... every time just suck up sand with it until it's all gone. Then add the new

Genius

 

[Saltlife]

I had Fiji Pink in my first tank the cleaner crew kept it nice. It was fine grains. Powerhead came loose while I was gone and everything was covered in sand. I cleaned sand for a year. Didn’t really have a problem with it flying around. I was amazed watching the golby soft sand though. Second tank went with Hawaiian Black. It’s grains are larger and I haven’t had luck with golbys.

 

[NS Mike D]

I used carib sea bahama oolite 0.25 - 1.0mm

once the bacteria moves in, it settles down. With time, even with moderate flow it will stay put. It is a cyano magnet so I do suck up some every water change - and as posted you can add a more coarse sand to mix in.

My watchman goby loves to excavate it.

 

[frank London]

Same story but thought I’d share. I first had fine Fiji sand in my 180 but it was always being blown around when the wave pumps kicked on so one day I added 40lbs of crushed coral and have not had a problem since. I never vacuum I just let the clean up crew do it’s thing and my top layer is almost always pretty white, not sparkling but white.good luck in whatever route you take. Happy reefing.

I’m having the same problem going to start vacuuming it out with my weekly water changes .
Nightmare just blows everywhere