What sand do you use and what is your internal flow ?

[REEFKEEPER10]

Until now I have use Caribsea special grade sugar fine and it has worked but when I set up my 150g it will have about 2000 gph internal flow from a closed loop. I'm afraid that much flow will cause a sand storm. So I'm looking for a alternative. I don't like bb and plain on keeping jawfish so it needs to be as fine as possible. all info is welcomed in advance. Good or bad. :fish2:

 

[Scoly]

I used natures ocean "live" sand with #3 cc mixed to help hold it down. I have a 5' long 185g tank, with a mp-60&mp-40, and about 1000 gph from return pump.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

I would love to get real live sand not stuff in a bag but no one ships it. Lol

 

[mfdrookie516]

I absolutely LOVE the sand I got from reefrocks.net. I've recommended it to several friends and forum members on another site and everyone has been very pleased with it.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

I will check it out. Thanks

 

[mfdrookie516]

It does have some chunks of shell in it... but it's real heavy and I've never had an issue with it blowing around. It also didn't cloud my tank when I put it in, and I didn't even rinse it. My pink spotted watchman doesn't have an issue sifting it through its gills... and if memory serves me correctly, it's like $15 shipped for 40lbs.

 

[k2parkstar]

I've got the caribsea Fiji pink. 1550 gph flow. I used to keep a blue spot jawfish in there, but traded him away because he constantly spit sand all over my coral. He'll be a sandstorm himself.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

I have a engineer goby that does that right now but all I have down that low is some polyps and it doesn't bother them.

 

[AZDesertRat]

I have 330 lbs of unrinsed Southdown sugar sand in a 9 year old 100G mixed reef with an OR 3500 return pump via an Oceans Motions squirt two way and two Evolutions 1400's on a RKL switching every 30 seconds and have no problems with the sand.

 

[Ace25]

I have a 4" DSB with Caribsea Sugar fine sand and use an MP40 (3200GPH) that ramps up to full power in a 30x24x24 75G tank. I use an Eheim 1262 return pump that is split with penductors, and a 1100GPH closed loop setup also. I figure I have roughly 75x turnover in the display. I do have some undertow issues with the MP40 but if placed just right the sand stays put, 1" off either direction and it digs holes in the corners. In the future I will do a 50/50 mixture of sugar fine with some larger types of sand because sugar fine is very tricky to work with.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Yeah I have that problem with my 75g but I only have about a 1000 gph. My gobie stirs the sand and it gets in the water column so I have sand in my sump every now and then.

 

[mcarroll]

Until now I have use Caribsea special grade sugar fine and it has worked but when I set up my 150g it will have about 2000 gph internal flow from a closed loop. I'm afraid that much flow will cause a sand storm. So I'm looking for a alternative. I don't like bb and plain on keeping jawfish so it needs to be as fine as possible. all info is welcomed in advance. Good or bad. :fish2:

Sugar-fine is a pain. Really best for super-low flow tanks as you've discovered.

Ocean Direct is my favorite live bagged sand....nice mix of fine and medium. I've had upwards of 80x turnover via Tunze 6045's and not had any issues with it.

Also, don't sweat over the Jawfish's sand requirements, IME. Even if there's no sand at all they will make due with shells and bits of rock. It's a myth that they need super fine, or soft, sand. They don't "need" sand at all and seem quite good at adapting to other materials to make their caves.

I would love to get real live sand not stuff in a bag but no one ships it. Lol

Hahah....define "real live sand".

I wouldn't get a belly ache (so to speak) over using bagged sand. I even doubt you'd want sand straight from a beach - without cleaning and curing it would be foul before it got to your tank just like live rock. After cleaning and curing, how much better is it than just using bagged sand and adding some coral or other "seeds" to the tank? See if the LFS will give/sell you a scoop of "crud" from the bottom of their live rock bin - I've seeded tanks this way a lot.

"Live sand" is generally overrated IMO. Maybe go for it if you have extra budget. I think GARF sells it.


Good luck!

-Matt

 

[kkiel02]

I use aragasnow. I love it. For being so fine it really doesn't get blown around like other sands.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Sugar-fine is a pain. Really best for super-low flow tanks as you've discovered.

Ocean Direct is my favorite live bagged sand....nice mix of fine and medium. I've had upwards of 80x turnover via Tunze 6045's and not had any issues with it.

Also, don't sweat over the Jawfish's sand requirements, IME. Even if there's no sand at all they will make due with shells and bits of rock. It's a myth that they need super fine, or soft, sand. They don't "need" sand at all and seem quite good at adapting to other materials to make their caves.



Hahah....define "real live sand".

I wouldn't get a belly ache (so to speak) over using bagged sand. I even doubt you'd want sand straight from a beach - without cleaning and curing it would be foul before it got to your tank just like live rock. After cleaning and curing, how much better is it than just using bagged sand and adding some coral or other "seeds" to the tank? See if the LFS will give/sell you a scoop of "crud" from the bottom of their live rock bin - I've seeded tanks this way a lot.

"Live sand" is generally overrated IMO. Maybe go for it if you have extra budget. I think GARF sells it.


Good luck!

-Matt

I wanted to use real live sand just to see what other life woulda come out of it. As far as seeding a tank I have about 100 pounds of sand in my 75g full of spaghetti worm, bristle worm, and copods to seed and a tank. It really I just curiosity.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Yeah live sand is over rated. I started my old 29g reef with dry Caribsea and some live rock and when it started leaking at a seem I transferred everything to my 75g and never had a cycle. Luckily I had everything to fire up the 75g. Lol

 

[mcarroll]

I wanted to use real live sand just to see what other life woulda come out of it. As far as seeding a tank I have about 100 pounds of sand in my 75g full of spaghetti worm, bristle worm, and copods to seed and a tank. It really I just curiosity.

I can dig that!

Unless you're able to walk to the beach and back to your tank with sand (which some people do)...I'd say for diversity a new (wild) coral or new chunk of live rock from the LFS would be a better bet than live sand. If you want maximum "stuff" (which also equals maximum "risk"*) try a chunk of rock fresh from the ocean from here: Live Rock - Tampa Bay Saltwater Aquacultured Live Rock (Maybe via group buy?)

-Matt

* Risk in two forms. One is that it's fresh live rock and is somewhat likely to contain common pests like mantis shrimps and aiptasia. Second is that since that rock is Caribbean, there's a chance (not sure how big a chance) of getting "bad" bristleworms. They will eat coral and are not an issue when you're getting rock/coral from the Pacific. however, that bristleworm is apparently pretty conspicuous in its behavior (see link), so you really won't have to wonder if you've got em - just pull them out if you see em.