Grading a DSB

[KYyada]

Hello: I was wondering if anyone has used different grades of sand together in thier DSB. I was thinking about using crushed coral on the bottom with coarse grade on top of that with fine sand on top of that with my new tank setup. This grading occurs naturally during storms or under water mudslides and can be seen in the rock record.

[ALittleSalty]

I am running a 4 inch sand bed in mine, and I started the botttom layer with crushed coral, then I added a bag of the sand that has all the bacteria already it to the top layer. It is working great so far, and the snails are slowly mixing the two layers together not to mention my 4 peanut worms that like to burrow out to the front glass then poke up through the sand. Jon

[Chad Vossen]

i use silica play sand mixed with crushed coral mixed with live sand mixed with agranite mixed with rock rubble. i really like how it looks.

[goodreef]

Layering with different grades of sand used to be quite popular. But, according to Julian Sprung, it serves no purpose in the DSB. Go for what tickles you visually!!! ;)

[andycook]

The grades will eventually mix together.

[Angel*Fish]

I think the bottom line is you want to go with a sand like CaribSea sugarfine aragonite, which is also oolitic - others might be adeqaute, bt this is optimal. Crushed coral - I personally wouldn't use any at all (if we're talking about the same thing)Nature can get away with certain things like what you describe, but we have to optimize conditions in our tanks

These links explain -
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/rs/feature/index.php

http://web.archive.org/web/20020806023247/www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/june/features/1/default.asp