Sand Beds Deep or Shallow?

[Sparty00]

What is the recommended depth for sand beds in a reef aquarium?

[papagimp]

Anywhere from 0" to 8".
I use about a 4" sandbed in my 55g, a 2" sandbed in my 42g, a 3" in my 29g, and plan on a 4-6" in my 220g. I like the deeper sandbed with appropriate sized grain for my Deep Sand Bed, which helps reduce nitrate and phosphate build up, but on some of my smaller systems a 2" is more than enough, since more than that just doesn't look right to me. No sandbed has it's benefits too, but I think bare bottom tanks are the ugliest thing, my personal opinion only though.

[Sparty00]

So on my 65G you would recommend about 4-5"

[papagimp]

I bet 3-4" would be just fine. I probably wouldn't go more than that, just due to the heighth of that tank. If you go with some really fine grade sand, about 2" of that, and then a courser grade layered on top, that should work out just great for ya. They'll eventually mix together, but that'll take time, and by then, the sandbed should be helping to reduce nitrates somewhat. But it's all about personal preference. Start with about 3" and see what you think. If you don't mind another couple inchs, than go for it. The nice thing about having a larder deeper sandbed is that some of the burrowing gobies and fish will love it (yellow headed jawfish? :D)

[NightShade00013]

I would like to look at another aspect of the sand beds.

There are a ton of different sand types out there, some finer some coarser, some that is basically the size of pea gravel. I have seen some places go as far as to say use one type of sand for your base layer and another for a top layer. Now the layering kinda seems silly because the water flow, fish, and invertebrates will end up mixing the sand up anyway.

I know ( as should anyone who has been reading the forums) that regular silica sand is a no no, even though to a 6 year old it is basically inert, to a tank it will leach things into the water. So we have argonite sand and then have the choice of live or non-live sand, OK live sand already has bacteria in it to help with the tank ecosystem and non-live sand does not. But some of the sand I have seen is supposed to be crushed coral or has rather large sizes.

I have also seen some places go as far as to say use one type of sand for your base layer and another for a top layer. Now the layering kinda seems silly because the water flow, fish, and invertebrates will end up mixing the sand up anyway.


What are the advantages and disadvantages to the different types? As well as depths and advantages (if any) to creating different layers. Also, from what I have seen live sand is a bit more costly so if someone was to begin a tank on an extended timeframe is there any advantage to using only live sand or jst use partial live sand?

[drummereef]

Eithier a dsb or shallow sandbed works. I recommend for a ssb to be 1" or less and a dsb to be between 4-6". There is a grey area in between these two, imo.

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

[Nano Chris]

Mine is about 3-4" i stuck with that because thats what i think looks right i didnt want to have too deep of a sand bed and not to shallow, so i wound up putting 80lbs of sea floor of carribsea sand in mine.

[Village Idiot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9750329#post9750329 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Criminal#58369
Mine is about 3-4" i stuck with that because thats what i think looks right i didnt want to have too deep of a sand bed and not to shallow, so i wound up putting 80lbs of sea floor of carribsea sand in mine.

My (respected) LFS told me I needed about 70 pounds of Carib Sea Sea Floor sand to give me about an inch of sand in my 90. If you have 80 pounds in your 90 and 3-4 inches, something is wrong. How much sand is needed in a 75/90 to get an inch sand bed?

[NightShade00013]

Try this, http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

[Village Idiot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9751312#post9751312 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NightShade00013
Try this, http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

Damn, didn't know that was there, thanks. Looks like I'll need about 45 pounds for a 1 inch bed.

[NightShade00013]

LOL, No problem. only thing is that some types of sand weigh more or less vs. their volume than others. So the calculator may be a bit off but should get you in a good ballpark range.

[skeeter_ca]

If you plan to go with a deep sand bed use a very fine sand, all mostly the same size. The coarser sands will trap detris and the small critters don't like it as well. Lots of info on a proper DSB setup on the net.

Silica Sand (play sand, like in a sand box) was once considered a big no-no but i had read alot here suggesting that it's not the evil villian it was made out to be. Do a search of silica sand and you'll see some people are using it with good results.

Argonite is really expensive. I put small fortune into my DSB using it. I have 6" in my 75g. I would probably go with silica next time.

As for live sand. It will all become alive in a matter of time.

aquadw