what kind of sand to use in refuge

[bhelne01]

what kind of sand should I use in my refuge?

[meco65]

Aragonite. IMO.

[Mad_Reefer]

3-4" of fine grain aragonite.

[Bayliner]

Would a tank benifit with a deeper sand bed in the fudge if you have the room for it? Or is 4" around where it max's out for a DSB.

Thanks
Cam

[bhelne01]

I do not know. I know that in my 90 I have 120 lbs of live sand in my DT and 20lbs in the refuge according to many website I think they state that the height of the sand bed is a personal choice.

Thank for the suggestion on the grade of sand to use in my refuge. I have 20 lbs of oolite in my refuge and I was thinking of mixing in some larger size grain ( I remember reading that copepods will settle and grow better in btwn the large grains as compared to smaller ones) I will just wait for my LFS to get 20 lbs more of the oolite.

[danrobberg]

i was thinking of trying mineral mud.

[bhelne01]

what is mineral mud

[danrobberg]

its a different kind of substrate. its black and supposed to be good in a fuge. google it, i dont really have enough info to give you

[woowoodengy]

its called miracle mud. i used it for 2 years in my 90 gal with great results but it may have just been the addition or a fuge to my setup. many people consider it snake oil. i haven't decided if i will use it again for my new 260 build.

[bhelne01]

ok words to consider

[reefermad619]

I think you have to change out the mud after a while. From what I heard around every 12-16 months.

[lucidheights]

i've used mineral mud, its very fine so you would have to put a layer of coarser substrate over it to keep it from kicking up. Not sure if it ever did anything beneficial though.

[jb61264]

what kind of sand should I use in my refuge? how large is your fuge?

[goldmaniac]

Mineral Mud is a knock-off of EcoSystem's Miracle Mud.

"knock off" may be too unkind of a description. It is a competitor's product that did not exist until Miracle Mud came out. I believe it's very very similar.

Another competitor's competing product is Kent Marine's BioSubstrate. I used the biosubstrate in my fuge for a number of years. Now i just use sand.

[jayb12]

kind of thread jackin here but will basic home depot kids washed play sand work just fine? i dont see why not, its clean sand and so what if its brown, its in your fuge!

[Mad_Reefer]

Play sand is probably silica sand and will add nothing to the buffering of the water. Aragonite will and that is why it's suggested.
DSB can be 3-4 inch deep with very fine sand. With larger grain size it might need to be deeper. I heard many people will have larger grain size on top of smaller grains for different reasons and it works for them.

[bhelne01]

kind of thread jackin here but will basic home depot kids washed play sand work just fine? i dont see why not, its clean sand and so what if its brown, its in your fuge!

I would not do that I know of someone that has done that and they are experience strange phenomenons in their system

[bhelne01]

how large is your fuge?

Im guessing about 10 gallons refuge in a 30 gallon sump

[Nexenn]

im using a 30 gallon sump split in 3 with baffles, its ALL bare bottom... 1/3 is for the overflow with a filter sock and my skimmer, the center 1/3rd is my fuge with chaeto tumbling from a pump to spin it and the walls are covered in algae. There is a bubble trap from the center (fuge) area to the last spot where i have my auto top off float valve and my return pump.

I like bare bottom because its easy to clean and doesn't function as a nitrate factory like crushed coral or sand beds that never get cleaned.

I have enough live sand and live rock up top (80lbs of sand , ~150lbs live rock). I know its enough because my ammonia, nitrate and nitrite lvls are always 0. Why make it harder on yourself? whats the benefit?

[DaveMorris]

I have a 60g tank with a 3" sandbed in it for my fuge. Most of the sand is fine oolite sand. I just like it better.

[jayb12]

Play sand is probably silica sand and will add nothing to the buffering of the water. Aragonite will and that is why it's suggested.
DSB can be 3-4 inch deep with very fine sand. With larger grain size it might need to be deeper. I heard many people will have larger grain size on top of smaller grains for different reasons and it works for them.

on that grounds i have to disagree. your argonite sand does NOT act as a buffer in a reef system. and if it does your tank is in trouble anyway.
argonite sand if im correct needs to have a ph drop to like 5-6ish (like in a calcium reactor) before it can actually buffer anything.

i could be wrong but thats what i believe to be correct.

plus if you have a display tank full of argonite a 10-20 gal fuge wont make a difference for water buffering.