180 gallon aquarium

[rjjr1963]

How many pounds of sand will I need to produce a good two in base of sand?

I've seen some guys use egg crate under the sand. What is that good for? I've also seen some guys use acrylic rods to suspend the base layer of rook up from the bottom. Is it worth the effort?

[worm5406]

Good question. Depending on the layout of the tank will depend on how much sand you will need.

If you measure (in inches) Length X Width X 2" you will get cubic inches. Look at the sand type you want to use and get that cubic amount.

If you scroll down the main forum listing there is a section for large tanks. Jump down there and read some of our threads. There are many different ideas and opinions from Deep sand beds to bare bottoms for you to look at and discuss.

-Larry

[shifty51008]

the eggcrate under the sand is to keep the rocks off the glass in attempt to keep it from breaking, imo not really nessasary. the rocks suspended with acrylic rods is to keep a open space between the rock and sand to get better water flow and keep ditrus from aculumating, again with proper flow and your powerheads adjusted you shouldn't have any dead spots to begin with.

[thegrun]

I use egg crate in all my tanks with sand. While it does offer some protection to the bottom of your tank, its main purpose is to help lock in the rocks so they don't slide around and cause a rock slide. Over time the weight of the rocks piled on top of each other and shifting sand will cause rocks to move around if you don't have them locked in with egg crate or cemented together. I've taken down a couple of tanks with egg crate that were over 5 years old and can assure you that the myth that egg crate traps detritus is simply not true. If you keep Nassarius snails as part of your clean up crew they can easily work around the egg crate to keep your sand clean. To calculate how much sand you need multiply the width times the length of your tank times 2 (the sand depth you want) and divide that number by 20 and that will give you the approximate number of pounds of sand that you will need.

[marleesan]

http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/sand-bed-calculator