Which substrate would you recommend?

[stewie24]

Hi all.
Currently in the process of moving a 10 gallon tank into a drilled 10 gallon thats going to have a 20 gallon long sump/fuge. As I will salvage the starfish/snails in my current tank and then ditch the old sand, I'd like to hear peoples intputs as to which substrate would be best (and why) for the display and the DSB in the fuge.
Currently I have enough southdown to make my own little beach, but I'm not really that impressed with it, and thought perhaps something with a better buffering power would be better.
I could always opt to go the southdown route for the display again.

I was thinking something along the lines of crushed coral for the fuge. Any problems with doing that?

Also, has anyone used the carib-sea aragalive? My tank is established so I can buy non live sand, just thought about giving this stuff a shot.

What sand for my display and what for the fuge and why?

Thanks
Stewie

[egdevilboy]

Im a fan of the carib-sea aragonite cause its finer for better bio filtration, is ready to go, and is decently priced.

[stewie24]

Thanks for the reply.
Which kind do you use? I know it comes in 4 sizes/types such as:
Fiji pink, bahama oolitic, super grade, and indopacific black (which is a mix of black and white)
Stewie

[Bildobastig]

i have found the best sand is from the LFS ( if you have a good one in your area). the normally take it out of an established tank and it has LOTS of goodies in it.

[Bildobastig]

i am currently setting up my ref. and i am going to use "mineral mud" by carib sea. i have heard good things about that.. and then put a thin layer of live sand on top of that from the LFS that has an established tank. the establish sand should have plenty of detirvores in it to help with the unwanted things in your ref.

[egdevilboy]

mineral mud is more for refugiums.

I use the fiji pink. I did 50 lbs of fiji pink and 5 lbs of crushed coral (for effect). Also, if you can get a few cups of LS from another member/LFS from an established tank it will help jumpstart your sandlife (cocopods, etc...)

[stewie24]

I can get the few cups of LS from my other established tanks (other 10, 55, etc).
Anyone else reccomend some substrates and why?
Thanks
Stewie

[Rao]

i use sand right fron de caribean reefs, why? cheap (well free) bio loaded an nice white (wich reflex ligth) color.

[stewie24]

Thanks Rao, but unfortunately that won't help me out much since the only beach near me is about 1 1/2 hrs away and its a lake. LOL
Stewie

[Rao]

Well i think the location won't help. But putting clear, use caribean or pacific sand but find oolitic one, (aragonite), caribsea is a good one, the other point use white sand that help reflectin ligth, and do use a fine grade 0,5 - 1 mm grain sand. And find some live sand can be from you others tanks or other peoples sand (use as many souces of live sand as you can get). Hope that help a little more.

[Meloco14]

Hi Stewie. There are so many options for sand and everyone has their own opinions about this is better for this and that is better for that. But when it comes down to it, pick something that you like to look at. You are the one who will be staring at it for years. Personally, I like the look of fine sand. I have used Fiji pink, oolitic, and special grade, all from CaribSea, and I recommend any of them. Having said that, there are differences in sand types other than looks. Fine sand tends to be better for bio-filtration, as there is more surface area for bacteria to colonize, and in the depths of the sand bed there will be less room for oxygen, which allows for your anaerobic bacteria to do their thing. Medium sized sand like crushed coral provides better habitat for microfauna such as copepods and amphipods. If you have any burrowing animals, the finer sand is appreciated by them, with a mix of bigger stuff to reinforce their burrows with. My current setup is mostly fine sand, with a small layer of crushed coral on top. The crushed coral is only at the sides of my tank though, and I have an open sandy area in the middle of the tank as sort of a submerged beach between my rock piles. I find my yellow watchman uses this as his hunting ground, where he can pick things out of the sand and filter the sand out through his gills. He can't do this with the crushed coral. My bristleworms and copepods/amphipodes live in the crushed coral. For your refugium, maximum bio filtration will be acheived if you use a refugium mud type substrate. This is not necessary, however. So in the end i will reaffirm that a lot of it is personal preference, however certain types benefit certain creatures. This decision won't make or break your tank though. HTH

[threeheaddog]

bahama oolitic reflects the most light.

looks cool

[stewie24]

Thanks for the replies guys. You've been most helpful.
I was thinking of going with southdown again (as I have alot of unopened bags) - however I think i might just buy a bag of aragalive oolitic sand and perhaps go with crushed coral as the substrate in my fuge.
Thanks again!
Stewie

[old salty]

I have the really fine aragonite in my tank, but the Seio powerheads blow it all over the place. I had to get some larger grain stuff to hold down the dune fields.

[smcnally]

Why not Southdown? It's a little harder to find, but a finer aragonite based sand. Carib-Sea Aragalive is absolutely not decently priced. It is $1/lb (or more) at most stores while Southdown is about 10¢/lb. I used Aragalive for my first tank, but swapped to Southdown. I think it is a much more natural sand (grain size) for the tank and it crawls with life once seeded. I didn't even have to add live sand to mine. My rock seeded it and it looks excellent.

[smcnally]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6768857#post6768857 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by old salty
I have the really fine aragonite in my tank, but the Seio powerheads blow it all over the place. I had to get some larger grain stuff to hold down the dune fields.
I forgot to add to this too. I had this issue before too. I found that once the sand got more bacteria and "critters" in there it barely blew around anymore. Another thing I did to help was to put my powerheads low (just below the middle of my tank) and aimed them slightly upward.