Something besides sand????

[anna8297]

My bf is adament about not wanting to use sand in our tank of the bed. He says its too messy and too hard to clean. Any ideas or suggestions for a different substrate? What about using CC with an undergravel filter?

 

[lando]

CC is about the only other option. Skip the UGF, it is outdated technology and not needed. I would still suggest using sand. It requires very little maintanance when compared to CC. CC has a tendency to capture detritus from the tank and can cause your nitrates to climb, a bad thing. It requries frequent and regular cleanings to prevent this. Sand is simply a better choice.

 

[Phyl]

You could go bare bottom or use starboard on the bottom. I don't like either option *personally*, but I've seen people who are quite happy with them. Someone on another board recently used that liquid acrylic type material and mixed it with sand to give the appearance of sand without the headache (unless you're the goby trying to sift it, lol). I'd do a lot of homework on that one though before I tried it, in spite of manufacturer's claims.

Tell you bf that you could do a shallow sand bed and get a couple of sand sifting gobys to keep the sand clean. CC is going to be a miserable nitrate factory and a pain to vacuum. Yuck!

 

[DaveBeaty]

If you are not going to use sand, I must disagree with lando and say go ahead and install the undergravel filter. Just don't rely on it as your primary filter. I run both a UGF and a cartrige filter (Peguin 125 with biowheel, carbon 24/7), and I am ordering my protien skimmer this week.

No one (but me) likes them because UGFs have a reputation for trapping waste under the plates and the reefers are trying to keep nitrites and algae from interfering with their corals. I don't do corals, I don't have live rock. A little water flow through the substrate, in my humble opinion, is a good thing. My green algae (OMG he WANTS algae? 8O handles the nitrates.

I use sand, but if you are reeeeealy against it, I had the wild idea of using marble chips as a substrate. It's calcium carbonate, and thus should help somewhat with pH buffering and alkalinity. I haven't done this myself though, so it is all just theory.

 

[anna8297]

Thanks guys. What about mixing the CC and sand? My bf is convinced that having sand will be messy. He says that everytime you do a water change or a fish flicks his tail it will stir up the sand and make the water cloudy.

We have a 10 gal tank that we have had set up for awhile, but it just has regular gravel in it and seems to be doing fine. We have two Penguin HOB filters on that tank and some live rock and our nitrates and amonia stay at 0.

I want the sand bed, but can't figure out how to convince him... :x He refuses to believe me!

Also, I'm looking for a good book to buy, but am having a really hard time with the reviews of some of the books out there. I'm looking for a book that will help me get my tank set up as close to a natural reef environment as possible. Any suggestions? TIA

 

[lando]

What about mixing the CC and sand? My bf is convinced that having sand will be messy

Since the sand is smaller, it will just settled to the bottom and the CC will be at the top. It will still trap detritus and will require vacuuming. For what its worth, sand is not messy. The wet sand stays and the bottom of the tank and the fish do not stir it up. There are still some people out there that use UGF for marine aquaria and they do still work. However, as I mentioned earlier, they are outdated. There are much better filtration methods available now that do not require as much maintanance or have the same tendency to produce nitrates. 1.5-2lbs/gal of LR si the best biological filter you can add to your tank.

 

[jmmiller]

Also, I'm looking for a good book to buy, but am having a really hard time with the reviews of some of the books out there. I'm looking for a book that will help me get my tank set up as close to a natural reef environment as possible. Any suggestions? TIA

Natural Reef Aquariums by John H. Tullock is a good book for this. The books emphisis is on keeping things as natural as possible and has many good suggestions on how to do this. This is one of the better books out there imo.

 

[lando]

Natural Reef Aquariums by John H. Tullock

I have this book and it is a good one. I also recommend "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner. A very good book as well.

 

[anna8297]

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm going to try and pick up a couple of books over the weekend and maybe I can use that to convince him. I'll be back with more questions as we start setting up I'm sure!

 

[DaveBeaty]

Also, I'm looking for a good book to buy, but am having a really hard time with the reviews of some of the books out there. I'm looking for a book that will help me get my tank set up as close to a natural reef environment as possible. Any suggestions? TIA

My favorites are for small book, "Setting Up a Salt Water Aquarium" by Gregory Skomal and for Big Books, I use "The Complete Book of the Marine Aquarium" by Vincent Hargreaves and "Dr. Burgess's Mini Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes".

Neither are as preachy as "Conscientious Marine Aquarist."

If you are looking for a natural setup, though, I am definitely NOT the one to ask. I have a tank that is tackier than the dentist's in "Finding Nemo".