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Sniperhank
Giant Clam Addict
What do you mean best? Seems you are set on a sandbed.
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Sniperhank
Giant Clam Addict
Well, you should get an aggregate based sand is all you're really looking for in reality. Some have reported success with pool filter sand and others with even blasting sand, but I personally have not used these to suggest such.
Don't buy all live sand such as 'ocean direct'. I would do mostly dry sand (much cheaper) and about a bag or so live sand to get you going. It will all become live soon enough. I used a carribsea product called flamingo reef. It is similar to their special grade in grain size, just a little pinker. I went from the sugar sized to this in my new tank to avoid it from blowing around as much. With a DSB you could do half and half fine grain and coarser sand if you wanted. The coarse will settle up top to be less prone to blowing around while the finer grains will let in less light and have more surface area for the life needed in a DSB. Hope this helps.
Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
IMO stay away from silica based sand and use crushed aragonite.
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+1 Aragonite all the way, but stay away from the crushed coral.
Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
Both crushed coral and aragonite are carbonate minerals. They are both made primarily of calcium carbonate, but aragonite precipitated from the water and is created by several environmental actions. Crushed coral is the same basic material chemically but generally coarser and as a result catches detritus. This calcium carbonate does provide some buffering and it will very slowly dissolve over years, so after 23 years I have lost about 20% of mine.
Silica sand (basically glass) is generally very fine and has silica fines in it that I believe can cause problems, not the least is diatoms that need silica to build their shells. It does not dissolve or buffer. But there are those that have had success with sand, I'm just not one of them.
It is aragonite mixed with some crushed coral that I find when diving in most natural reefs.
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Silica sand (basically glass) is generally very fine and has silica fines in it that I believe can cause problems, not the least is diatoms that need silica to build their shells. It does not dissolve or buffer. But there are those that have had success with sand, I'm just not one of them.
It is aragonite mixed with some crushed coral that I find when diving in most natural reefs.
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Maridia
Aquarium Advice Freak
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- Oct 9, 2013
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I don't necessarily recommend this, but I use the black sand that you buy at petco. I bought for it's aesthetic quality. I think it's pretty sweet to have black sand and a painted blue background, then have your LEDs emit moonlight. It's tough to see algae, but still recognizable. But I don't think it has any of the beneficial properties like aragonite or crushed coral. I don't know if it's glass or died sand. Someone on here might know more about it's physical properties.
Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
It's volcanic glass if it's shiny.
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mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'm not sure the MUDs worth it. I've seen it used for years, but I like burrowing creatures and the aragonite has worked for me for decades. I have also read some horror stories of deep sand beds going badly.
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Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
It depends on particle size. The bacterial lives on the surfaces, so it needs to be not too small so it packs together, but not too large as it looses surface area. It looks great to me as well, but I worried about silica particles. It doesn't have any chemical qualities of any kind that I am aware of.
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mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
I don't buy the mud thing either. I was just giving some extra info as people lately have the idea that a DSB only has to be 2" deep.
Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
I love my sand sifters so it's a no go for me as well.
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