Can fine sand hurt or kill my leather corals

[Smarkalan83]

I am new to corals but have had saltwater fish on and off.... I have 60 gallon tank with fine sand be about 2" thick in some spot more in some less due to fish adjusting it... I added polyps and res mushrooms to the tank which seem to be fine.... No matter what I do I can't keep xenias alive ... Also I have a finger leather coral and toadstool leather .... My toadstool stood up at first and no polyps would come out after awhile he slouched down and now they come out ... I guess one of my questions is can it be the fine sand blowing around that can hurt or kill corals???... Also some tell me after a while it will stop blowing around ... Will it?.... The tank is 48" wide 13" deep and 24" tall the unit is 1000 gph at top of tank ... I wanted to put more air flow in which I have 2-1300 gph blowers but don't want a sand storm .... I guess this is alot of questions for my first post but I want to do this right.... Tested water and them also had local fish store test... Everything perfect except high alkalinity but calcium was fine??? I have a protein skimmer and penguin 350 biowheel filter but no sump yet.... Can the carbon in filter harm anything.... Sorry for the long post hopefully someone can help me with any of my problems.... Thanks

 

[mr_X]

no. sand won't hurt them, and either will running carbon.
the sand should stop blowing around after a while. can you take a little vid or pic of the tank so i can see what's going on?

 

[Smarkalan83]

Yeah I will definitely as soon as I get home... I want to start making it a reef tank little by little and I have all reef safe fish right now but I wasn't sure about the sand I will def get pic up later today thanks

 

[Smarkalan83]

Here are the pics I said I would post of the leathers and e sand on the live rock hopefully someone can help thanks again

 

[mr_X]

i don't see too much sand blowing around. i wouldn't sweat it.
what kind of lighting are you using?

 

[Smarkalan83]

Right now I had 36" t5 on there but Monday I will have 260w 48 " t5 lighting

 

[mr_X]

don't forget to acclimate the corals to the new light. i like the window screen method (put 3 window screens in between the tank and the fixture, and remove one every few days/week until they are gone).

 

[Smarkalan83]

Thank you I did not know that.... I
Am kinda new to coral like I said but u would like to start filling my tank up with nice colorful ones... Any other tips and pointers would be greatly appreciated and also if you know of some hardy ones that are not hard to keep .... I love xenias but they keep dying and I don't know why neithe does LFS

 

[mr_X]

sometimes xenia just doesn't do well in random tanks. i haven't been able to figure that out either. trust me, it's a blessing in disguise!
well, get your fixture first, then buy corals.
most LPS is generally pretty easy IMO. softies like leathers and zoanthids, mushrooms...are all easy to keep.