sand and/or crushed coral

[whitmi]

I have noticed a penchant for Southdown sand. I'm in Dallas, Texas, having a hard time finding it. Any suggestions from anyone?

Is there a good alternative to Southdown, ie will any sand work? (I plan to seed with live sand - 1 or 2 #s). I wil have plenty of LR as well.

Is crushed coral a bad thing? I've noticed some reefers seem to frown on it...

 

[jamal-188]

Is crushed coral a bad thing? I've noticed some reefers seem to frown on it...

CC tends to trap particles of food and other junk, it needs to be vaccumend on a regular basis. Most here use a DSB of at least 3".

There are a few alternatives to southdown however I cannot think of the neames right now..... something like Old English Castle and a few other sands will work. Do a search on here for Southdown and you'll find a ton of info.

 

[whitmi]

Thanks I think I'm getting somewhere, and then I change my mind!

 

[Mrbill]

I'm using Old Castle which is supposedly the exact same thing.

 

[TriggerHappy]

Good question. I have CC in my tank now. Yesterday I went to Home Depot to see if they had southdown. They didn't but had some JET brand silica play sand. I picked up a 100# bag for like 4 bucks.

I tested a little in my tank, just put some over the CC to see how it would look. It created a bit of a sandstorm but settled overnight. It looks great but I'm not sure if this is the best to use. Anyone used this JET brand for their tanks or seen it??

BTW it looks like theres a beach in my tank, and my grouper likes to sit lie on it...pretty cool.

 

[whitmi]

So, if I'm reefing, silica sand is okay? Because I thought I read somewhere (it all starts to run together now) that silica was bad - is that just in your water?

 

[mikenegue]

can you put gravel on the bottom of a dsb?

 

[HoopsGuru]

that silica was bad - is that just in your water?

Silicates is potentially bad to be in your source, silica sand itself will not break down and release silicates.

can you put gravel on the bottom of a dsb?

No, larger substrates will simply migrate to the top over time, disrupting your sandbed and/or the critters that inhabit it.