Sand beds and live rock

[Zbatey]

I have a new ninety gallon and have had a tough time making these choices. I wanted to know your opinion on a deep sand bed a shallow sand bed or some where in between.

I've also been trying to decide on live rock. I think I'm gonna get CAPTAIN LivE ROCk it's based out of the Florida keys and didn't know whether stuff out of Florida was crap or decent stuff

 

[mdaniel2882]

As far as a sand bed is concerned just put in what appeals to you. DSB's and Refugiums are old tech and work but are not necessary. the new biomedia in a reactor does a better job and is easier to maintain.

(probably gonna get some flack for that comment....but it is true)

 

[Zer0]

Well, you really shouldn't be trying to utilize a deep sand bed since the proper way to execute a DSB is to not have anything on top of the sand that would compact it, i.e. live rock, corals. It would need to be just a sandbed with nothing on it and had a depth of 5" or deeper all around.

I would suggest keeping it to 2" or less. I've heard that keeping it anywhere between 3 inches and 5 inches could be problematic. I personally like the looks of keeping a thin shallow sandbed, around 1/2" or 1" at most.

And i agree with mdaniel, you can do amazing things with reactors these days.

 

[trackfast]

I think a DSB works best in a sump or refugium; and I thin the minimum is about 5 inches or more. As for LR, buy dry rock and seed it with a little LR; a 25%/75% mix would save you$, IMO.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I had about one inch of black sand in my reef and 80% of the rock started as dry rock. I bought high quality live rock to seed the whole tank and it turned out very well. Make sure you put the money into good live rock, seeding a tank with 20% low quality live rock isn't going to turn out well.

 

[Zer0]

Yes, DSB's work the best in refugiums where there is limited flow, and no rocks to compact the sand. And i also agree, if you want to save yourself the headaches of pests and nuisance algaes, get base rock, and then seed it with live rock coming from a tank or LFS with no pests. It's the most effective way to keeping all of those nasty things out of your tank. That and using RO/DI water.

 

[Greenmaster]

If you do a DSB then you need to put your rocks in first and once they are all secure put the sand in... that way you won't compact it and you won't have the issue of a fish or shrimp digging a hole underneath it and it toppling over... I would do it that way with any depth of sand bed.

 

[Zer0]

I agree. Greenmaster brings up a very good point. If you do consider using a DSB in your display tank, that would be the proper way to executing it. No compacting. Compacting is your enemy in regards to a DSB.