Substrate

[easyian]

I'm changing out my sand bed. I currently have about 3 1/2in of playsand in the bottom but it is silica based(this was before I found you guys). I am looking at the Carib sea Aragamax sugar sand as I can not get Southdown or any of the other "good" playsands here. My question is, it says that the sugar sand is good for shallower beds(1") but I want to go with the dsb again. Will this stuff work as a dsb as well? I'm kind of limited to the stock on sand here. I have also heard of people using pool filter sand but from what I can find it is also silica based.

TIA
Ian

 

[indy]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with silica based playsand. As long as it is labeled as "playsand" and not construction/traction sand it is safe in your tank and will cause no problems. The only thing lacking in regular playsand is PH buffering. Silica causes no problems in a marine environment. If your tank is glass and not acrylic, the entire thing is composed of basically melted silica. If you want the PH buffer then by all means change out your sandbed. If on the other hand you are doing it because you think regular sand is bad, then save your time. "Silicate" in the water is a bad thing, "silica" is completely different. Silica will not give you silicate.

For grain size, sugar is a good idea regardless of depth, but slightly larger will give copepods a better place to live.

BTW, Ignorance IS bliss, and patience is a virtue. So you can have a pretty good life if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around.

 

[easyian]

Well just got back from the LFS. I went with a 50/50 mix of the Aragamax Select and the sugar sand. I'm gonna mix it as i put it in. The reason i am changing the substrate is I started this tank a year ago and since then I have learned a lot of stuff on this site. Now im ready to tackle a reef tank so im gonna tear the tank down,get it drilled for an overflow then start with my base rock on the bottom(which i dont have right now in the existing tank) and build from there. I have ordered another 65# of lr to add to the 50 i already have and in 8 or so months i want to start adding corals.

Kind of on a side note at the LFS they had a mantis shrimp in one of the tanks that had to be 4" long and ugly as sin. I was really cool.