zotzer January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 (edited) Sand beds are not my specialty (nothing is, actually..LOL), but my understanding is that you either have them less than 2" or more than 4"....anything in between doesn't get you much. What was the tank size, 125g? I'd think 100lbs, and add it through a funnel with a hose attached. Will still be somewhat messy, but not as much so as just dumping it in. I like caribsea special reef grade....not too fine, not too coarse. There is someone in the club who bought a full system that had CC, and he siphoned out most of the crushed coral in the tank and left it semi-barebottom. It looks really nice...like the reef is spilling out onto the glass. Anyone recall who's tank it is? Sean's (rottlover's) maybe? Tracy Edited January 15, 2008 by zotzer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Reefer January 15, 2008 Author Share January 15, 2008 Sand beds are not my specialty (nothing is, actually..LOL), but my understanding is that you either have them less than 2" or more than 4"....anything in between doesn't get you much. What was the tank size, 125g? I'd think 100lbs, and add it through a funnel with a hose attached. Will still be somewhat messy, but not as much so as just dumping it in. I like caribsea special reef grade....not too fine, not too coarse. There is someone in the club who bought a full system that had CC, and he siphoned out most of the crushed coral in the tank and left it semi-barebottom. It looks really nice...like the reef is spilling out onto the glass. Anyone recall who's tank it is? Sean's (rottlover's) maybe? Tracy What would be the advantages/disadvantages of either a 2" or 4" bed and what would be the best sand to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 What would be the advantages/disadvantages of either a 2" or 4" bed and what would be the best sand to use. if your goal is to use the sand bed for denitrification as i suggested than you will need 4-6". anything less and you wont have the anaerobic zone needed for denitrification. you want a sand size of about 0.5mm to 1mm. a sand size to small will cause sand storms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zotzer January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 I like caribsea special reef grade....not too fine, not too coarse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 Crushed coral is pure evil. I had nitrate reading off the chart until I got rid of it. I took mine out, let the tank stay bare a while while I worked on getting the nitrate down, then put in shallow sand (remote DSB in the future). The combination of crushed coral with over-feeding is a disaster waiting to happen. About those API test kits. You need to stay about an inch away from that white background. I got a different brand kit and compared the readings of them to figure out how far off to hold the test tube, because no one could tell me what to do. Don't give in to greedy fish. I have a tendancy to "feel sorry" for my female tomato clown who has a crater of a mouth and acts like she's perpetually starving, but everytime I start giving in to her too often my nitrate starts going up. Good luck on getting it under control! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Reefer January 15, 2008 Author Share January 15, 2008 Crushed coral is pure evil. I had nitrate reading off the chart until I got rid of it. I took mine out, let the tank stay bare a while while I worked on getting the nitrate down, then put in shallow sand (remote DSB in the future). The combination of crushed coral with over-feeding is a disaster waiting to happen. About those API test kits. You need to stay about an inch away from that white background. I got a different brand kit and compared the readings of them to figure out how far off to hold the test tube, because no one could tell me what to do. Don't give in to greedy fish. I have a tendancy to "feel sorry" for my female tomato clown who has a crater of a mouth and acts like she's perpetually starving, but everytime I start giving in to her too often my nitrate starts going up. Good luck on getting it under control! I tested the nitrate level using your method this AM and the result was about 30. It has been riding at that level now for about a week. This reading makes more sense to me given the time period of the change in nitrates. I am not sure if this level is dangerous to my corals? It is a lot better than what I thought it was. The ammonia still tests at 0. I plan on removing about 1/3 of the crushed coral tonight when I get time as previously suggested (Not all at once). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 What;s the real difference between CC and arragonite sand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YBeNormal January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 The CC I had in my 55g BW tank back in the day was very course, similar in size to the gravel used in FW tanks. Food would quickly get trapped in this substrate. This was a puffer tank and nitrates were always an issue until I removed the CC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 30 isn't safe for corals or other things, but it won't hurt an average-type fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Ric January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 if your goal is to use the sand bed for denitrification as i suggested than you will need 4-6". anything less and you wont have the anaerobic zone needed for denitrification. you want a sand size of about 0.5mm to 1mm. a sand size to small will cause sand storms. To add to that, I would also recommend starting with a layer of gravel at the very bottom, then course sand on top of that. As jamal noted, sand that's too fine can get blown around. It aslo can settle down and create dense layer that blocks the osmotic flow through the sandbed. The bacteria need to 'breathe' so to speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Reefer January 15, 2008 Author Share January 15, 2008 if your goal is to use the sand bed for denitrification as i suggested than you will need 4-6". anything less and you wont have the anaerobic zone needed for denitrification. you want a sand size of about 0.5mm to 1mm. a sand size to small will cause sand storms. I ready another post regarding to sand beds and they are recommending to add 25% live sand. Should this be done in my already established tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 well since it appears as though your cycle is not done this would be the best time to add it. 25% is a good starting point. you still want to add live things slowly. your oxygen and organic levels will be negatively affected. this can be dangerous if not done slowly. add the sand and monitor ammonia. if and when it hits 0 again you can add another 25%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 (edited) WHen you put in sand you can drastically cut down on a sediment cloud by using a tall plastic container like a spaghetti canister. Fill it to the top with wet sand; hold you hand over it while lowering it upright down to the bottom of the tank; with your hand still over the top turn the container upside down right at the bottom; slide out your hand; lift up the container veeery slowly. Then use an hob filter with filter floss in it to take the sediment out of the water column. Edited January 15, 2008 by treesprite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Reefer January 15, 2008 Author Share January 15, 2008 WHen you put in sand you can drastically cut down on a sediment cloud by using a tall plastic container like a spaghetti canister. Fill it to the top with wet sand; hold you hand over it while lowering it upright down to the bottom of the tank; with your hand still over the top turn the container upside down right at the bottom; slide out your hand; lift up the container veeery slowly. Then use an hob filter with filter floss in it to take the sediment out of the water column. That sounds like a neat trick. Can't wait till I can try it. LOL. I know I can buy live sand online. Do you know of any local dealers that would be close to say Silver Spring MD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite January 15, 2008 Share January 15, 2008 That sounds like a neat trick. Can't wait till I can try it. LOL. I know I can buy live sand online. Do you know of any local dealers that would be close to say Silver Spring MD. I wonder if Tropical Lagoon would have it, or have it for a reasonable price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Reefer January 15, 2008 Author Share January 15, 2008 I wonder if Tropical Lagoon would have it, or have it for a reasonable price? I was going to go up to the Aquarium Center in Randallstown, MD but I heard they were closing down in February. That was one of my favorites. I was in the Tropical Lagoon a while ago & all they had was a few live rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite January 16, 2008 Share January 16, 2008 I was going to go up to the Aquarium Center in Randallstown, MD but I heard they were closing down in February. That was one of my favorites. I was in the Tropical Lagoon a while ago & all they had was a few live rocks. I'm wondering if since it's just sand (if you aren't extremely picky about brand) if you could hit up one of the P stores where it will probably be a little less expensive than a LFS. I don't know any of the shops out your way... I think Jason lives in HOCO so maybe he has some good suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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