Reef Flakes or Sand

[Xler8n]

So ive been thinking of changing out my substrate to either Tropic Eden Reef Flakes or Pure Bahamian Aragonite Sand. Anyone have any experience with either of these? Ive always had crushed coral so i need a change. What are the pros and cons for either. Thanks

[amay121]

Can't comment on either, but you should probably decide on what you're setting up.

 

Are you going for a high flow SPS full blown system?

 

Are you going for a slow flow LPS/softie look?

 

Flow could help you decide on which substrate should you get.

[F&Fmgr]

+1

[Xler8n]

I want mostly SPS with a small amount of LPS.

[davelin315]

Keep in mind that fine aragonite sand will blow around your tank until it has been "broken in". I had sand storms for about 6 months before it finally settled down. Today if it gets blown around it settles very quickly (I have sugar sized oolitic sand).

[roni]

I want mostly SPS with a small amount of LPS.

 

a lot of people like the tropic eden reef flakes or the caribsea special grade. fine sand tends to be a pain in a high flow sps tank imo.

[Xler8n]

Thanks guys. I just placed an order with Premium Aquatics for 90lbs of Tropic Eden Reef Flakes to switch out this old school crushed coral that probably has tons of PO4. Most of the substrate we get is from the Caribbean but most of the fish and corals are from the Pacific. Why not have Pacific substrate? I was thinking of maybe changing one of those bags to mini flakes just to provide a less uniform look. Im trying to decide what is the best way to go about removing the old and adding the new. I figure i get all of the old stuff out by taking out all the rockwork and siphoning it out. A friend of mine is gonna let me borrow a 40B as a holding tank. Any ideas on what is the best way to do this? Thanks

[treesprite]

I have fine sand in my tank - it packs too tightly and can't stand up to the flow, so I ended up adding some of the more typical grain size stuff to it. On the other hand, the nassarius snails seem to love it because it's soft.... are you going to have any sand-sifting things, or fish that burrow in the sand?

[Xler8n]

Got it. This stuff looks awesome. Wayy better than caribsea. Now im going to build a rock lift out of acrylic so that none of my LR is touching the substrate

[trockafella]

Why wouldnt you want the rocks to touch the sand.?

[Xler8n]

So you can eliminate dead spots where the rocks sit in the sand, flow can go around as well as under the rocks, fish and inverts can swim and sift the substrate under the rocks, more LR exposed to the water column for better biological filtration. There are alot of benefits. If im going to do it im going to use clear acrylic rods instead of PVC. My tank is gonna get a complete overhaul. Im also gonna use cerium oxide to remove some scratches from the glass. I will document the whole process. Its will be alot of work but at the end i know im gonna be happy and it will look AWESOME!!

Edited August 19, 2011 by Xler8n

[Origami]

Good luck with the cerium oxide. Keep in mind, if you can feel the scratch with your fingernail, it's probably too deep to buff out using standard equipment. Buffing with cerium oxide works best against haze-type scratches. Hopefully this is all that you're faced with combating.

 

Take and post pics of your tank remodel!

[Xler8n]

The scratches are from the crushed coral that gets stuck in the algae scraper. Heres a link on a guy who did this

http://www.fitchfamily.com/glass.html

[Origami]

From the link:

"Well, after a solid hour of heavy pressure back and forth, it didn't look as though anything had changed. I was ready to call it quits, but after a short rest, Bill wanted to try one more time. And, lo and behold, after another fifteen minutes, many of the finer scratches were gone! Knowing now that the scratches could be eliminated, we decided to call it a day and try again later.

 

"Now, in order not to mislead you, I have to confess that I didn't think to take a picture of the scratches before we started. The picture at the top of the page is of a very small section after we finished the first day's work. I've enhanced the picture somewhat; the scratches are not nearly as visible as they appear here. But we were reasonably confident that, with another hour of "elbow grease," we could eliminate the remaining scratches. "

 

"After about another hour of hard work, we really couldn't see any scratches. This picture shows a small area of the glass, comparable in size to the picture at the top of the page. As you can see, the glass is really quite clear (except for the smears of slurry). So we cleaned up the mess and re-filled the tank. What faint scratches remain are really unnoticeable."

 

Yes, it can be done. Keep in mind that you're grinding away the glass. If the scratches are too deep, it can result in optical distortion. However, using the technique that's being shown (a buffing pad, rather than a piece of glass polishing equipment specifically designed for the job), you're unlikely to grind away that much glass using cerium oxide (if you do, your arm will be very tired from holding the drill that long).

 

BTW, I've used cerium oxide for scratch removal in glass. That's where I'm coming from. It's hard work. Deep scratches can be a bear to remove. "Deep" = feel it with your fingernail. I've still got a 4 ounce container of the stuff and broke it out earlier in the week to remove marker residue left on a pane of glass in my new home.