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What is the best substrate to use as a sand bed?


beachpig

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Hey,

 

I was just wondering what is the best widley used substrate for a sand bed these days?

 

Thx

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lakshwadeep

anything made of aragonite (or calcite) is good. Avoid crushed coral because the grains are too big (not really grains).

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I like the larger grade of aragonite sand. I have used that and the sugar sized sand and prefer the larger grade.

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I like the larger grade of aragonite sand. I have used that and the sugar sized sand and prefer the larger grade.

Hey,

I just looked at some Sugar size Aragonite and almost bought it but I thought I would wait for feedback. Why do you prefer the larger size? I have noticed that the larger size is very simular to the crushed coral size.

Thanks for the input!

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funkyfish77

I like the larger size cause it does not blow around as bad as the sugar fine sand. jmo

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AZDesertRat

I like the sugar sized sand myself. Once the sand is coated with bacteria it does not blow around so much if at all. I have about 2" in a 16G bowfront with a modified AC500 fuge, Koralia #1 and a small Rio powerhead so lots of flow and the sand stays put.

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peewee1467

i just added the oceans nature sand. its the super fine one and i dumped it in my tank without rinsing, waited an hour and turned on my filters and the tank is literally 90 percent clear. idk why the reviews say this stuff makes your tank super cloudy for days, maybe its your fish that's stirring up the sand.

 

beachpig, as of right now, i would recommend it but i do not know how it looks after a few months because i just added it but it looks amazing!!! i hope it doesnt get dirty fast and ugly lol.

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The sugar size is ideal for bio-filteration. You can then put a layer of larger over the top to keep the fine grain layer from flying around. You will have to also consider the fish you will house. Jawfish will need a much larger size substrate so they can build their hidey holes and the fine grain will cave easily.

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lakshwadeep

You don't have to get sugar sized. Larger sand doesn't have lesser surface area because larger grains are not perfectly spherical.

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You don't have to get sugar sized. Larger sand doesn't have lesser surface area because larger grains are not perfectly spherical.

All,

 

Here is a picture of the crushed coral I currently have in my 55. When I say crushed coral the pieces are about the size of a sesame seed. Should I still rid it?

coral.bmp

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See attached which gives a good idea and uses of the different particle sizes.

 

http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/dry_aragonite.html

 

I went with Select Seaflor™Special Grade Reef Sand.

This stuff doesn't blow around and vacuums easily. Its great for our shallow Nano tanks

I do prefer the look of the smaller grain particles and may go with Fiji Pink Reef Sand next time around.

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daydreamer

I went with Fiji Pink Reef Sand. I didn't want to deal with sugar size sand blowing around, but didn't like the look of large grain so went with one size up. Fiji pink ended up being the perfect size grain for me - doesn't blow around but still looks nice and has the smallish grains i prefer.

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I went with Fiji Pink Reef Sand. I didn't want to deal with sugar size sand blowing around, but didn't like the look of large grain so went with one size up. Fiji pink ended up being the perfect size grain for me - doesn't blow around but still looks nice and has the smallish grains i prefer.

Would the substrate in the pic above be sufficent? I have looked at numerous types of Aragonite at the store and found that the stuff I have in the pic above looks finer then what I saw. Man, am I making a big deal out of this or what :lol:

Thanks for all the comments

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The stuff your using looks fine. I've heard from more than one source that optimal sand size in a nano reef tank is 4-5mm grain size and no deeper than 2in.

 

These are the reasons:

Easy to suck out poo

doesn't stir up in to a storm

allows oxygen to penetrate (preventing anoxic regions and H2S from forming)

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i use aragmax sugar size but i have a 62g. if the pumps are directly at it yeah it blows away easy but other then that i love the look. what i love most about it is you can always find where my critters go in the sand and it has a natral look imo. but thats just me. i was goign to go secondly with the pink fiji.

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I have some coral sand in my 5.5 and sugar sized aragonite sand in my 20. I love the sugar sized but it does blow around like crazy but i also have a koralia 2 running and it causes sand dunes. I actually have two k2s in the 20 but can't run them both because of the sand blowing around.

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  • 5 years later...

It looks like CaribSea Arag-Alive is a good bet for best substrate, would anyone disagree?

 

I'm looking for the substrate that is best for biological filtration (my nano doesn't have a skimmer or reactor), but in Australia I can only get the Arag-Alive in Bahamas Oolite. It is their smallest grain size, being 0.25mm-1mm.

 

What is smaller grain size good for? Is it good for biological filtration or anaerobic N2 production or what?? What is the best substrate for N2 gas production?

 

*Sorry for bumping an old post :P

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