To Sand or Not To Sand -- That is the question

[Fury Reef]

I've been hitting a lot of topics lately that suggest not using any substrate in nano tanks, but I could never nail down why or when. 

 

What are your guys thoughts? 

 

The argument I generally hear(read) is that it creates a bad environment if something goes wrong. I've also been reading more loose sand (thicker grain). What brand do you guys like the best?

[Subsea]

Large substrate is not a good idea as detritus can penetrate easily. 

 

It it really depends on your husbandry schedule.  For certain, bare bottom shows detritus and consequently demands more attention.  So, if you need your tank to be imacculate looking then that is the way to go.   

 

I personally don’t like that sterile look.   I prefer my sand bed janitors (bristle worms, micro stars, Cerith snails and the pods to populate to food supply, which means their larvae feed filter feeders.  From my point of view, that is a good thing.

 

Before you go any further, you should make a committment  and then follow thru.  With a Nano tank, it is easy to adjust methods.  The biology for both methods work.   Decide for yourself which works best for you.

[Clown79]

Large grain substrate is the worst. I've tried crushed coral in the past and the black substrate which is bigger, it wasn't a choice for me. Turned out to be alot of work.

Too much detritus collects even with vacuuming it. 

 

Unless doing a dsb (whole other topic) a substrate of 1-1.5 seems to be ok and vacuuming it weekly helps.

 

Bare bottom is nice because all detritus is visible, left over food gets eaten instead of trapped and if not it's all easily vacuumed out. 

 

It's a personal choice. 

[Fury Reef]

Thanks guys!

 

I like the look of substrate. I agree, without it, looks too sterile. I'm getting a reef tank for a reason and that's not it. I'll research sand options and avoid large grain. 

[Subsea]

Look at CaribSea “Special Reef Grade” aragonite.  For diversity in worms, oolite sand would be best, but it blows about in the current.

[Fury Reef]

1 hour ago, Subsea said:

Look at CaribSea “Special Reef Grade” aragonite.  For diversity in worms, oolite sand would be best, but it blows about in the current.

If you have a chance, could you explain the worms thing for me? I'll see if I can find it elsewhere too.

 

Thanks!

[Subsea]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/rs/feature/index.php

 

see if this works for you.

[CrazyEyes]

Bare bottom 

[Andreww]

Fiji pink is another great sand for a nano tank.

[Lula_Mae]

I second Fiji pink-it's a beautiful sand! My 5.5 is bare bottom (long story but a too-fine grained sand contributed to a nasty tank crash and I was over it) but I am planning to add some sand in the near future. Even when I vacuum regularly it still looks kinda dirty lol.

[Fury Reef]

I think if I had a 5.5, i'd possibly consider bare bottom as well. I've been reading a lot about the crashes lately. 

 

I did decide to go with sand and picked up some Caribsea Bimini-Pink Reef Sand

[Sjadet]

Sand looks good but if you vacuum it regularly, it’ll be about as sterile as a bare bottom. So unless you’re going all in with dsb and sand sifters etc it doesn’t really serve a purpose other than eye candy.

 

all I can think of is a home for animals, like gobies, stars, snails etc but most smaller critters will be terminated with vacuuming  

[stefanm]

I'm starting mine without sand, looks ok, I can add sand later if I feel the need, at least I've not wasted the money.

[Subsea]

1 hour ago, Sjadet said:

Sand looks good but if you vacuum it regularly, it’ll be about as sterile as a bare bottom. So unless you’re going all in with dsb and sand sifters etc it doesn’t really serve a purpose other than eye candy.

 

all I can think of is a home for animals, like gobies, stars, snails etc but most smaller critters will be terminated with vacuuming  

That is not accurate.  Not sure how you vacume to accomplish that.

[NanoRox]

I like sand but speaking from my own experience I didn't know to vacuum my live sand as much as I should and it started causing issues.  I stir it twice a week and vacuum once a week and am catching up finally on the detritus (started as live sand and I never rinsed it so it started filthy to begin with...duh).  

[Clown79]

8 hours ago, Sjadet said:

Sand looks good but if you vacuum it regularly, it’ll be about as sterile as a bare bottom. So unless you’re going all in with dsb and sand sifters etc it doesn’t really serve a purpose other than eye candy.

 

all I can think of is a home for animals, like gobies, stars, snails etc but most smaller critters will be terminated with vacuuming  

 

I vacuum my sand every week, I've even removed sand and washed it and there are still pods, starfish etc in my sand.

 

Alot of us vacuum our sand, some remove and wash their Pico tanks sand weekly, we all seem to still have critters.

 

Here's an example of how nasty sand is even with vacuuming and one of the critters in it.

[West1]

Following along. I have a new 45gl and recently put in pink Fuji over the course of 5 weeks. One zip lock bag every 5 days to try and avoid a mini cycle.

[Clown79]

13 minutes ago, West1 said:

Following along. I have a new 45gl and recently put in pink Fuji over the course of 5 weeks. One zip lock bag every 5 days to try and avoid a mini cycle.

Your sand won't cause a cycle. It's new sand. 

[West1]

4 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Your sand won't cause a cycle. It's new sand. 

Based on what I was reading, I am not sure how long the livesand was on the shelf and risk adding a lot of dead stuff. This made me go the safe route and fill in the sand slowly. 

[spectra]

Sand all the way......................I love the oolite but yes it moves around to much so Fiji pink was it................I cant stand a reef tank without sand.............

 

I love bare bottoms but not in my tank

[West1]

Double checked my order and its oolite, not pink fiji.

[Clown79]

22 minutes ago, West1 said:

Based on what I was reading, I am not sure how long the livesand was on the shelf and risk adding a lot of dead stuff. This made me go the safe route and fill in the sand slowly. 

Livesand comes with a packet of bacteria. If you wash the sand (which is what everyone recommends) there should be no cycle.

 

 

[West1]

13 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Livesand comes with a packet of bacteria. If you wash the sand (which is what everyone recommends) there should be no cycle.

 

 

Got it, thanks.

[spectra]

23 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Livesand comes with a packet of bacteria. If you wash the sand (which is what everyone recommends) there should be no cycle.

 

 

Why wash it ?

 

Just open and put it in. The package in the caribsea sand is a clarifier not bacteria.

[Andreww]

+1

I was running low on sand from vacuuming it out of the tank little by little over the last year, went and got a 20lb bag of Fiji pink and dumped it all in at once through a 4” pvc pipe that was laying it nicely directly on the bottom and not on the rocks or corals...

Clarifier in and 5 hours later like it never happened.

No adverse effect from doing it that way.