Drifty Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 For those of you with a fair amount of flow in your tank. What type of sand or arganite do you use. I have some coral sand which is being blown around my tank by my streams and want something that might stay in place for a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Easy, ditch the sand altogether. Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappers Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 nasty got to have sand :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 hehee, i wanna ditch my sand to bring down nutrients quicker,... but then i hate BB. damn it, think i'd rather wait and have both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossco Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Stick an anemone in your stream, saves the sand!! I have the same problem, the worst where current deflects off the glass (especially a bow front!). I am trying coral fingers at the points where it is the worst. Stops too much sand getting shifted.... Not as pretty as a nice beach though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappers Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 now you have started somethink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Have the same trouble, most of the sand has been removed and only a little left in areas where it stays. no it's not a nice beach but i prefer good healthy corals and the amount of crud that comes out of even a SSB each week on vacuuming is hard to believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I have almost been converted to a BB believer, when I moved tanks I didn't move any sand because I'm planning on replacing it with new better sized sand, I have been blown away by the amount of crud that has come out of my rocks. It has started to slow now, so I might just wait another couple of months then put in a very thin layer of sand. It's just a shame that (IMHO of course) BB tank look SO ugly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 It is amazing to see the processes which go on in the tank (which are happening whether there is sand or not) when you remove the sand. The difference when there is sand there, is all that crud which gets trapped in the sand is absorbed back up into the rock which is sitting in the sand, only to be shed from the rock again by bacteria, that is when algae can get to it and take hold on the rock. It's like a convection process. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostface Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 dont listen to the sand haters man...... plenty [most?] of people have a sand layer in their tanks and everything runs smoothly.... just give it a vacuum once a month or so. i have a mix of 1.5mm aragonite, coral sand and oolitic [spherical] coral sand. it gets blown around a bit, but its not too bad. just try moving your pumps around a bit to minimise the effects of them on the bottom. you do need a bit of flow on the sand though to stop crap settling on it. its best to keep the rocks off the sand if poss - i have pumps behind the rockwork to permanently keep sand out from under / behind them, which works really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petplanet Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Sure the sand is full of "crap" but it is also full of plenty of good things. It is a food factory. I would use small rocks to bare the brunt of the flow against the glass. That will help reduce the sand blowing around. You could mix some larger size coral substrate in the areas most effected. There are some corals that will handle the pounding. I have some yellow polys that are in major current and they are growing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifty Posted February 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 80% of my rocks are not on the sand anyway, I was just wondering what type fo sand you can use that will hopefully not get blown around too much, might just stick with what i have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Sure the sand is full of "crap" but it is also full of plenty of good things. It is a food factory. Maybe from "critters" and algae perspective, but from corals perspective it's more like a septic tank. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Plenty of sand, rubble and critters in the refugium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 it may be conincidence, but i notice when my rocks get bad algae (green/hair) on them the substrate is crap. vacuuming the substrate up as clean as I can get it, rocks start to get better. and, my rocks are sitting on reef racks (only a couple rocks on, or rather around, the sand bed) i want to remove all sand from the display to test this however am struggling against my urge to retain aesthetics and vacuum the sand bed every water change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 is it a coincidence ( i spell like u ) that u vacuum when u do a waterchange? so your tank likes that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 typo nah, do it probably every 2nd water change. take out 20 litres from main tank (vacuuming), rest of water change from sump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifty Posted February 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I change 70l every 2 weeks (tanks 1000l total) but I vacuum the whole 70 from the main tank so my sand is kept reasonably clean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warick hearn Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I took my sand out and replaced it with another product that jansens have in there big reef tank....gets a bit blown about but doesnt get any algie on it and it stays white.......and doesnt seem to get food etc traped in it..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 any more info on this warick? what sort of sand is it? how can it not have algae grow on it? i vacuumed out another 20 litres from my sandbed yesterday, water was brown as. sand looks heaps cleaner though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I have sand, and I think my tank looks OK, Certainly doesn't look bad. I have no hair algae, cyno or anything else going on. BB looks terrible and knowing that great results can be had with sand present in the tank I struggle to understand why people bother. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 any more info on this warick? what sort of sand is it? how can it not have algae grow on it? My sand remains clean and white... Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I have sand, and I think my tank looks OK, Certainly doesn't look bad. I have no hair algae, cyno or anything else going on. BB looks terrible and knowing that great results can be had with sand present in the tank I struggle to understand why people bother. Pie The reason is simple Pies, personal preference. Just as you have presented your argument as a preference, it may also be their preference to have BB for aesthetic reasons. I have BB tank for MANY reasons and one is that personally think BB looks best, but I am obviously in the minority. From all the pictures that I've seen of your tank Pies, your sand does look remarkably white. I’ve even joked before as to not being able to tell that it’s actually sand, so why bother with the sand and just go with starboard instead. Speaking of your tank Pies, how about another round of pictures!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 From all the pictures that I've seen of your tank Pies, your sand does look remarkably white. I’ve even joked before as to not being able to tell that it’s actually sand, so why bother with the sand and just go with starboard instead. Because I like the magical properties of the sand, its ability to filter the water and reduce nutrients and produce valuable life to feed the rest of the tank, lets see starboard to that! Pictures. Expect pictures very soon. The tank doesn't look much different than you have all seen in the past. My sacrophyton is over 800mm wide and has to go, my purple acro gets bigger and bigger, i've lost 2 corals (including my bubble) and an acro, due to light starvation from the sacrophyton. My fungia has produced 6 babies, 2 have budded off. Otherwise, its all the same. Very soon I am replacing the lighting with the new reflectors (I have all 4 now, but they need a few hours work to complete). I am also going to re-organise the bulk (center and right) of the tank, remove the sacrophyton, and remove some rock, to create more swimming room for the fish. also hope to add 30-40 chromas and 1 or 2 more fish. I'll share as soon as I have some news. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Because I like the magical properties of the sand, its ability to filter the water and reduce nutrients ... You forget that if the sandbed is doing that, then it MUST be storing phosphate. It can't do it without storing phosphate. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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