sand or no sand.

[jesse]

so im getting really tired of my sand being a problem when it gets stirred up by the water flow. i have sugar fine sand and it goes everywhere and makes my coral close up and i was wondering if it would be a good idea to just take all the sand out and leave it bare bottom.

 

[Dannyrb26]

y dont u get crushed coral?

 

[jesse]

ur kidding right? after so long in this forum i learned that crushed coral is really bad.

 

[bjohanson1234]

y dont u get crushed coral?

Crushed coral has too big of a particle size. It can trap :pooh: and cause water quality issues. It is too large for sand sifting fish and inverts to propperly clean. Also, it doesn't look very natural.

 

[jesse]

ok i was right......so what would be the best thing here. or is there a way i can keep this sand with out it blowing everywhere. i noticed that if it doesnt have much flow it starts to get really brown and ugly but if i point the flow lower then the brown stuff goes away and the sand is white and nice looking but then i get sand dunes and mini sand twisters and its not cool.

 

[Smitty]

I'd just swap it out for a larger grain sand. Just siphon some out with your water changes until it's all gone and then replace it. The sugar sized sand is a headache because it's so small...and crushed coral is a no-no.

 

[Bifferwine]

+1 Smitty. Lots of people run tanks bare bottom, so that's definitely an option for you. I, personally, do not like the look of it. It looks unnatural, I think. If it was me, I'd get a larger grain sand and do what Smitty said. But if you don't want to, or can't be bothered, then going bare bottom is an alternative. I also wouldn't recommend using crushed coral, unless you want to start having nitrate problems in about 6 months. ;)

 

[jesse]

well i like the look of the sand but im tired of the sandstorms......i want thicker sand but i also want a goby eventually.

 

[cvcdrk]

There is another option for you.

It would require you to do some hardcore maintenance to put it in place but then it would be maintenance-free.

You can glue white sand to a piece of plexi glass or other media and put it in the bottom of your tank. It won't allow you to keep any sand-sifting creatures and it isn't ideal for certain things that rely on a sandbed, but it will give you the visual appeal of the sandbed without actually having a sand bed at all.

However, there's really no need for you to do his. You can siphon out sand fairly easily over time during water changes and when it gets low, just add in a larger sized sand. I would probably just go this way if I was you, because I like my sand-dwelling snails and things and the sand does provide some nice biological filtration.

 

[jesse]

Yea I got some snails that dig and I want a goby because they look cool eating up and spitting the sand out. The reason I got the fine one is because I got the whole 20 lb bag for 20 cents and it was better for the goby to pass through.

 

[little_fish]

The goby will be able to deal with larger sand size just fine :)

 

[Zissou]

Could always just paint the bottom of the tank, (exterior of course), bright white and call it a day. :mrgreen:

It would probably look alright til coralline and other things started growing on the glass. If you have enough room for a razor blade and lots of patience then it might work for you.

Star board is another thing you can employ, but you have to silicone any gaps so no dead water or detritus gets trapped underneath it.

 

[jesse]

Well I just got this other pump and I pointed them upward so it makes a lot of motion up on the water. Like A LOT. And it somehow goes down to the bottom but doesn't make much mess. I think I might be fine. Would u recommend getting a couple of cups of the thicker sand and spread it on top of the fine sand to keep it down.

 

[little_fish]

You can always try that, or you can put some rubble pieces on the areas that are getting especially blown around

 

[jesse]

i tried that, all that ends up happening is that it creates a dent in the sand before the rock and after the rock is a hill from all the sand that just went around it.

 

[little_fish]

No, I mean lots of little pieces, not one big rock

 

[jesse]

well how big is rock rubble to you, the guy at a lfs says they vary from really tiny like a dime to like a half dollar in diameter....so idk what you mean by rock rubble.....the tinny tiny pieces? could i take peices and smash them or should i buy it

 

[Bifferwine]

Rock rubble is much cheaper to just buy than full sized rocks and then smashing them. Most LFS will give you rock rubble for free because they can't sell it for tanks. I have never really thought of what size constitutes "rubble". I would guess anything too small to aquascape in my tank! I'd go up to golf ball or tennis ball sized.

 

[jesse]

well i have a BUNCH of rock rubble. that i used to have for the back of my biocube before i sold it lying around in the tank.... ..


so i looked at my tank today when i woke up and my rocks were completly fallen apart. so instead of puting it back together i ended up remodeling it again. will this stress out the fish or coral?

 

[jesse]

oh and biff or little fish can u check out my id post and help me out... i think its colt coral but not certain.
thnks