Sand question

[dragonet123]

Hello everyone,
I am new to marine aquariums and I was wondering, which one would you recommend, live sand, or dry coral sand?

Thanks!

 

[reefnoob]

Do not get crushed coral. It makes maintenance much harder. Trash and junk will get stuck in there, making it become a nitrate factory. Don't get live sand because it's a waste of money. Who knows how long it's been in a bag? IMO the best bet is to get a bag of regular dry sand. It will become "live" really quickly.

 

[Aquarian]

Dry aragonite is the way to go you can seed it with a cup of live sand from a LFS or a friend.

 

[kbuser92]

I will never buy anything "live" again. Too many chances for unwanted pests. Buy plain aragonite sand and some dry rock and the plus side is that its all way cheaper. If you need to seed it, find a nice piece of live rock with nothing on it to toss in your sump.

I've just about had it with getting stuff I don't need from live-this or that. It will all cycle anyways and build up your own bacteria. I really don't think the cost analysis is worth it, personlly.

 

[emmett0122]

unless you are going to running a deep sand bed 6"+ it doesnt need to be aragonite sand as it will help with ph because for it to work it the water need to be carbon dioxide rich so it turns the water acidic witch dissolves the aragonite and turns it into carbonate

 

[Aquarian]

unless you are going to running a deep sand bed 6"+ it doesnt need to be aragonite sand as it will help with ph because for it to work it the water need to be carbon dioxide rich so it turns the water acidic witch dissolves the aragonite and turns it into carbonate

Aragonite sand is not silica based. Silica will feed cyanobacteria.
Aragonite is also a smooth oval shape as opposed to the jagged angular shapes of other sands wich 1 provides a larger surface area for beneficial bacteria. 2 it's better for the snails worms ect. that live in our sandbeds. It's not just about a ph buffer, but it will also help there as well.

 

[emmett0122]

silica will feed diatoms but not cyanobacteria if that was the case removing all silica from your tank would eliminate it but it doesnt the diatoms we gst in our tank after a cycle need the silica to make there outter shell and once the use up the silica they are gone

 

[kbuser92]

Yes. And even though our pH doesn't tend to be low enough for that calcium to dissolve in great numbers (such as a reactor with CO2), it will still dissolve very slowly over time. And at night, it helps to buffer more because there's an excess of CO2 to drop the pH. Same reason using coral- or lime-based rocks.

 

[Aquarian]

silica will feed diatoms but not cyanobacteria if that was the case removing all silica from your tank would eliminate it but it doesnt the diatoms we gst in our tank after a cycle need the silica to make there outter shell and once the use up the silica they are gone

Oops your right I meant Diatoms. :notworthy::D
But if you use a silica sand you will never use up all your silica.

Also I would stay away from the sugar fine sand as it will easily creat sandstorms in your DT.

 

[emmett0122]

yes i agree on on the silica sand they do make silica free sand that is not too fine as fine sand goes everywhere in our tanks(i bought the wrong sand once and i was a mess in my tank had to remove it) and yes kbruser it will to a point but if you want to true effect of it you need a sand 6" or deeper