What substrate and what depth?

A

Apestyler

Reefing newb
It's question/opinion time again.

Ok ok ... I've been reading my books and they say you can use the following as substrate;

Crushed Coral Sand
Crushed Coral Gravel
Aragnite (sp?!)

They also recommend a depth of 2 to 3 inches - What do you guys have in your tanks, and what would recommend to a newbie reefer. I will starting off with FOWLR and then after I've gained some experience will be upgrading to a full reef.

Also what are your opinions on the use of live sand, can you layer/mix this with the items above?
 
I like aragnite sand because its help stabilize your calcium.I used live aragnite sand.My sand bed is close to 5 inches,after adding extra.Here is good tip after adding your sand and your ready for water place some plastic over the sand.This will reduce the cloudiness of your water.Here is a link for the brand of sand I used.http://www.naturesocean.com/bioactive.htm
 
I run a 6 inch bed in my refuge with some plant life and run at 0 nitrates. Bacteria form at the depths where there is no oxygen can convert nitrates to a gas which then escapes the tank.
 
I will be running at least a 3" sand bed and will be using carib sea aragonite - aragamax select. for set up and seed it with araganite live for bacteria. you need to determine what you will keep and the need for a sand bed, size of grain, and depth, i.e. jawfish, anemonies, etc.
 
I am looking at keeping a couple of Clown Fish (maybe a Royal Gramma and AngelFish), so I would be looking at anything between 3 - 4 inches in depth. When alot more experienced I would like to get an Anemone for the clowns.

Is it ok to put live sand into a tank with no stock ... or will I need to 'feed' it to get the bacteria going?
 
As long as you add some fish food every other day it will keep everything alive and help cycle your tank. Not to much, a pinch will be fine.
 
I've just been looking at the prices of Live Sand and it is pretty expensive £20/$35 for a 20lb bag and looks like I will need 6 of these for a 3inch depth, just wandering if I can mix it with non-live aragonite sand or anything similar?
 
You can mix it but be careful and make sure its for aquarium use. You don't want to throw any strange chemicals in there that will start killing your live stock.
 
USE THE FOLLOWING 90% NOT LIVE SAND AND 10% LIVE TO SEED. MIX IN WELL BUT NOT TOO VIGEROUSLY. YOU SYSTEM WILL THEN GO THROUGH A CYCLE. WATCH IT AND FOLLOW THE GENERAL RULES ON ADDING LIVE STOCK AS NOTED IN THE SET UP OF MOST FISH BOOKS. IF YOU WANT A FASTER CYCLE YOU WILL NEED TO ADD MORE LIVE AND LESS NOT LIVE SAND TO GIVE A BIGGER BOOST. PERSONALLY I WOULD USE THE FORMULA ABOVE AND IF I WANTED TO SPEED THINGS UP ADD A GOOD QUALITY MAIRNE BATIERA FROM YOU LFS IN ADD TO THE LIVE AT 10%. JUST MY THOUGHT HOPE IT HELPS. finally make sure everything you put into your system is listed for marine aquariums.
 
Sounds very exciting. post some pics in photo album. i can see pics there but cant in the forum threads. waiting for pics. congratulations and good luck.
 
Two yrs ago I had 4 55 gal tanks 2 30 gal tanks and one 10 gal tank I expeiremented with 2 diferent formulas one was the height formula where you see all this so many inches sandbed the other was a weight formula where Iused 2 lbs per gallon my best tank was indeed the weight method hope this helps.
 
Another way to look at it is:
*Oolitic - 2 - 2 1/2" deep
*Reef select - 3 to 4".
*Regular sand provides no buffering, so I recommend Aragonite substrait such as Carib Sea.
 

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