Complete replacement of sandbed?

[McCarrick]

Hey ya'll,
I am about to move from Wyoming to California and am thinking about replacing my sand bed. I currently have crushed coral as my substrate and I don't love it. It's much coarser than I really want and am wondering if it's a source of phosphates that I'm battling. I also want to eventually (once my pods population recovers) put in a mandarin and sand sifting star into my 65 gallon tank. Few questions- What is the best sand for sand sifting stars and mandarins? What's the best sand to replace it with? Would you even recommend replacing it? It'll be a few days of the tank being set back up before the fish arrive again (I'm getting my fish shipped to me)
Also, I won't be far from the ocean when I move, is there any reason I can't get sand from the beach and clean it?
Thanks for any input!

 

[Graemesreef]

I wouldn't suggest anything from the beach, special grade aa seems to be the choice these days and I would definitely rinse anything you buy companies be cutting corners these days. Back in the day on large systems we would use silicate free playground sand and never had diatoms. Now its in everything. Just get a good bacteria and some pods and make it alive on your own.

 

[McCarrick]

I wouldn't suggest anything from the beach, special grade aa seems to be the choice these days and I would definitely rinse anything you buy companies be cutting corners these days. Back in the day on large systems we would use silicate free playground sand and never had diatoms. Now its in everything. Just get a good bacteria and some pods and make it alive on your own.

I set up my first tank using play sand from home depot that I rinsed out and added the bacteria to. Ironically that was probably my most successful tank. Would you even rinse the aa sand? If I'm going to rinse it, I don't feel like it would make sense to buy live sand to start, since I'll just be rinsing it anyways.

 

[McCarrick]

Calcean Renewable Biogenic 20 lbs. Baha Play Sand - Natural Sand BAHA020 - The Home Depot

Calcean's Baha Play Sand is nature's only renewable and sustainable play sand. Unlike common play sands, Baha Play Sand is silica-free and quartz-free -- safe for your child and ecofriendly. It has a smooth, round texture and uniform grain size, cushioning and cooling for safety/comfort. Baha...

www.homedepot.com

This one says "silica free". In replacing the entire sand bed with an uncycled bed, would my tank go through a mini-cycle?

 

[Graemesreef]

I think the only problem you might find with that sand is how fine it is. Maybe you can find the special grade without the bacteria they put in it and save some $. Believe it or not pet smart does stupid sales on the so called live sg online for cheaper then the dry. I wish I would have rinsed it cause diatoms love them some halides lol

 

[Graemesreef]

Calcean Renewable Biogenic 20 lbs. Baha Play Sand - Natural Sand BAHA020 - The Home Depot

Calcean's Baha Play Sand is nature's only renewable and sustainable play sand. Unlike common play sands, Baha Play Sand is silica-free and quartz-free -- safe for your child and ecofriendly. It has a smooth, round texture and uniform grain size, cushioning and cooling for safety/comfort. Baha...

www.homedepot.com

This one says "silica free". In replacing the entire sand bed with an uncycled bed, would my tank go through a mini-cycle?

That sand isn't cycled, they just rinse it and use a cheap bacteria that I doubt is even beneficial by the time it hits your tank. Like I said I bought it for the grade not for the wet, I wouldn't be concerned if you have mature rock and have time to turn the system over.

 

[McCarrick]

That sand isn't cycled, they just rinse it and use a cheap bacteria that I doubt is even beneficial by the time it hits your tank. Like I said I bought it for the grade not for the wet, I wouldn't be concerned if you have mature rock and have time to turn the system over.

Right, I know the sand isn't cycled, I figured I'd have to cycle it. it's just cheap silica free sand from home depot- I also considered using some of by sand as a sort of base layer and then adding some uncycled sand on top and still dosing my tank with bacteria. I move on the 11th and recieve my fish a week later. I'm hoping to get where I'm going on the 13th at the latest and have my tank set up same day or next day. I can still have the store hold my fish if need be. What I'm hearing is it's just best to find live sand with a grain size I like?

 

[Graemesreef]

I hear you, and the live sand claims will be disputed in this hobby till someone fixes it. I think seeding with some of your sand is a great idea. I would just rinse the you know what out of whatever you decide on. The one thing you don't want is silicates, sand will not put you through any sort of a cycle. Think of it as new floors in the house.

 

[McCarrick]

I hear you, and the live sand claims will be disputed in this hobby till someone fixes it. I think seeding with some of your sand is a great idea. I would just rinse the you know what out of whatever you decide on. The one thing you don't want is silicates, sand will not put you through any sort of a cycle. Think of it as new floors in the house.

Awesome, Thanks! That was a lot of help. Do you have any opinion on grain size (as I shop around) for mandarins / stars?

 

[Graemesreef]

Awesome, Thanks! That was a lot of help. Do you have any opinion on grain size (as I shop around) for mandarins / stars?

I went with the special grade, because I run really heavy flow. We have a mandarin and two sand sifting stars doing just fine.

 

[Tamberav]

Hey ya'll,
I am about to move from Wyoming to California and am thinking about replacing my sand bed. I currently have crushed coral as my substrate and I don't love it. It's much coarser than I really want and am wondering if it's a source of phosphates that I'm battling. I also want to eventually (once my pods population recovers) put in a mandarin and sand sifting star into my 65 gallon tank. Few questions- What is the best sand for sand sifting stars and mandarins? What's the best sand to replace it with? Would you even recommend replacing it? It'll be a few days of the tank being set back up before the fish arrive again (I'm getting my fish shipped to me)
Also, I won't be far from the ocean when I move, is there any reason I can't get sand from the beach and clean it?
Thanks for any input!

Definitely don't resuse it - you would have to rinse it for freaking ever to make it usable after a move... not even worth the time... trying to set it back up without rinsing it may kill everything you have.

Don't bother trying to 'stack' different grain sizes... it will all settle in the end. Skip the play sand... any grain you put on it will settle down into that stuff.

You can buy fiji pink at petco 20 lbs for 15 bucks if you are trying to save money.

I am not sure about stars but any of the popular reef substrates are fine for mandarins. Fiji pink, special grade, reef flakes, etc.

 

[McCarrick]

Definitely don't resuse it - you would have to rinse it for freaking ever to make it usable after a move... not even worth the time... trying to set it back up without rinsing it may kill everything you have.

Don't bother trying to 'stack' different grain sizes... it will all settle in the end. Skip the play sand... any grain you put on it will settle down into that stuff.

You can buy fiji pink at petco 20 lbs for 15 bucks if you are trying to save money.

I am not sure about stars but any of the popular reef substrates are fine for mandarins. Fiji pink, special grade, reef flakes, etc.

Money is part of it however I've learned (Multiple times unfortunately) about "buy once cry once" so I want to put what is the best thing I can get in my tank- especially for the sand bed since I don't plan on replacing it again.

 

[Graemesreef]

I went with the special grade, because I run really heavy flow. We have a mandarin and two sand sifting stars doing just fine.

Pet smart has the new carib sea ocean direct on sale for $32 = 40 lbs. And the special grade live for $15 = 20 lbs. Cant beat that with free shipping

 

[McCarrick]

Pet smart has the new carib sea ocean direct on sale for $32 = 40 lbs. And the special grade live for $15 = 20 lbs. Cant beat that with free shipping

Free shipping? I'm definitely looking into this! I'm going to need 40-50 is lbs for my tank (According to the BRS sand calculator and I want a relatively thick bed)

 

[Graemesreef]

Free shipping? I'm definitely looking into this! I'm going to need 40-50 is lbs for my tank (According to the BRS sand calculator and I want a relatively thick bed)

I've always used the old school pound per gallon, always worked unless you have a tall system.

 

[Tamberav]

Money is part of it however I've learned (Multiple times unfortunately) about "buy once cry once" so I want to put what is the best thing I can get in my tank- especially for the sand bed since I don't plan on replacing it again.

Which you buy heavily depends on flow.

The best/cleanest sand right out of the box is the Tropic Eden stuff. $$ though. It comes in many different grades.

The other popular ones are special grade and fiji pink - the pink is a bit finer then the special grade. This brand will cloud at first but it is still popular and a lot cheaper through Petco.

Stay away from the black sand.

 

[McCarrick]

Right now I have some super coarse crushed coral (?). I like the way the finer sand looks esthetically. I don't have super high flow. I have 2 Hydor (240 gph or something) and the stock return on my jbj 65 aio.

 

[Graemesreef]

Even with a lower flow system remember routine maintenance can be an issue. I agree the fine stuff is pretty but if you ever need to siphon you can kiss it goodbye also in my experience its notorious for settling on rocks and in cracks which could cause headaches down the road. Just saying

 

[McCarrick]

Even with a lower flow system remember routine maintenance can be an issue. I agree the fine stuff is pretty but if you ever need to siphon you can kiss it goodbye also in my experience its notorious for settling on rocks and in cracks which could cause headaches down the road. Just saying

That's where I'm trying to find the balance between too fine and too coarse. I'm thinking average of 1mm? Usually I siphon the sand, clean it from debris and then add it back into the tank. But I can see that would be more challenging with the finer sand.

 

[Graemesreef]

What a lot of people don't understand or haven't paid attention to is the build up of particles on their rock. Whether it be sand or food uneaten it will slowly kill the good life on the rock and turn it into nuisance algae. I think the only reason "for the most part" that we have a cuc is because of human error. Good luck with the move, I moved a 400 3 times in 5 years no fun.