How many pounds of sand for a RS Reefer 250?

Westside Guy

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
1,341
Reaction score
1,976
Location
Hallandale Beach, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I will be setting up a RS Reefer 250 (my 1st tank) in about a week and was curious as to how many pounds of sand are recommended to put into a 54 gallon tank. One LFS told me 40 pounds another LFS who I actually am purchasing the tank from said to start with 20 pounds. I intend to use Fiji Pink but don't think that the color should make a difference.
 

nautical_nathaniel

Indecision may or may not be my problem.
View Badges
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
Messages
4,881
Reaction score
12,260
Location
West Palm Beach, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How thick of a sand bed do you want? Also somewhat depends on the type of sand you use, since something coarser like crushed coral will take up more space per pound whereas a finer sand will take up less space.
 

TheHarold

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
5,143
Reaction score
8,752
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I will be setting up a RS Reefer 250 (my 1st tank) in about a week and was curious as to how many pounds of sand are recommended to put into a 54 gallon tank. One LFS told me 40 pounds another LFS who I actually am purchasing the tank from said to start with 20 pounds. I intend to use Fiji Pink but don't think that the color should make a difference.

Hello! Plug in your aquarium dimensions, the type of sand, and the depth you want and this should tell you how much you need:

https://www.marinedepot.com/md_educationcenter_calculators_sand_bed_calculator.html
 
OP
OP
Westside Guy

Westside Guy

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
1,341
Reaction score
1,976
Location
Hallandale Beach, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How thick of a sand bed do you want? Also somewhat depends on the type of sand you use, since something coarser like crushed coral will take up more space per pound whereas a finer sand will take up less space.

This is my first saltwater tank and honestly I haven’t given too much thought as to the thickness. I love the color of Fiji pink, does it come in both coarse and fine?
 

BestMomEver

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
2,998
Reaction score
5,820
Location
Lower Alabama
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Old school was about 1 pound per gallon. I still use that. But nowadays people do all kinds of stuff from bare bottom to really deep... even deeper than mine. So, it’s really personal preference. Deep sand beds serve a few purposes. First, if you want any sand dwelling critters (some wrasses, pistol shrimp, etc) you have to have sand and there is typically a minimum depth for some creatures, second I think a tank with sand looks more natural.... like the ocean.... but to each his own. Finally, a sand bed is home to tons of beneficial bacteria and other critters that are important and fun to watch.

Some will tell you that it’s hard to clean, etc but I’ve never in all my reefing years, vacuumed a sand bed. My sand dwelling inhabitants keep it clean. The flip side of all this, is I will never have a tank that looks pristine and spotless like some others (which are beautiful to look at but probably hard to keep looking that way). I like a more natural look.

Keep in mind that the length and width of the tank is important when figuout how much sand to get. For example, I have a 60 cube that is 24x24x24. Sixty pounds of sand will be deeper than if my tank were 3 or four feet long.
 

BestMomEver

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
2,998
Reaction score
5,820
Location
Lower Alabama
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
This is my first saltwater tank and honestly I haven’t given too much thought as to the thickness. I love the color of Fiji pink, does it come in both coarse and fine?
I like the pink too. That’s what I got. Unfortunately, after a while it will be sand bed beige in color (or white). The color doesn’t fade necessarily but as it ages and you have stuff thriving there, you can’t tell it’s pink. As for the courseness, I’ve never seen anything in Fiji pink that wasn’t fine grained.
 
OP
OP
Westside Guy

Westside Guy

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
1,341
Reaction score
1,976
Location
Hallandale Beach, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Old school was about 1 pound per gallon. I still use that. But nowadays people do all kinds of stuff from bare bottom to really deep... even deeper than mine. So, it’s really personal preference. Deep sand beds serve a few purposes. First, if you want any sand dwelling critters (some wrasses, pistol shrimp, etc) you have to have sand and there is typically a minimum depth for some creatures, second I think a tank with sand looks more natural.... like the ocean.... but to each his own. Finally, a sand bed is home to tons of beneficial bacteria and other critters that are important and fun to watch.

Some will tell you that it’s hard to clean, etc but I’ve never in all my reefing years, vacuumed a sand bed. My sand dwelling inhabitants keep it clean. The flip side of all this, is I will never have a tank that looks pristine and spotless like some others (which are beautiful to look at but probably hard to keep looking that way). I like a more natural look.

Keep in mind that the length and width of the tank is important when figuout how much sand to get. For example, I have a 60 cube that is 24x24x24. Sixty pounds of sand will be deeper than if my tank were 3 or four feet long.

The RS Reefer 250 is 36L x 20W x 21H and I don’t want it too deep but at the same time want it to have a natural look. Do you think I will be ok if I start with 40 pounds?
 

Mycoolhamm

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 13, 2018
Messages
65
Reaction score
79
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Get the coarse sand. I wish I would have. The fine stuff is too hard to vacuum imo.
 

BestMomEver

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
2,998
Reaction score
5,820
Location
Lower Alabama
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The RS Reefer 250 is 36L x 20W x 21H and I don’t want it too deep but at the same time want it to have a natural look. Do you think I will be ok if I start with 40 pounds?
Well.... put it in there, spread it out and see how deep it is. 60 pounds in my 60 cube is about 2” deep. I have a 32 cube that has 60# of sand. That sand bed is about 3.5” deep. But I made that sand bed deeper because it’s an anemone tank. I want the bottom dwelling anemones to have lots of sand to bury their feet into. I guess it’s all preference. If you put 40 pounds in a 36” tank, it will probably be less than an inch deep...
 

pelphrey

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
4,109
Reaction score
6,100
Location
Kentucky
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I bought one 30lbs bag of the tropic eden mesoflakes and two 30lbs bags of the tropic eden reefflakes. I mixed all 3 bags in a 5 gallon bucket and used half of the bucket. My rock work was already in the tank before hand and my sand bed is maybe 3/4"-1" thick in places.
 

nautical_nathaniel

Indecision may or may not be my problem.
View Badges
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
Messages
4,881
Reaction score
12,260
Location
West Palm Beach, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My sand bed is around 1.5" deep in most places, I used one 20lb bag of Carib-Sea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink in my Nuvo 20 (~12x24 tank bottom space)
 

nautical_nathaniel

Indecision may or may not be my problem.
View Badges
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
Messages
4,881
Reaction score
12,260
Location
West Palm Beach, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
But my next tank will be something coarser than Fiji Pink... It does tend to blow around pretty easily. I thought about getting aragonite sand from Marcos Rocks since it looked coarser when I saw it at MACNA a couple of years ago.
 

IslandLifeReef

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
2,417
Reaction score
6,051
Location
Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What do you want to keep in the tank?

If you think you might want to go the SPS route, have you considered going bare bottom?

Unless you want fish or inverts that like a sand bed, or just like the look, I would consider skipping the sand. Tank maintenance would be much easier without sand and tanks with sand can have issues with the flow blowing the sand around.

Do what makes you happy, just some food for thought.
 

Mordie101

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
781
Reaction score
532
Location
Jackson area
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I bought a 40 gallon bag of Carib sea live sand! Putting it in later this week!
 

Mordie101

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
781
Reaction score
532
Location
Jackson area
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I bought a 40 gallon bag of Carib sea live sand! Putting it in later this week!
 

Jlyons

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 9, 2018
Messages
89
Reaction score
51
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just set up a 250 this past weekend and used 45 lbs of Live sand. Seemed like a perfect amount to me. Sand bed is just about an inch and half all around.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 68 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 32.8%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.9%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 15.6%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top