I really like the fine sand, medium seems to be a better idea. Shallow, deep, or none?

[TinyChocobo]

Hello.

I’m going to be building my Red Sea Reefer XL 425 soon and have been trying to prepare. I really enjoy the way the fine sand looks but from what I understand it will get tossed around by high flow too much and can irritate corals and fish and the like.

I don’t like the course sand at all but the medium seems fine. Not as nice looking as fine but better than course.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and it seems that if you go with a deep sand bed it’s pretty hands-off up until you reach about 7 to 10 years after which it seems you have to replace it.

I’ve also seen that shallow sand beds need replaced even sooner. It seems a shallow bed would be far easier to replace than a deep one and that a lot of people opt for no sand to avoid it entirely.

I do want sand but am trying to plan ahead to try and either avoid or proactively handle issues that may arise.

When it comes to a deep sand bed how deep are people usually running? Originally I was thinking about doing a 1” bed which isn’t deep imho.

I don’t relish the idea of having to replace the sand down the road so if there is anything I can do to prolong the life or to head off issues I’m all ears.

 

[Big G]

Fiji Pink is my go to size. I usually mix a bit of Carib Sea's "Natural Reef" with its larger size to add a bit of texture to the overall look. It's not really "pink" just a few flecks of pink.

 

[TinyChocobo]

Fiji pink does look good. I’m not really doing a sand bed so that I have more bio area but primarily for appearance. I really like the way it looks.

I am probably going to put a couple pieces of marinepure in the sump.

 

[Big G]

My 90 has a sand bed of about 1-11/2" inches. Easy to stir, to clean with a turkey baster or one of these

 

[Big G]

Fiji pink does look good. I’m not really doing a sand bed so that I have more bio area but primarily for appearance. I really like the way it looks.

I am probably going to put a couple pieces of marinepure in the sump.

I do a bare bottom in my QT tanks and it works pretty well for seeing what needs to be cleaned. That being said, every time I walk by and see something on the bottom I have this overwhelming urge to stop what I'm doing and siphon the bottom of the QT tank. LOL
And I do run on 8 x 8 x 1 Marine Pure plate in my sump. Very low nitrates detected.

 

[TinyChocobo]

I have two 8x8x1 blocks. I need to raise my skimmer up 2” so I was thinking about using them to do that.

 

[falconut]

I like the caribsea special grade, it's a nice size so it doesn't really get blown around. I only added about 1" in my current tank, sonce I'm using it just for looks and syphon it during water changes.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

I like small/fine grained sand too. I had sugar sized sand in my first tank and loved it but it constantly blew around everywhere. For my second tank I decided to go with Tropic Eden Reef Flakes and liked them but too big for my taste. This time around I did Tropic Eden Mini Flakes and absolutely love them so far. I feel like the mini flakes look more like reef sand then the reef flakes.
No matter what you chose I hope you love it. If not, you can always suck it out and put in new sand.

 

[BangedUp]

I’ll agree and say pink Fiji . .... it’s not too big that it’s ugly but not so fine that it blows and it’s goby shrimp pair friendly if that’s your thing also..... pink Fiji is the way to go imo

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I used a black sand that's about Fiji pink sized, but it's completly inert. Doesn't leach anything but it won't buffer kh like aragonite either. My sand is around 3" deep. I don't have any problems with it blowing around and I have 2 1000gph power heads on a 35g cube. I love the black sand look.

 

[jd371]

Sugar fine Oolite sand in my 75g. I went with the Oolite because I like the look of the fine sand. I get enough flow from the Jabeo PP8's without making a storm. My two Conch's and the Rainfords Goby keep the sand clean. Once and a while my Wrasse may make a storm when burying in the sand to sleep, but most of the time he slips in smoothly without making a mess. When my Rainfords sifts the sand he stays close to the sb so it doesn't blow around, no mounds or covered coral. The sand is 3" at it's deepest.

 

[JCM]

I won't comment on type of sand.

But if you only want sand for the aesthetics of it, do a shallow sand bed 1/2" to 1" and stir it regularly! Use a gravel vac during water changes, or use that nifty thing Big G posted. This will avoid the sand bed accumulating a bunch of junk and you'll never have to replace it.

 

[User1]

I have anywhere from 4 to 6" inches of depth on my bed. I used a mix of CaribSea pink Fiji and their coarser aragonite. Tank is cycling now but hasn't been cloudy at all. I didn't rinse it but when I added the ri/ro water just let it wash over the rock work. I can see a haze from time to time but overall it is clear. I have a XF250 on the overflow side of the tank with two 1" Sea Swirls using a Cor-15 for the return pump running about 80% I think. I can see sand dunes on the bottom but it isn't anything bad. Will be more interesting once fish get in the tank and see what they do.

 

[Luno]

Hello.

I’m going to be building my Red Sea Reefer XL 425 soon and have been trying to prepare. I really enjoy the way the fine sand looks but from what I understand it will get tossed around by high flow too much and can irritate corals and fish and the like.

I don’t like the course sand at all but the medium seems fine. Not as nice looking as fine but better than course.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and it seems that if you go with a deep sand bed it’s pretty hands-off up until you reach about 7 to 10 years after which it seems you have to replace it.

I’ve also seen that shallow sand beds need replaced even sooner. It seems a shallow bed would be far easier to replace than a deep one and that a lot of people opt for no sand to avoid it entirely.

I do want sand but am trying to plan ahead to try and either avoid or proactively handle issues that may arise.

When it comes to a deep sand bed how deep are people usually running? Originally I was thinking about doing a 1” bed which isn’t deep imho.

I don’t relish the idea of having to replace the sand down the road so if there is anything I can do to prolong the life or to head off issues I’m all ears.

Replace sand bed? Gotta be an old style of thinking. It's hogwash, it's part of the ecosystem, you have snails and fish and other things that regularly clean the sand bed.

 

[Luno]

Also you wanna turn over a thinner layer of sand and keep it crystal clean grab a sea cucumber

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Replace sand bed? Gotta be an old style of thinking. It's hogwash, it's part of the ecosystem, you have snails and fish and other things that regularly clean the sand bed.

Never heard of having to replace your sand bed. It doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Luno]

Never heard of having to replace your sand bed. It doesn't make sense to me.

Yeah, only thing I can think of where this may have come from is when dsb's were the standard and some people's thoughts were to replace half after so many years

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Yeah, only thing I can think of where this may have come from is when dsb's were the standard and some people's thoughts were to replace half after so many years

DSB+auto stirrer... I'm not worried about mine. Ever.

 

[Luno]

Strombus looks sizeable!! I'm a big fan of cucumbers though there's speculation out there that they can nuke a system but I've never seen it and it's never happened to me in 10 years. Just like a dsb is a ticking time bomb too hey!

 

[TinyChocobo]

Never heard of having to replace your sand bed. It doesn't make sense to me.

I don't have any experience with it one way or another. I have 1" in my 29 Gallon and a few snails and the like and haven't really had any issues with it but it's only been a couple of years.

Yeah, only thing I can think of where this may have come from is when dsb's were the standard and some people's thoughts were to replace half after so many years

From what I've seen is that if it's not mixed up/stirred in any way that eventually it just becomes a nitrate farm and can be really bad if you do disturb/stir it at that point.

DSB+auto stirrer... I'm not worried about mine. Ever.

Auto-stirrer? You mean the critter in the pic?

I mean I would prefer whatever will last the longest and be the best for the tank - be it shallow and manual stirring, deeper with critters, or a combination of the two. I did order 80 pounds of fiji pink as well as the special grade. Should be enough for 3" deep if I use both kinds [I was thinking about mixing them together] as the tank is 47" x 22.6". I could get more of either as well - and go deeper - but what does one consider 'deep' when it comes to a sand bed - and anything I should keep in mind? I.e. should I stir the sand myself or make sure to get critters to do it? Anything to watch out for?

Strombus looks sizeable!! I'm a big fan of cucumbers though there's speculation out there that they can nuke a system but I've never seen it and it's never happened to me in 10 years. Just like a dsb is a ticking time bomb too hey!

How would they nuke a system? By dying?