RUGF Revival?

[OllieNZ]

Hi All,

I'm in the planning stages for my new tank and currently researching like mad. Amongst the topics I've been reviewing is what to do with my display sand bed, some of the threads I've been over are:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/detritus-is-it-as-bad-as-some-make-out.300047/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/is-a-consistently-clean-sand-bed-an-attainable-goal.403850/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-white-sand-method.252861/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lasses-dream-build.246188/page-71

After much reading I'm considering going with a RUGF and a shallowish (2") sand bed of 1/8"-1/4" gravel and have a few questions.....
Floor area is approximately 3.5 square feet, what would be a desirable flow rate?
Thoughts on grain size? I know I've suggested 1/8"-1/4" but is this ideal?
Impact on fauna? Keeping the bed oxygen rich seems to be great for microfauna but how would the flow impact keeping larger burrowing animals eg, pistol/goby pairs or jawfish?
Any other thoughts/considerations would be appreciated.....

Regards

Ollie

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ollie, good questions. Every tank I've done (9 over 15 years) has had fine sand and like you suggest, about 2" to 3". The only exceptions were quarantine tanks and frag tanks which were bare bottom.

IMHO you should go with something fine as animals that appreciate sand for living space do much better. I have 2 sea cucumbers, some small spaghetti worms, several small feather dusters and a couple of sand dwelling non-photosynthetic anemones that all love the fact that I have a lot of sand surface for them. And my wrasse does bury itself in the sand when it sleeps. And it's not easy to have a lot of open sand space in a 2'x2' tank. You can see how I did it in my build thread (link is in my signature below). I don't even consider oxygen levels in the sand bed. In fact, I'd have a very difficult time doing much to my sand bed as 80% of it's under an egg crate platform covered with live rock.

 

[Subsea]

I use 300 GPHr across 8 square feet in my 120G. Use aroggonite for bufferring , I like CaribSea special reef grade at .1 -1 mm.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wet-salty-for-christmas-2017.428100/

 

[OllieNZ]

@Ron Reefman , @Subsea , I'd already read both your builds which are excellent.

Ron my tank will be 36"x16" footprint, I like your suspended rockwork, it definitely adds floor space and cover for more cryptic species. I hear you on the fine sand but I'm not sure how fine you can go with the RUGF?

Subsea, are you using the aragonite mixed into your regular gravel?

 

[dbjonesjr]

I am debating the sand decision on my next tank as well. I have 100 lbs. of crushed coral that would look good, however I am aware this will limit me on the sand loving creatures I could purchase.

 

[OllieNZ]

I am debating the sand decision on my next tank as well. I have 100 lbs. of crushed coral that would look good, however I am aware this will limit me on the sand loving creatures I could purchase.

You could always include an area of finer sand if needed, although I'd be interested to hear how fine you can actually go. I know @Lasse has a fairly fine layer in his remote reverse flow DSB but iirc his flow rate is measured in GPD as opposed to GPH