OK. who knows the answer?

[mike]

what should i use in fo tank ?crushed coral or sand should i mix it up what is the difference please help me figure this out. thanks alot










mike
55 gal freshwater (converting to salt)
15 years

[randy]

personaly i like the look of sand

[Striped Bass]

You could use them both. Infact, Whe I start my salt tank Im going to be doing a 50/50. The only thing you need to know about coral is that it can raise your ph. I used it in my freshwater 45 gl planted tank as a ph buffer. Because i have a co'2 injection for the plants. Co'2 lowers ph as well as driftwood. So what you should do first is KNOW about the fish you are going to stock the tank with and see if you can get the ph to a stable lever for them if you do use coral.

[Tommy Gun]

In my experience, which is way limited in saltwater but relatively good in freshwater, sand is a big pain in the a@#$%. However, saltwater sand is the complete opposite of freshwater sand....

First, if you get live sand, the kind that is sort of wet when you buy it, it doesnt need cleaning or any of that (it would defeat the 'live' part of the live sand). I debated long and hard about it myself and decided live sand is best because it will serve a bigger purpose than coral in that more bacteria can be held in in since there is more surface area (I didnt believe it either, but apparently more granuals equals more surface area)

So, in my new saltwater tank, i have 80 pounds of live sand. I promise you that these pictures are taken about 14 hours apart, but this is what the tank looked like right after I dumped in the sand (the tank was already filled up with all pumps and mechanicals running)


I was scared to death when I saw this because I figured since I didnt really have the traditional filter like a freshwater tank, it would take a month for the sand to settle out, but I went to sleep and woke up to this:


I know that you might think I could have taken these pictures a week apart, but I swear I took them 14 hours or so apart. This sand settled out SOOOOO fast that I was almost convinced enough to change my freshwater tank back to sand!

So, I know this didnt really help prove that sand is the best option, and it really is a matter of opinions, but I wanted to let you know that sand isnt as scarry as it may seem; at least as far as saltwater live sand goes.

[Striped Bass]

I have to agree with tommy about the LS. As sand gos. But i dont thik you should leave you filter running while you add it. You should turn off all filters and arirators when you add sand. The filter and suck it in and it can damage the filter. No to mention clog it up. Tommy U might want to take a good look inside your filtering system. to see if any got in.

Stripedbass

[Tommy Gun]

I agree striped bass and I did clean out all of my pumps as soon as the tank cleared up. In my set up, nothing is mechanically filtered and so that wasnt an issue and the only pump I had at the time was my overflow return pump, which re-enters the tank from top of the water line, which actually helped keep the sand 'cloud' down. Some live sand did end up in my sump, but it took 3 minutes with my python to clean up.

Thanks for checking my advice and helping expand. I realize that I am new to this side of the hobby and appreciate your input. I am far from even considering myself a novice, not to mention an expert.

[mike]

Thanks for the input guys. it answered some of my questions, im starting to lean towards sand. so now that i kind of got that figured out you think live sand is more benificial?

[Tommy Gun]

I am not sure if brand makes a difference on live sand, but I have seen two types of sand, one that is kept on a shelf, dry, and one that is slightly moist (you can see the water collecting on the inside of the bag sort of like dew on a window).

I think that the difference is the same as live rock versus almost live or base rock. The dry sand is like the base rock which is not really 'live', but definately has the ability to become live and harbor bacteria and critters. The wet sand, which I have found both just on a shelf and also on the shelf under a heat lamp, is not as 'live' as live rock, but does have some bacteria already growing. To be honest, in my area, there is not much of a price difference (somewhere in the range of 1 to 2 dollars more for the wet bag of sand) and so I bought the wet, heated bags.

I think then the difference will be the coral and argonite content of the sand. I am not very clear on this and so hopefully someone else can help. The main concern will be the affect of the sand on the Ph and water chemistry, that I am pretty sure about. The sand I bought had some affect on my Ph (slightly higher), but the affect was temporary in my case.

[mike]

I am starting to understand a little more im sure it will start coming together when i get the tank up and running, i saw a bag of argonite and was wondering what it was used for.... so many questions so many choices and my wife wants the cast of nemo in the tank i just laughed however i do think some of those guys are cool.

[Loman]

Mike,
I am still learning saltwater myself. I opted on my first tank to go with live sand because it was the easiest and most likely to succeed. Argonite as I understand it is essentially a sand composed of calcium carbonate. I believe this is the same base (more or less) that is used in live sand. The calcium carbonate provides the aid needed to generate proper buffering etc. Aaron can probably explain that better. Also if I understand correctly if you mix live sand and argonite it will eventually host the same live organisms and bacteria and become live too. It will just take longer. For many people they want to get going fairly quickly so live sand is a better option.

Switching gears a bit. I do not recall you tank size etc. but be careful about adding too much to the tank (especially too fast) A tang from everything I have heard and read takes a relatively big tank and will not survive without a good deal of room. I would research the specific fish before purchasing them and make sure they are good for where you want to tank to go. I am slowly realizing that these decisions can really set you toward a given direction. Ans of course you need to make sure the tank will support the fish you want.