Sand recomendations ?

[vegastyle]

Who is everyone's local favorite supplier for dead & live sand. Any issues with LS being on shelf too long. I've read it's a good idea to order LS from several sources. Will be purchasing DSB for 120 gal

[Luke]

Who is everyone's local favorite supplier for dead & live sand. Any issues with LS being on shelf too long. I've read it's a good idea to order LS from several sources. Will be purchasing DSB for 120 gal

i would just buy dry sand and wait for it to become live?

[Xcali1985]

Probably would stir in a bag or 2 of live and finish up and save on the dry stuff.

[vegastyle]

Probably would stir in a bag or 2 of live and finish up and save on the dry stuff.

That's my plan. Any LFS with screaming deals ?

[Troylee]

Beyond the reef.....;)

[five O]

Blue Reef Aquatics>>>>:p

[Twinn]

i bought about 20lbs of sand mix which i bought from home depot, use for construction. fill with water, circulate so it will wash out deposits, then dump and wash 2 times. then ready to go. it will look very muddy and dirty but it will settle couple of days. now my tank is like, live sand what a deal for less than $5

[RickMartin]

I recommend leaving the sand out of the tank altogether

[iap]

What must you do to have a barebottom tank? I'm either going bb or black sand in my new setup. Do I need to have a deep sandbed in my fuge if I go bb? Or can I just go bb and not have to do anything special.

[Troylee]

nothing special just have lr..... stay away from the black unless you love cleaning your tank.... it shows everything!!!!

[RickMartin]

Sandbeds aren't a requirement for reef tanks. Supposedly they had biodiversity, but in reality they are just a big detritus/nutrient trap

[iap]

Ok I hate to clean my tanks so I'll stay away from the black sand. Think I'll go BB. I have one other question tho. I see some people put starboard on the bottom of the tank when they don't have sand. Why is that?

[RickMartin]

Starboard is just a lame attempt at immitating a sand bed look.
ok here comes my semi-annual anti-sandbed rant
First a little history. Back in the early 90s bare bottom was a standard part of the "Berlin System" of reefkeeping. Most attempts at a substrate ended up being a nutrient trap and after enough time led to algae issues that was only able to deal with by removing the substrate. Skimmers weren't nearly as effecient and phosphate sponge was limited to alluminum oxide. So the failure of substrate was a lot faster than it is today
Somewhere in the mid 90s Dr Jaubert of the Monaco Aquarium ( I think) was somewaht succesfully using a Deep sand bed on a large system using a plenum. I think Sprung first mentioned it in one of his monthly columns in FAMA. About the same time Adey's Dynamic Aquaria came out also introducing algae scrubbers and refugia and discussing in detail the eco-systems with each of these methods. Then either Fenner or Goemans wrote several more articles in FAMA. And the fever was on. Sam Gamble was doing some research for Fenner or Goemans and later articles on Aquarium Net. And shortly it was decided a plenum wasnt needed.

Soon after it evolved from a deep sand bed to rather shallow beds. But still there was quite the emphasis on the sandbed as an eco-system. Now its more like throw some sand in and hope for the best, with little if any thought of it as an eco-system or what inhabitants are needed to keep the sandbed from becoming a cesspool.

The improvement of skimmers, better grades of carbon and phosphate sponge have prolonged the time it takes for a sand bed to crash tanks. So people can go for a couple of years sometimes by just throwing some sand in their tank and hoping for the best. And then when it crashes they have no clue why.

If you are going to have a sandbed you need to do research and treat it as its own eco-system.

[tomgl]

I talked to Fenner about this some years back. I remember him telling me less than an inch in the display if the sand is for looks and more then four or five inches if it is for nutrient control. Anything in-between was useless. There was a suggestion of replacing the shallow sand when it started to dirty. I have tried no sand, shallow sand and DSB. Each has had it problems. I think I was happiest with the shallow sand bed as I like the look of a tank with sand. I hate seeing the detitrus laying on the bottom of a bare bottom. It's also amazing how much it builds and how fast. I vacuumed out the sand twice a year and had good luck. One thing to steer away from IMO is refugium mud. Works great at first and then turns ugly.

[coker98]

The concept of live sand sitting on a shelf for sale is ridiculous. Unless they have found a way to flash preserve the bacteria in the water/sand, you are better off buying dry sand and seeding it with a few cups of someone else's sand from their existing and established tank and letting your sand bed develop. I believe that the "ready to add" live sand was just a gimmick for folks that are impatient, like myself. Tried it, didnt like it and went back to the dry/develop method.

Hope that helps answer your questions.