sand bed

BretCreager · 01/27/2013, 11:21 AM

Hi i have been in a planning and stock piling processing for a long time now. I am thinking about diving in on a smaller tank to let things go and slowing stock up for my 135 gallon. anyway i am having issues with what to buy for the sand bed. the stickies say medium grade arag. and not crushed shells or coral. it looks to me at LFS's and even online it is always shells and coral... maybe im missing something or looking to far into it.

so i was wondering, if you were to buy it online what store would you go to and which product do you suggest? can you give me links to your favorites? also i see a lot of "live sand" but not very much "dead sand" so if i was to seed the sand, where do i get some of each?

one last question, if i was to get sand from the ocean (off the coast of new jersey) would that benifit me or hurt me?

thank you

Bret

chealy · 01/27/2013, 11:37 AM

I would not get sand from the ocean, to many unknown nasties. As for sand I went with aragonite sand which you can get a petsmart and most lfs. Different people will give you different opinions but I prefer aragonite.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...9-001b2166c62d

http://www.petco.com/product/112009/...nite-Sand.aspx

I believe I bought this one ^ to use in mine tank.

As for seeding I would go with "dead" sand and base rock and then to seed just buy a small piece of live rock from your local fish store. If you are not in a big hurry this will save you a bunch of money. This is the route I went as do many others. Or if you have any friends with saltwater tanks you can get a cup of their sand to seed yours.

ImNotLion · 01/27/2013, 12:21 PM

http://www.marcorocks.com/sand.aspx

Check them out, I just bought 40 lbs of sand corse size and its perfect. I always hated sugar sized and like you said crushed coral is bad so I got that and I love it. It looks natural

ImNotLion · 01/27/2013, 12:27 PM

There's a picture, sorry I couldn't upload it at first

BretCreager · 01/27/2013, 05:05 PM

So what I am looking for is sand, not coral or shells in any form, just sand and specifically medium to corse grade.

Thanks for the help and the links. Hopefully I can start getting things going sometime soon

01/27/2013, 11:21 AM	#1
BretCreager Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: South Jersey Posts: 122	sand bed Hi i have been in a planning and stock piling processing for a long time now. I am thinking about diving in on a smaller tank to let things go and slowing stock up for my 135 gallon. anyway i am having issues with what to buy for the sand bed. the stickies say medium grade arag. and not crushed shells or coral. it looks to me at LFS's and even online it is always shells and coral... maybe im missing something or looking to far into it. so i was wondering, if you were to buy it online what store would you go to and which product do you suggest? can you give me links to your favorites? also i see a lot of "live sand" but not very much "dead sand" so if i was to seed the sand, where do i get some of each? one last question, if i was to get sand from the ocean (off the coast of new jersey) would that benifit me or hurt me? thank you Bret __________________ why cant i find a cheap hobby?

01/27/2013, 05:05 PM	#5
BretCreager Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: South Jersey Posts: 122	So what I am looking for is sand, not coral or shells in any form, just sand and specifically medium to corse grade. Thanks for the help and the links. Hopefully I can start getting things going sometime soon __________________ why cant i find a cheap hobby?

01/27/2013, 11:37 AM	#2
chealy Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: SC Posts: 39	I would not get sand from the ocean, to many unknown nasties. As for sand I went with aragonite sand which you can get a petsmart and most lfs. Different people will give you different opinions but I prefer aragonite. http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...9-001b2166c62d http://www.petco.com/product/112009/...nite-Sand.aspx I believe I bought this one ^ to use in mine tank. As for seeding I would go with "dead" sand and base rock and then to seed just buy a small piece of live rock from your local fish store. If you are not in a big hurry this will save you a bunch of money. This is the route I went as do many others. Or if you have any friends with saltwater tanks you can get a cup of their sand to seed yours.

01/27/2013, 12:21 PM	#3
ImNotLion Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 88	http://www.marcorocks.com/sand.aspx Check them out, I just bought 40 lbs of sand corse size and its perfect. I always hated sugar sized and like you said crushed coral is bad so I got that and I love it. It looks natural

01/27/2013, 12:27 PM	#4
ImNotLion Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 88	There's a picture, sorry I couldn't upload it at first