Getting sick of sand.

[bfortune76]

I love the look of sand but after over a year of reefing I'm getting frustrated with it. Whenever I get flow situated perfect sand blows everywhere and clogs filter socks and just makes a mess. I turn the flow down and the corals dont get enough. I am at the point where i'me considering removing it all. I have a yellow wrasse now and want to get a mandarine some day. Any suggestions?


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[mcgyvr]

Just siphon out a bit at a time with your water changes till its gone..

[horwitzs]

Switch to a more coarse grain? Fine stuff will blow around easily, a larger grain mix may stay more settled.

[ca1ore]

What he said! The really fine sugar sized sand is just a major pain. Go with a coarser reef floor grade and you'll get no sandstorms.

[ktownhero]

Sounds like you either have too fine of sand, poor powerhead placement, or both. I'm guessing the former though.

I personally don't consider bare bottom an option for a reef tank. Seems silly to me. I would keep the sand but maybe swap it out for something more coarse? You can do it all or a mix by just siphoning the stuff you have out and adding new stuff.

[Ou8me2]

I would get some of this CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...fm?pcatid=7326

[DamonG]

Originally Posted by Ou8me2

I would get some of this CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...fm?pcatid=7326

Yes, this or bare.. Honestly, this is my first bare tank, and for the reasons you are saying, I am absolutely loving it! They are very common.. Mostly I have read among sps people like myself..

For example, before, on my 180, it used to take days to mess with the pumps, with decently high flow(approx 45X flow), and I would still get annoying storms.. But when I moved,I said I would try bare for the first time. I read, it was easier to a large extent, and wasn't so much a dirt trap.. Well, it's 4 months later, my flow is at 100x turnover, and the tank is doing great! Better than I have ever done on a system to be honest(knock on wood).. And honestly, I was in the camp that I would never go bare bottom because I thought it looked unnatural.. Lol, but my mind has drastically changed

And yes, that flow is utterly insane, and I had never imagined that I could go that high.. And I would not have been able, if I still had sand.. It's absolutely great! Corraline is growing on the floor, the coral absolutely love it(even my few lps love it), no dirty sand(no phosphate fight with gfo, so cheaper), and once again, I cannot stress how much my coral loves it! Below is a link to a video of my system:

https://youtu.be/U0C7-osklh0

Short of that, the special grade honestly is the best bet..

From note 5.. rip note 7

[bfortune76]

Originally Posted by DamonG

Yes, this or bare.. Honestly, this is my first bare tank, and for the reasons you are saying, I am absolutely loving it! They are very common.. Mostly I have read among sps people like myself..

For example, before, on my 180, it used to take days to mess with the pumps, with decently high flow(approx 45X flow), and I would still get annoying storms.. But when I moved,I said I would try bare for the first time. I read, it was easier to a large extent, and wasn't so much a dirt trap.. Well, it's 4 months later, my flow is at 100x turnover, and the tank is doing great! Better than I have ever done on a system to be honest(knock on wood).. And honestly, I was in the camp that I would never go bare bottom because I thought it looked unnatural.. Lol, but my mind has drastically changed

And yes, that flow is utterly insane, and I had never imagined that I could go that high.. And I would not have been able, if I still had sand.. It's absolutely great! Corraline is growing on the floor, the coral absolutely love it(even my few lps love it), no dirty sand(no phosphate fight with gfo, so cheaper), and once again, I cannot stress how much my coral loves it! Below is a link to a video of my system:

https://youtu.be/U0C7-osklh0

Short of that, the special grade honestly is the best bet..

From note 5.. rip note 7

Amazing tank!!


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[greaps]

Sandless the way to go. I consider myself a beginner. I have tried sand a couple times and found sandless to be so much easier to maintain. Florida aquacultured live rock, no sand, lots of flow, socks, a skimmer and water changes for my 50g system.

[bfortune76]

I went from jecod pumps that randomly failed . To two maxpect gyre 150's. one on each side in pulse mode on my 75g. My controller cycles them one is on for 1 hour each at a time. Since upgrading to these pumps my corals have been explosive in growth and color. But to keep the flow they like its a constant sand storm. I used several bags of caribsea fine sand. The bottom of my tank is not painted so if i do go. Are bottom i have to figure that out.


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[DamonG]

Originally Posted by bfortune76

Amazing tank!!


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Thanks, it's a work in progress honestly..

And mine isn't painted either, and I just thought about it yesterday, you could paint the bottom white(of course on the outside) to get more of reflective until your corraline grows in..

And it is an adjustment getting used to no sand(I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't for myself included), but once you do, more than likely, you will probably love it.. But then, if you don't, you always have the option to add sand later without too much hassle.. Very different than removing..

And that fine sand, you're probably getting a quarter to half(at least) of what you could just by switching to the special grade.. It's that dramatic honestly.. I ran the fine stuff in my 50, and it was nothing but a headache.. It looked great when I first set it up, but once I added some flow, it had to go..

And the hilarious thing about running crazy flow without sand, is,a lot of times, you can't even tell, unless your looking at the top of the water. That, or, at least for me, when I feed or stick my arm in the display.. Then you feel it.. But the water is clearer also..

From note 5.. rip note 7

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by horwitzs

Switch to a more coarse grain? Fine stuff will blow around easily, a larger grain mix may stay more settled.

This.
I have pistol shrimps and gobies and they need a mixture of coarse and medium gravel and finer sand. In the high flow areas usually the coarse gravel stays in place and and also stabilizes some of the sand. The finer sand usually accumulates in calmer areas.
In general I would advise against using super fine powder-like sand that can stay afloat for too long.

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[Lsufan]

I like having sand but like others have stated, your sand is just to fine. That's a good recommendation on sand that a lot of people like but me personally, I love tropic edens line of sands. They have different grain sizes & if u have a lot of flow u may want to check out the tropic Eden reeflakes. They have a finer sand that is called miniflakes that I love the look of but in a big tank with a lot of flow it may blow around a little bit. Then they have a grain size inbetween the two that I believe they call mesoflakes.

[Buzz1329]

I have the Tropic Eden substrate in my 180 and had no problem keeping it in place. I did have big problem with keeping the sand in front of tank cyano free, no matter what I did. Cyano also started climbing rocks.

So I gradually siphoned off sand in front of rocks while removing cyano sheets. (I kept the sand in the back because I have not had any cyano problems back there – knock wood.)

Been a few weeks now, and the cyano is gone (for now). Coralline algae is gradually covering bare bottom, along with LPS that had previously sat on sand.

I used egg crate underneath my rocks, and a few inches of it (across tank) have now been exposed. I am placing LPS frags onto egg crate, which I hope will eventually cover it.

Tank maintenance has become a LOT easier. No more acrobatics trying to reach cyano pockets on front sand and rocks during water changes.

I’m not saying that removal of sand alone was enough to (at least temporarily) stop cyano. I did some other things as well, but I think removing sand was a big factor.

Mike

[FirstContact]

Just can't do a reef without sand. It just looks too unnatural to me.

[ericarenee]

courser sand as those above have commented on also proper pump placement. i have found that placing the pumps to aim at the glass and bounce the water around is best then directly across the tank..

I agree with the above on bare bottom tank. I tried it.. Lost huge pod population and nearly all my crabs and many snails that live under the sand. Its just not natural and the tank inhabitants are not happy . my opinion

[HippieSmell]

Carribsea special grade sand, careful powerhead placement, and strategic placement of smaller rocks where the sand starts to blow away is what I've done. It's a lot of trial and error. I've resorted to crushed coral in stubborn areas.

[JMorris271]

I am wondering if there is a mini cycle issue with your replacing the sand with the floor stuff. Do you know?