i m upgrading and have some questions on sand beds

killafornia · 09/02/2009, 06:30 PM

i have a 84 L 30 W build that i will be starting in 3 weeks but i bought 400 lbs of dry sand form petco and 500 lbs of live sand form liverock usa but thats a 8 inch sand bed! good... bad??? please let me no! thanks ps you should stay tuned in with my 525 build i m honoring to khaosinc. He has gave me some pointers and thats one bad dude!!!!!!!

pmrossetti · 09/02/2009, 06:48 PM

Man, what a topic!! You'll get a zillion opinions on this. Mine is a 1/2" sand bed with regular stirring. Anything else is in danger of going anorobic or anoxic. Yes flow and critters are all helpful, but over time it will still get dirty. Do as you prefer and way all the opinions, that's mine. You don't want hydrogen sulfide to develop. And with sand there's little oxygen and you can't reach everywhere in the tank. So keep it shallow in my humble opinion. Good luck!!

killafornia · 09/02/2009, 06:52 PM

well i have a grid in the tank and its 3 inchs but i herd that 3 is bad!?????

addonnis242 · 09/02/2009, 07:38 PM

I personally would not do a sand bed that deep in my display, probably just because of how it ends up looking in most cases. Its harder in my opinion to keep a nice clean look with sand that deep in the DT. I like 3" to 4" with a bunch of sand sifting critters to keep the sand nice and clean. However a deep sand bed can be beneficial in many ways and I'm sure someone will chime in on the benefits, I just don't like the look in the DT.

mullinsd2 · 09/02/2009, 09:10 PM

Id go with a ssb for sure.

noahm · 09/02/2009, 09:43 PM

If I were you, I would go with a SSB in the DT, but utilize a remote DSB either totally separate or in the sump so that if things start to go south for whatever reason, you can change it out w/o an invasive teardown. I think the benefits are definitely worth utilizing a DSB, but the DT is not the place for 8" experiments IMO. Plus it would just be visually detracting unless the stand had trim covering the bottom 4" or so.

09/02/2009, 06:30 PM	#1
killafornia Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: tucson az Posts: 372	i m upgrading and have some questions on sand beds i have a 84 L 30 W build that i will be starting in 3 weeks but i bought 400 lbs of dry sand form petco and 500 lbs of live sand form liverock usa but thats a 8 inch sand bed! good... bad??? please let me no! thanks ps you should stay tuned in with my 525 build i m honoring to khaosinc. He has gave me some pointers and thats one bad dude!!!!!!! __________________ I want go fishing!!¡¡ Current Tank Info: 48x24x24

09/02/2009, 06:52 PM	#3
killafornia Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: tucson az Posts: 372	well i have a grid in the tank and its 3 inchs but i herd that 3 is bad!????? __________________ I want go fishing!!¡¡ Current Tank Info: 48x24x24

09/02/2009, 06:48 PM	#2
pmrossetti Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Cali. Posts: 3,199	Man, what a topic!! You'll get a zillion opinions on this. Mine is a 1/2" sand bed with regular stirring. Anything else is in danger of going anorobic or anoxic. Yes flow and critters are all helpful, but over time it will still get dirty. Do as you prefer and way all the opinions, that's mine. You don't want hydrogen sulfide to develop. And with sand there's little oxygen and you can't reach everywhere in the tank. So keep it shallow in my humble opinion. Good luck!!

09/02/2009, 07:38 PM	#4
addonnis242 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 177	I personally would not do a sand bed that deep in my display, probably just because of how it ends up looking in most cases. Its harder in my opinion to keep a nice clean look with sand that deep in the DT. I like 3" to 4" with a bunch of sand sifting critters to keep the sand nice and clean. However a deep sand bed can be beneficial in many ways and I'm sure someone will chime in on the benefits, I just don't like the look in the DT.

09/02/2009, 09:10 PM	#5
mullinsd2 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 753	Id go with a ssb for sure.

09/02/2009, 09:43 PM	#6
noahm Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Huntsville, AL Posts: 2,736	If I were you, I would go with a SSB in the DT, but utilize a remote DSB either totally separate or in the sump so that if things start to go south for whatever reason, you can change it out w/o an invasive teardown. I think the benefits are definitely worth utilizing a DSB, but the DT is not the place for 8" experiments IMO. Plus it would just be visually detracting unless the stand had trim covering the bottom 4" or so.