Sugar Sand, Aragamax Select, Or Larger?
 

Just curious who's using what substrate on what size tank and why? Can sugar sand be used in a high flow SPS tank without too much hassle? What well sought after fish aren't recommended if you don't use sugar sand? Thanks for your input :)

Sugar sand will blow all over the place in a high flow system. I replaced mine with heavier sand, it still blows around.

I used coarse sand and rinsed it through a strainer only to keep the largest pieces. About 1/4 size wise. It doesn't blow around but does get moved in some spots. I have less than 1/2 inch on bottom

my preference goes to Caribsea Seaflor Special Grade

I hope this isn't hijacking but it's an awesome question. I'm running 1-2 mm Caribsea seaflor sand as well, but I noticed last time I was in J&L that it comes in the smaller .5 - 1mm. I liked the look of it, and I'm wondering before I set up my 210 if the 1-2mm is too corse for my Yellow watchman and twin spot gobies.
For those of you running it, do you know specific size grain's your Caribsea sand is?

I use Aragamax Select, about an inch or so deep in a 75g with 2 MP10s on 75%, and no sand storms
I chose it so we could have sand sifters

+1

I have sugar sand in one of my tanks. Worst mistake ever!! When my sand sifters do their job, blows around covering any corals close to bottom of tank. Just my 2cents

I used sugar sand and I'm SORRY. Sugar sand + one pair of clowns (that lift the sand)+ powerful powerheads = lots of sandstorms. :(

I had/have 2-3" of sugar sand in my tanks....wouldn't have anything else

Select or other larger sized sand. I hate sandstorms.

+2 but I still think it would be best to run bare bottom...

Is there a way to see who's voting under which category so I can determine who might have a similar tank setup to my own?

I like the look of sand, the owner of my last tank had 1" + Crushed coral in there without any problem but after I dumped some sugarfine in it started getting the stank spots. I think I might try a bag of seafloor grade in this setup before I upgrade to whatever my next setup is.

This tank started out with some sugar fine but with some of the flow i ended up with bare spots. I have sucked out most of the sugar fine leaving a shallow sand area over 1/3 - half the tank and a rubble zone in the other half. ZnP are in the rubble zone and I pull an occasional natural spreading frag out of there.

I tried bare bottom in my frag tank and the bottom cracked.. although i do not believe the crack was related to the bare bottom, there was no rock-slide that i could see i just came downstairs and the tank was cracked.

Is the Caribsea Seaflor sand too large for sand sifting fish?

you could bribe a staff member :razz:

But seriously, no, it's not setup that way.

Can anyone comment on this?

I wish I knew a staff member that that closely that lived just down the road... Lol

Tank arrives on Monday by the way :)

I used sugar sand and I wish I never did because it blows everywhere. One positive is it made natural rolling sand formations in my tank but there is bare bottom in the front of my tank.

That's what I've always used and I've always kept sand-sifters.

I've got Caribsea flor in both my 20 gal cube and my 77 gal display. My yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp sift through it all day long in my cube and I have a twinspot goby that sifts through it in my main DT. They don't seem to mind. From what I've read anything 1-2 mm is good.

2"-3" sugar sand in 144G with 2 MP40's and a MP10. I used to have a little bit of sandstorms but with some playing around with the positioning of some rocks and the vortechs it's no longer a problem. And no dead spots.

It all boils down to whether or not you are running a shallow sand bed (less than 2") or deep sand bed (4-6"). For a SSB, you want more coarse sand that you can siphon if necessary. The Seaflor is great for this and allows sand sifting fish to accept it.

For a deep sand bed, you want to use Sugar size or oolite sand. You do not want any sand sifting fish in this setup. Some Nassarius snails are great in this case to mix up the top layer of sand. It does settle down when the bacteria colonizes and weighs it down. Still, in a high flow area, it will have a tendancy to blow around.

I ran a DSB in my 75G with very good results. Only problem is my 75 is fairly heavy stocked and ended up with some Red Slime. It is very hard to siphon anything out without making a mess. So, with my new 180G setup, I went with 2" of Seaflor Select so siphoning can easily be done if necessary and be able to keep some sand sifters. I also have a remote DSB plumbed into my system to use the benefits of that and if any problems arise with it, I can easily take it offline and not have any ill affects on my display tank.

Crushed Coral
 

I had to cover my medium grade sand with crushed coral to keep the sand staying on the bottom of the tank.

My twin spot was the reason I went with a finer sand in my display tank. I was worried about the coarseness of the Aragamax Select. It is the 1-2mm stuff that I've got, and it is just so coarse. If yours can handle it, maybe I'll think about swapping it out. I do have some sand in the water column.

Am still using sugar size sand in my high flow SPS system. The system is 110 galling long tank w/6 power head 4 evo 4 koralia + 2 tunze 6045 modified + 2 clown fish + 2 wrasse. Does it work yes! Would I do use sugar size sand again no. I used it because I like the look!*
I do get the occasional controlled sand storm, but it never seem to bother the SPS, I always have full polyp extension even with the sand storm.