Also looking for opinions on this live sand

Myanth · #1 02-16-2006, 02:40 AM

I guess my point was not clear. The live sand I purchased was a waste of money. As I understand, the nitrosomas will not die unless frozen or boiled, but there are no inverts or antything in the live sand. Therefor, it will give you good bacterial growth but no "life" so to speak. That's why I had added a piece of liverock. I'm sure that's where the life came from.

And yeah.... it's like forever. I ran a hose into a 20 gal tank with it about a third full of sand, and with the hose running full force mixing the sand, rinsed for about an hour and a half, just overflowing the tank with milky water. It will eventually come clean.

Kryten · #2 02-16-2006, 05:59 PM

Thanks again. I'm planning to setup a small system ~20gal in my living room with minimal anything. I'm a fan of the theory that with enough live rock you don't need to do much to the tank, so I won't have a sump or fuge or any filters. Maybe just a small air-driven protein skimmer. I'm also not really planning to try and keep any particularly finicky corals.

I also have a 45 gal tank in my office that I want to switch to sand from the rough crushed coral (.5-1 cm) that I have now. So I guess the key to having sand then is to make sure you have just enough flow to not mess it all up? I don't really like the look of a tank with no substrate. What's the best grain size or type to use to maximize the bacterial filtration? Also am I best off going with a dsb of 4 inches or so, or is an inch or two sufficient?

Thanks!

Myanth · #3 02-16-2006, 06:03 PM

I used sugar sand, running 1200 gph through my sump and three 300 gph powerheads, I get some erosion patterns but they look natural and I like it, nothing becomes water-bourne (sp). All the finest particles were removed when rinsing or in the next week with a sponge in my sump.

Rinse rinse rinse.

Mike

Bartman · #4 03-03-2006, 03:06 AM

Regarding seeding live sand; has anyone tried GARF grunge and can comment on it?

Quagmire · #5 03-03-2006, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bartman

Regarding seeding live sand; has anyone tried GARF grunge and can comment on it?

I talked to them about 3 or 4 yrs ago,to see if I could get some.At that time they wouldn't ship accross the border.Maybe you may have better luck now.Try sending an Email to them.