sump substrait

[mupwi]

I am planing on adding a sump to my system to increase water volume.
I am planing on puting either beach sand crushed coral or both in to house extra bacteria which option would be best?

 

[sweetnsour]

if you planning on running a Deep sand bed , dont use either of them, just buy regular old playsand and wash it very well.

i have used beach sand for my DSB before and it didnt work well at all. you need a fine substrate preferably like aragonite oolitic shaped.

 

[Evo R]

Aragonite is your best bet, but very costly.
Play sand is just as good but remember to wash it till the water is crystal clear.....then wash it again just to be safe!

 

[mupwi]

what is Aragonite made of

 

[mupwi]

sorry should have just googeled it

 

[mupwi]

unfortunately the budjet for the tank is already blown for the month so it will have to be beach sand (free) or crushed coral (free) was given about 20kg's of the stuff from a friend who is no longer runing his tank

 

[sweetnsour]

the playsand is about R30 for a 20kg bag

 

[Goby]

much better to spend the 30 buckazoids for the playsand. You can by it from reggies, crazy plastics, even baby boom sells it.

If you really that toit on money rather wait till you can buy. Like sweetnsour said beach sand is pretty useless. Remember the DSB is gonna be there for a long long time, and no use to waste time with the beach sand.

 

[inflames]

Agreed with all the advise! Playsand at R30 is not gonna break the bank...maybe the water bill after rinsing it will though!

Used Playsand in sump and in DT..works great...just wash it very well!

 

[Ash]

Be careful with crushed coral. Coral skeletons aren't pure calcium carbonate but rather a composite of minerals. As it slowly dissolves in your system it'll help Ca levels but also add phosphates.