Sand or arragonite for DSB?

Tobes

Tobes

Retired Moderator
Joined
30 Nov 2007
Posts
9,481
Reaction score
119
Location
A Beautiful place!
Hi guys, want to add another tank as a 2nd refugium to increase water volume and breed some extra goggas. I got sand from the west coast - very fine, finer than salt/sugar - can I use it for a deep sand bed, if yes, how deep? Got some arragonite as well, which is best for DSB? Cheers
 
Hi Tobes - my personal opinion is that the sea sand should be 100%.... there are most likely people who strongly believe in using only aragonite, but there I would think that there would be NO reason in why you could NOT use the sea sand....
The only thing is - I believe strongly that you should have slightly different grain sizes for the sand, as different "goggas" need different grain sizes for the substrate....

Hope this helps...
 
jacquesb said:
Hi Tobes - my personal opinion is that the sea sand should be 100%.... there are most likely people who strongly believe in using only aragonite, but there I would think that there would be NO reason in why you could NOT use the sea sand....
The only thing is - I believe strongly that you should have slightly different grain sizes for the sand, as different "goggas" need different grain sizes for the substrate....

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...

Can I mix some aragonite with the sand then? How deep?
 
Thanks man!
 
Tobes, you live close enough to the ocean :p Make a trip up the north coast to a secluded unpopulated spot along the coast and get yourself some premium live sand. Something us okes in Kby can't get
 
cybervic said:
Tobes, you live close enough to the ocean :p Make a trip up the north coast to a secluded unpopulated spot along the coast and get yourself some premium live sand. Something us okes in Kby can't get
Click to expand...

I know the sand at the west coast is fairly clean - no one lives there... Where at the north coast is the best sand collecting spot? Come on fellow reefers in KZN, help a newbie out here! All I don't want is someone's oil or left overs from a shark attack in my tank!!!!! :nono:
 
jacquesb said:
I agree completely with you, Midasblenny....
There has been NO proof at all that aragonite has ANY benefits to a marine tank, other than aesthetic value...
Click to expand...

I was told it is a good PH buffer.......?
 
Tobes said:
I was told it is a good PH buffer.......?
Click to expand...

Midasblennie would know, he is some mad scientist type dude and knows his shit.:thumbup::thumbup:

so if he says so I would tend to agree with him, besides beach sand from under the low tide mark close to rocks, works a charm for me

MidasBlennie in his lab

 
Where would you suggest the best spot is to get this sand? Is the sand good there by Warner beach where Millepora surfs?:thumbup:
 
sorry dun know that area, in pe yes, durban? no.;)
 
No, mille wee's in the water too much :p

I collected from Doonside once, looked fairly clean to me, but then I have no idea if there are any sewerage outlets there.
 
Tobes said:
Hi guys, want to add another tank as a 2nd refugium to increase water volume and breed some extra goggas. I got sand from the west coast - very fine, finer than salt/sugar - can I use it for a deep sand bed, if yes, how deep? Got some arragonite as well, which is best for DSB? Cheers
Click to expand...

The answer to your question "which is better" is an unequivocal aragonite. The debate around buffering...is yes it does buffer....but how effectively....the answer...better than silica. Read about the pros and cons and the final conclusion...aragonite costs more...but the use of silica is a compromise.

The question regarding sea sand...you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that most waste as it goes thru the cycle floats and eventually gets washed up on the beach. Its like journeys end....
Sewerage is the least of your concerns. My two biggest concerns would be storm water run off (countless km of street industrial and residential) And farming..... Fertilizers and pesticides. All rain water will eventually end up in the sea, percolated not by rolling grasslands, but by heavily fertilized monocultured crops.

So if you do go this route(sea sand) go way out to sea....not meters....kilometers
 
"I was told it is a good PH buffer.......?"


It buffers yes, but as for “good” Not enough to be significant or of much benefit really.
I do agree with Sunburst and would still use fine aragonite over beach sand any day.
 
IMO, Aragonite is only better if you neglect taking into consideration the important factor of price. But then again, if you drive to the coast, it might end up costing the same as just buying the aragonite.
 
You could still buy playsand though if you're inland. (and I don't mean PMB Viper :p) It won't have any buffering capacity etc but it would still function as a DSB if seeded correctly.
 
Rory said:
You could still buy playsand though if you're inland. (and I don't mean PMB Viper :p) It won't have any buffering capacity etc but it would still function as a DSB if seeded correctly.
Click to expand...

How do you "seed" the sand? Or does it get seeded in time?
 
You try get some sand from an unpolluted area of the sea ideally. However most of us settle for crushing some live rock on it. Also getting some from other people (where it has been there a while) is helpful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom