Shingle or Sand

Reaper

Reaper

Joined
15 Jun 2007
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Location
Kuilsriver - Western Cape
Hey guys,

I'm moving one of these days, and thought I'd do some mods to my setup, since I had to take down everything.

Current setup:
1.5 meter with closed canopy on a 2 meter stand
4 x t5's (2 blue and 2 white)
Small sump (about 450l x 450w x 500h) - Intake compartment with heater, small refugium, return pump compartment (with pump for uv)

In the main display:
2 x Clowns (pair)
1 x Manderin
1 x Powder Blue
Frogspawn
Brain
Star Polyps
Sand Nennie
Pin Cusion
Getting (hopefully, hehe - come on Hill!) Zoo's and Green Mushroom
Lotsa LR
Substrate: Shingle

Changes:
I'm adding another sump, about 1.4 meter, not deep tho, but adequite.
Adding the existing diy skimmer into 1st sump, no longer direct intake. Having a gravity feed to the new sump, where I'll have a bigger refugium, a dsb (as deep as I can get with the hight of the sump), and the return pump.

I'm also getting an RO, which I want to rig to an auto topup system from the garage

Now, the biggest question. What to do with the substrate? Have shingle now, but don't like the look of it too much, wanted to go sand only, but afraid it might get too dirty too soon, and with the depth I need, it will go toxic at the bottom. Aragonite too expensive (unless I find a donor, ;) ). Should I add shingle at the bottom and sand on top? Won't it get mixed too quicly? Maybe I should take out the glass lips in the tank that supported the egg crating. That's why I have to go deep substrate, to cover this lip, about 7 cm high... Don't like bare bottom either, not a natural look.

What do you okes think, and before everyone asks, yes I'll post pics as soon as I'm done moving and all is in place.
 
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you can get playsand at reggies for R40 per 8kg bag... I just ordered 10 bags and going to use that.... Viper is using some and think he said Mille has used it for years so I guess it will be ok...
 
OK i'm not arguing with you. :surrender: I am to scared to put anything from the beach into my tank as you never know what's in it. Especially in Richards Bay - there is always a story about some big factory dumping stuff into the pipeline that they not ment to be. But maybe in your area it's different.....
 
SIMS said:
OK i'm not arguing with you. :surrender: I am to scared to put anything from the beach into my tank as you never know what's in it. Especially in Richards Bay - there is always a story about some big factory dumping stuff into the pipeline that they not ment to be. But maybe in your area it's different.....
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:lol: wasnt arguing either :lol: ive collected mines at a deserted beach in margate,didnt have any negative impacts on my system.in your case,yes i wouldnt trust the sand ;)
 
:lol: Sims, Mekaeel, lovely little tit tat

Can we get back to sand now?:razz: (just kidding)

So sea sand should be fine... Got lotsa stuff in my system from the sea. Just now to figure out how deep is too deep, and would syphoning actually pull out the sand also? Dont want to change and then it ends up looking worse than now
 
I would toss the shale and use live sand collected from a gully or rockpool at low tide, try and get sand from under water as it has more life. The fauna is different from a sandy beach and not as suitable as that from a rocky shore area. Ideally collect from several different areas to get a diversity of goggas.
When I collected mine I tried to keep the sand from close to the surface separate from the sand from deeper down and place it in the same order in my tank but it doesn't matter too much as it all sorts itself out.
You also don't have to put it all in at once and can put it in over a week or so, adding a few cm's at a time.
 
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OK, I was actually talking about how deep is too deep for the main display, where I also want sand. I am however considering play sand, just don't have a Reggie's here in EL.

DSB, however, will be around 15 cm. Shouldn't the grain of the sand be coarser to the top?

Shingle: Crushed shells you find on beaches
 
Reaper in a DSB the grains should all be the same size around the sugar grain size, its the plenum that has the different grain sizes. If you have a remote DSB then the display should be kept to about 2cm depth. The shingle i would personally throw away, if used anywhere it tends to act as a detris trap.
 
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