Stupid Newbi question: Live sand

[J-P]

Is it possible to take my black fluorite sand and turn it it into "live sand"? I have a few left over bags of the stuff and am eyeing a new tank at the moment.. it may / may not be my first SW set up if I can get it (the tank). I don't want to waste the sand if possible I'd like to use it for a FOWLR set up.

Any help would be appreciated

[xrayjeeper83]

I was told any sand in a SW tank will become LS if there is LR in the tank

[SammyDee]

+1 but the reason ppl use crushed coral/aragonite substrates it to raise the Ph to 8.2-8-4. It also keeps that ph stable. So I wouldnt recommend it. Just buy the cheap dry dead aragonite substrates and seed it with live rock.

[Mek0ng]

+1 on what other people said.

Aragonite is preferred but by no means necessary, some people like the look and there is no real problem in using it. Any FOWLR or reef is going to need some form of external buffering beyond just that of sand and rock to keep PH/alk/calc levels up (two part, kalk, etc), so the impact of using different types of sand is minimal.

[Pufferpunk]

I have very fine regular sand in my reef tank.

[Brandon8521]

I have very fine regular sand in my reef tank.

silica sand?

[Pufferpunk]

I'm not sure, got it from another reefer's tank. Very fine though, like sugar.

[Brandon8521]

Ahh ok cause i have silica playsand in my tank and was worried about getting aragonite sand but since my ph stays a constant 8.0 does it really matter right now if i have get it or not. How does your sand do when it comes to current blowing it around?

[SammyDee]

Yep I use the sugar grain sized sand too. Itll blow around, but ya just gotta tweak the powerheads a bit. Not really a big issue. I would recommend aragonite or crushed coral IMO bc its looks like marine substrate. Like brown looking sand is meant to be FW IMO. Marine tanks to me look alot nicer with the whiter substrates. And FW to me looks great with the natural brownish Sand to me. JMO

[Pufferpunk]

I have a Seaswirl & it is a 90g tank, so the flow doesn't disturb the sand at all. The Engineer goby, on the other hand...

[J-P]

I just double checked how much sand I have and only have enough for my 30 gal re-do

So it looks like I'll be ordering some.

Any depth requirements or advice?

[Mek0ng]

Its all really what technique you want to go with. You could go bare bottom, with no sand. -or- Shallow sand bed, to give the look of sand ~1", and vacuum it to keep debris from collecting. -or- Deep sand bed, 6" deep+

Do some research on the added benefits and drawbacks of each, there is no 'right' answer

[Brandon8521]

I have read that there is a no-mans land though. I beleive it was 2-4 inches. Where its not deep enough to be a DSP and just builds crap and is harder to keep clean. im sure someone else could probably explain more but just what i have read somewhere.

[SammyDee]

I have a Seaswirl & it is a 90g tank, so the flow doesn't disturb the sand at all. The Engineer goby, on the other hand...

PP you really need to make us a short vid of your tank. I bet you have some of the more interesting things than most....pease...

[Mek0ng]

I have read that there is a no-mans land though. I beleive it was 2-4 inches. Where its not deep enough to be a DSB and just builds crap and is harder to keep clean. im sure someone else could probably explain more but just what i have read somewhere.

Some people do a intermediate bed, 2-5", why? I have no idea... Its not deep enough to create an anoxic layer, and too deep to vacuum.