Live sand or not?

[drj1259]

Ok I have a 55 gal tank with one GSP in it. When I first set up the tank i used standard gravel as substrate but I am trying to get eveything right for my GSP and since the gravel is bringing down my ph to around 7 should i completely get rid of the gravel and go with a sand substarte to increase the ph and if i do it that way should i get live sand since i will be getting rid of the bacteria? Should I just use a ph buffer? or should i just keep the gravel? LPS said to just get rid of gravel and put live sand in but wanted to see what you guys had to say before i did it

[c333davis]

Be aware that many LFS will tell you whatever gets you to buy more from them.

Also, "live" sand in a bag on a LFS shelf is rarely still "live". If you choose to go with sand that's truly live, get it from another aquarium owner's healthy, established tank that has the same salinity that you want for yours.

I'll leave the pH questions for one of the more experienced puffer owners...

[bigfatfish]

I too have a 55 with a single GSP. I changed the gravel to sand last year. Just did a straight switch with aragonite sand. Don't worry about getting anything that calls itself "live", chances are it won't be! Just get a bag of aragonite sand & it will be fine & help stabilize at the correct pH.

[Dadof4]

Do not buy the live sand. Any sand that is in a bag on a shelf is not live. What makes it live is when you add live rock and it seeds the sand. If your SG isn't greater than 1.018 the forget about adding anything marine to the tank be cause it will have a difficult time surviving and will cause nothing but headaches for you in the long run. If you do go to a marine tank then all you need is Argonite sand, crushed coral, or a mix for substrate.

Don't worry about the pH it's not actually bad. Fish will adapt to a stable pH with out problems. Messing with the pH will generally cause issues. Adding pH buffers causes drastic up and down changes that can really stress a fish and cause health problems.

[drj1259]

ok i will probably just keep it as is for now and then when the puffer matures a little more and i have a little more money i will just switch it to full marine....but when i switch it to full marine will it cause the tank to re cycle since i will be switching substrate if so should i slowly swicth out substrate over a period of time to reduce the stress??

[Dadof4]

Well, it's not quite that simple. The main biologic filtration for a marine tank is the live rock (LR) in the tank and the sump and for mechanical filtration you have the sump pre-filter and skimmer. When you decide to go to marine conditions, make a plan on how to do it, map it out over the course of a few months. First thing that should be done is to acquire LR and start curing it. When you buy the LR add the sump to the tank, I do this early to make sure I have the sump set up the way I want it and that it runs smooth. I like to have a built in refugium area in the sump, with a sand bottom, that I add LR rubble to later. Now, when the LR is cured you have two choices. First (and best IMHO) is to set up a small tank and move the GSP and current filtration to it. Drain the display tank and start from scratch, remove the gravel, add the sand, and then fill it (fill the tank over an upside down dinner plate, less dust in the water) and start the sump. To the sump I add some cheese cloth stuffed with cotton pillow fill to help remove the dust (cheap and easy, make sure it chemical free). Give it a few days to settle and then add the LR being careful not to expose it to air for more than a few seconds. Let the tank settle again and the LR sit in the tank for a while with no skimmer running. I feed the LR a microvert food during this time and add some sort of fish flesh to the tank (a piece of shrimp) just for the sake of it...The second method is to bring the tank to a marine SG and then try to do the above with a full tank. The first way takes longer and adds one more tank to the mix but it's much easier.