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Turbosek

Substrate?

Rating: 2 votes, 4.50 average.
3 Comments
by
Turbosek
, 04-30-2010 at 02:45 PM (4146 Views)
I just bought some dry base rock from Reef Cleaners. Awsome looking stuff. I plan to add about 40# of live rock to the 200# of dry base rock...and take the time to seed/grow my own.

I asked them for suggestions on where to get substrate. They said to get Southdown from Home Depot, or visit local landscape companies to buy a yard of sand. I am sure people do this, but what are everyones' thoughts? I would obviously seed my sand with live sand from my existing tank.

Melev, I was going to order dry Tropical Eden, but everywhere seems to be out of it, and they want $200 just for shipping.

I plan on have about 1 to 1-1/2" depth of med-2mm SSB in my display tank, and then 5-6" of fine .5mm DSB in my 33x17x14 sump refugium. I know everyone says to do DSB in display, but I would rather have it in my sump.

I really want to ge tthis step right, as there is no going back when I add the sand and rock.

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Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    Premium Aquatics is the vendor I know carries Tropic Eden sand. Shipping rates and whether they have it in stock at the moment, I do not know. You can use other sands, such as Caribsea's various substrate grades. I really do prefer aquarium sand over something purchased from Home Depot. People have definitely saved money going that route, but complain about cloudy water and just about every time something disturbs the sand. Aquarium-prepped sand tends to be cleaner, both initially and long term.

    A DSB in the display is good because of the massive footprint compared to doing so in your sump, so keep in mind that you don't have the same volume, thus your system will be less forgiving. Especially since you plan to use lost of base rock and only a little live rock. It is going to require that you be very patient and not overload the system with livestock during the first 12 months.
  2. Grand Delusion's Avatar
    Not sure about Home Depot sand, I would be concerned about silicates and other bad ingredients.
  3. yiyi67's Avatar
    I have heard about people using the southdown sand from Home Depot as well with no issues, but the key is to use only this stuff because it is a true calcium carbonate media, most other sands are silicate based, which is a definite no no in reef tanks. I believe another name for the southdown stuff is Oldcastle sand. A buddy and I went around to a few Home Depots/ Lowes and everyone looked at us like we were crazy for wanting "special" sand because they had no idea there was a difference in sand. I think your best bet to find this stuff is going to a building supply place and talking to someone truly knowledgeable of their products.

    Once I couldn't semi-easily locate a source for this stuff I decided to go through Marco Rocks. There stuff is what is known as sugar fine sand. It is very nice stuff.