Substrate decision

[naperenterprise]

What is DFS?

Originally Posted by prow

ahh cool. its like the deal they have with IO/RC salt shipping rates. geuss thats what happens when your one of, if not, the biggest pet retailer around. at least they pass the saving on to us. goto loce DFS. not sure if they have it listed or not but if not i bet they do have Oolitic or can get it for you no prob.

[tbittner]

Dr Foster and Smith. They are also LiveAquaria.

[tbittner]

I think what I'll end up doing is ordering 400 lbs of the aragamax and 400 lbs of the seaflor special grade and mixing them together. I know, that's 800 lbs, but that article says that BSJF prefer/need at least a 6" sand bed.

[tbittner]

.

[prow]

not postive but i dont think you need a 6" sandbed. 4" should do, thats 300lbs less sand or $300+ money left in the bank. i think others here with a BSJF have 4" sandbeds, dont qoute me on that. maybe this post will cause them chim in, hehehe

[tbittner]

And I'll also be putting the rock in first to it's resting on the glass, then I'll add the sand so the sand won't need to cover the entire bottom.

[kare-bear]

Thatpetplace.com has sand on sale right now. I had free shipping for orders over $100. Check it out. I just ordered 200lb. I did pay for overweight shipping but it was only $80.

[tbittner]

Ok, here is what I ended up ordering:

(5) 40 lb bags of the Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand - 200 lbs
(10) 30 lb bags of the Aragamax Sand - 300 lbs
(10) 40 lb bags of the Seaflor Special Grade - 400 lbs


That seems like the best of everything and it should satisfy even the pickiest of substrate dwellers AND give the aquarium pretty good buffering.

In this order, I also ordered (4) 160g IO/RC salt mix and 1 each of the 64 oz bottles of the phytoplankton and microvert food. Shipping for everything was $17.99

I have no idea how they do it but I'm not complaining...

[naperenterprise]

Wow! Shipping is GREAT!!!

[Jimw369]

I am not a fan of the sugar sized sand at all. It doesnt stay put and is easily blown around the tank. We are always cramming more and more LR and corals in our tanks making it harder to keep good flow to all areas and so we ramp up the powerheads and then the sand starts blowing around. Also if you tear any of these DSB apart with the sugar sized sand you will find the sand below 4" is all chunked up and no flow is going thru it at all. Maybe a DSB with a plenum is different dont know. Also the aragamax sand is a better buffer for the tank than the others. Pretty important too.

[elliottb]

How deep are you planning to have the sand bed? I have 200lbs in my 40 and it gave me a 5.5" DSB.

[tbittner]

My sand bed will be between 5 and 7 inches. Jim, that's the reason I bought the mixture. It's going to be all mixed together and it should prevent any kind of clumping. But the mix should be to the liking of a bunch of different sand living critters. All of the sands that I bought are Aragonite and should provide decent buffering and the aragamax will help to boost it just a bit more. I actually haven't had an issue with maintaining an 8.2 - 8.4 PH but I wanted to be sure I didn't after bringing the 450 online.

Oh yeah, and if I was planning on a DSB and the nitrate reduction they provide, then wouldn't you want the sand packed together as tight as it could be to protect the bacteria that develops deep in the bed? It should have very little flow deep down. At least, that is the way I understand for them to work.