need substrate help!!

i had issues with my fine sand blowing around constantly in my tank and always suspended in my water, so i got a bag of crushed coral and put a layer ontop of the sand and that solved the problem. but i may have created another problem. alot of threads say the crushed coral will become a trap for waste and will create nitrate issues down the road. do i need to scoop out the crushed coral(which i can and will do if need be) and instead find a heavier more coarse sand that will not blow around to put ontop of the fine sand. the stuff i used was sand from petco called natures ocean and it is powdery stuff. dont use!!

 

Crushed coral is more prone to harboring detritus, but it doesn't have to be problematic unless you don't maintain it. Vacuuming it might be in issue with the sand underneath, as sand and vacuums generally don't mix.

In the future, rather than weigh down sand to prevent it from moving about; you might consider changing the placement of your powerheads until they no longer blow the sand around.

Good luck.

 

i fiddled around with the powerheads for days. the sand was simply to fine to have any substantial amount of flow in the tank, and i need flow i want corals eventually and flow just benefits the tank in many ways. i would appreciate more input with this thread but i really think i need to scoop out the crushed coral and put a layer of a heavier sand instead. yes vacuuming sand would be an issue i would have a clean up crew to care for the sand. i think it would be better that way anyway putting tubing and disturbing the substrate vacuuming would just stress the fish further. i feel bad for my fire goby and clown because i constantly keep changing things around and have my arms in the tank. i will fix the substrate issue then hopefully leave my setup alone!

 

skiergd011013
how long has the tank been set up?
how deep is the original sand bed?
apart from the clown and goby what else is in the tank now?

because if its all relatively new and the original bed was not to deep
then a wide bore syphon tube could be used to syphon the whole lot out without to many issues IMHO

Steve

 

How fine is the sand? I know I responded to your other thread, but I have fine sand in my 55 and have lots of flow without any issues of sand clouding the water. Is it like powdered sugar or beach sand?

 

definitely powder sugar. i should have known something that fine will blow with any current. i just gotta make the best out of this and take it as a learning experience. im just going to use a scoop that can strain things out like the type you would use to get peas out of a pan, and scoop most of the crushed coral out, get some heavier kind of sand and think of a way to add it without creating a sand storm because i have to leave the fish and rock in the tank.i think if i just turned off all equip and had still water and maybe put the sand in a glass and lower it to the bottom then dump it i would have minimal sand in the water. a more coarse sand will just want to sink rather than swirl around in the water.