From Coral to Sand...

When we bought our current tank it came with a thick layer of crushed coral. H has been slowwwwly removing the coral, it's at about 1/4 inch right now.

We have been wanting to replace it with sand for a long time, and I think we will do it soon. I want a bright white sand, what sand do you recommend for something bright and something that won't blow around too much?

How to you think we should go about replacing? I have read some other posts on the topic, but I think out tank size and 3+ year old crushed coral make this kind of a unique situation (aren't they all?).

Also, what is the best way to wash the sand?

 

I'm sitting in the same boat as you are right now but what I am doing is taking portions out and add sand to that portion that I removed to keep stability for rock work. Then to seed the sand I left some CC for texture and put about 2lbs in naked pantyhose and have it sitting in the tank for a week so far.

 

bump... need same advise.

 

I have always used aragonite sand, and it is nice and white. As I recall Petsmart carries a common brand.

The grain-size I have used is the "Seafloor Special" grade. It can get blown around, but you would have to be trying pretty hard to do so.

To rinse it, I just put it in a 5g bucket with water running into it. Stir, decant frequently, and continue until my arm falls off. It almost never becomes perfectly clean, but, the skimmer does a pretty good job with the leftover "dust."