Sand Bed Advice

Okay...looking for some advice.

I'm starting a new 120 and I've got it all plumbed and ready for sand. During my research I came across several ideas for seeding my sand bed...

Wild harvested live sand (order at Marine Depot Live or another site)

or Wild Harvested and a Detritivore Kit from somewhere like inlandaquatics...

or Wild Harvested and small amount of Garf Grunge (for critters, etc) (plus maybe a detritivore kit if critters need a boost

or just add a lot of GARF grunge to my dry sandbed

anyone with any experience or thoughts?....


ThanksOkay...looking for some advice.

I'm starting a new 120 and I've got it all plumbed and ready for sand. During my research I came across several ideas for seeding my sand bed...

Wild harvested live sand (order at Marine Depot Live or another site)

or Wild Harvested and a Detritivore Kit from somewhere like inlandaquatics...

or Wild Harvested and small amount of Garf Grunge (for critters, etc) (plus maybe a detritivore kit if critters need a boost

or just add a lot of GARF grunge to my dry sandbed

anyone with any experience or thoughts?....

 

Any of those will work. The GARF grunge or just put several large raw shrimp in an old nylon and dumping then in your tank are all you really need.

The raw shrimp will cycle your tank and reate your bacteria and any good cured live rock will populate the sand with worms, amphipods, copepods, etc.

All depends on how much you want to spend.

 

Craig (and to all!) has anyone tried using sand harvested from the sea and not the shoreline? Is it legal there? I know LR harvesting is illegal, what about sand?

If anyone has tried it how did you do it? Scoop from a certain depth and drop into plastic bags or bottles?

Was it worth the effort?

 

All my sand is from the LFS.

 

[quote author=reiple link=board=Sand;num=1094710160;start=0#2 date=10/15/04 at 18:33:56]Craig (and to all!) has anyone tried using sand harvested from the sea and not the shoreline? Is it legal there? I know LR harvesting is illegal, what about sand?

If anyone has tried it how did you do it? Scoop from a certain depth and drop into plastic bags or bottles?  

Was it worth the effort?
[/quote]

My sand is from the water's edge. Brought it home wet. Works great for me. Most will say it's a big no no. But there are a billion variables involved and it's really conjecture on people's part as no one knows every single beach in the world and it's history.

I got it from a very nice secluded beach out here. Never had a major algae problem in 3 years. Just got some more recently for my new tank. Corals and inverts are great. But I can't advise that you do the same, that's really up to you to figure out if it's worth trying. All I can say is it's possible to do successfully.

 

hi Matt. Was there anything alive that came with it? like when you have new LR?

 

Tidal sand fleas. Haven't seen them since the first few days.
Bunch of little stuff on my glass probably from it, but nothing major.
Oh I do have a couple small bristle worms. Not sure where they came from.

 

ok. thanks for info. Might not be a good idea then as not much can be introduced in this manner.

 

Well I was just trying to introduce sand. [smiley=laughingsmiley.gif]

 

hehehehe. of course. it would be nice to increase biodiveristy in a dsb though.