How much sand do I need

[ReefRian]

I will be starting my FOWLR tank within the next couple months. I have a 65gal, 36" long, 23" deep, and 18" wide. I was thinking of stopping by Home Depot to pick up some Southdown and was wondering how many pounds do you think I need for a 3 or 4 inch deep bed? I was figuring to get about 1" of live sand to help seed the Southdown. Do you have any recomendations where I could or should get it? I do not know anyone (a friend) who I can get some from, so I will need to buy it somewhere.

 

[HistroHistro]

Here is how I figure this out...

Live Sand weighs approximately 70 pounds per 1 cubic foot or 1728 cubic inches. This equals .041 pounds per cubic inch. South Down should have a similar number but I have not verified this as of yet.

In your situation you have a length of 36 inches and a width of 18 inches. Equal to 648 square inches = w x l.

3 inch depth = 648 x 3 x .041 = 79.7 pounds
4 inch depth = 648 x 4 x .041 = 106.3 pounds

width x length x sand depth x weight/cubic inch = pounds required.

These are approximate numbers and I hope that they help you with your project.

 

[Anonymous]

I have always used the calculators over at Reef Central for figuring out how much sand. http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/