Suggestions for my deep sand bed?

[vwelter]

Anyone know if something called "Arag-alive" is any good? They have the following:

Fiji Pink Sand
#0 Extra Fine .5-1 mm

or
Special Grade Sand
#1 Fine 1-2 mm;

Also...how do I figure out how much I need? My tank is 48" long by 15" deep..I was thinking about 3-4" sand bed depth...does that sound adequate?


Thanks

 

[royy]

This sand is live in the way that it provides beneficial bacteria. What you really want is live sand with little critters in it too, pods and stuff. You would need to mail order this because there are not too many stores that have it on hand, unless you live in Florida or on the gulf coast. What you could also do is by dry sand, or dead sand, and seed it with live sand from other tanks or with a detrivore kit from Indo Pacific Sea Farms. I would go to Home Depot and try to find Southdown sand and then seed it with one of the methods mentioned above. If you use Southdown you will need about 3 bags to get 3 to 4 inches.

Good luck,
Roy

 

[Anonymous]

The smaller grain size you have, the more surface area will be available to beneficial bacteria.

Dr. Ron Shimek is the guru of sandbeds.

 

[Reefguide]

royy Where in Florida can you get LS w/ critters?

 

[aquarist=broke]

Also...how do I figure out how much I need? My tank is 48" long by 15" deep..I was thinking about 3-4" sand bed depth...does that sound adequate?

http://www.purearagonite.com/sandbed.html This link goes to a handy little sandbed calculator...