Creating "mixes substrate"

[Anonymous]

I have mixed crushed coral and sand in my reef. I like the look of sand better.

Can I just lay down a layer of crushed coral and then overlay that with a layer of fine sand to give a burrowing animal a mixed substrate, while allowing the rest of the tank to have the overall look of uniform fine sand? Or is that not really a mixed substrate?

 

[Omni2226]

Well if you arent planning on egineer goby type creatures just sprinkle a small amount of the cc and rake it in to where you cant see it.

I have cc on top and am thinking of using a small strainer to take most of it back out I like the look of the sand better myself.

 

[Anonymous]

I like the look of sand too, but I'm thinking of a shrimp goby with pistol shrimp or possibly a jawfish. I think they prefer some coarser particles in the mix to create a better burrow.

 

[Meloco14]

When you mix fine sand with crushed coral you will find that over time the crushed coral will end up on top. This is fine, and actually better for bio filtration. I have this situation in both of my tanks and it seems to work fine. The gobies have a selection of larger crushed coral on the surface to work with, while the fine sand is a better denitrifier and home to various worms. In my 55, I have this mix on the two ends of the tank, where my two rock structures are. My yellow watchman lives in one of the rock structures and creates a little bit of a burrow with the larger particles. The middle of the tank is mostly fine sand, my attempt at a sandy lagoon area, and occasionally the watchman will hunt in this area. He can take a bite of the fine sand and sift it through his gills, which he can't really do with the larger crushed coral. So this mix seems to work out well for him. HTH