reccomend Southdown alterative
- Thread starter Craig
- Start date
yeahcheetah
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Long Island
- Location
- Wallingford, CT
I don't consider the ESV sand to be a good alternative. I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry I switched to this ESV. It looks beautiful when it first goes in the tank, and then it turns into a crappy looking I don't know what to compare it to.
- Location
- poughquag, ny
sand
i have a 100 lb's of the evs in my tank, i agree awi, but it is sand and isnt going to stay super bright white. i would say the main down fall to the evs is that the lower level of sand harden's like cement. ive had it in my tank for 5 or 6 months now and i go through and break the bottom sand up. mine is staying pretty clean though, but i also have a huge clean up crew, 3 sand sifting star's to help keep it mixed around 50 nas snails and 50 crab's and 20 huge mexican turbo's. first pic from set-up and second pic from a month ago
i have a 100 lb's of the evs in my tank, i agree awi, but it is sand and isnt going to stay super bright white. i would say the main down fall to the evs is that the lower level of sand harden's like cement. ive had it in my tank for 5 or 6 months now and i go through and break the bottom sand up. mine is staying pretty clean though, but i also have a huge clean up crew, 3 sand sifting star's to help keep it mixed around 50 nas snails and 50 crab's and 20 huge mexican turbo's. first pic from set-up and second pic from a month ago
Attachments
- Location
- poughquag, ny
sand
the top 2" of mine is still fine. but if using i would say after a few months to put hand's down in tank and feel for hardened area's and break it up. im happy with it over all
the top 2" of mine is still fine. but if using i would say after a few months to put hand's down in tank and feel for hardened area's and break it up. im happy with it over all
For me it is impossible to put my hands down in my DT, most of it is covered by lr & corals. My sand bed is only 2", with loads of nassarius, a couple of fighting conch, 1 sandsifter(the other one found it's way into my Iwaki, and became sushi), quite a few turbos, hermit crabs, 3 tile starfish, and a knobby starfish aside from the shrimps and gobies. And still the sand bed is dirty looking. My old southdown was so sweet looking,and full of live. It looked like the sand on the beach.
If southdown ever becomes available again, I will switch in a heart beat.
Nice looking tank NYreefNoob!
If southdown ever becomes available again, I will switch in a heart beat.
Nice looking tank NYreefNoob!
scarf_ace1981
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Juan, PR
i hate ESV. it's the ugliest thing i've ever seen. no offense to any. i prefer fine pink fiji sand
- Location
- poughquag, ny
evs
i know some of the member's had problems initially with this sand. not sure how long most kept it in their tank before they took it out or how long they have had it and still do. like i said other than the clumping and after breaking it up i havent had any problem's. but this is just my personal experiance with it
i know some of the member's had problems initially with this sand. not sure how long most kept it in their tank before they took it out or how long they have had it and still do. like i said other than the clumping and after breaking it up i havent had any problem's. but this is just my personal experiance with it
yeahcheetah
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Long Island
What about the Caribsea live sand? it's about $1/lb. The price doesn't seem bad.
scarf_ace1981
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Juan, PR
i'd pick caribsea over ESV any day
yeahcheetah
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Long Island
Yesterday I was still asking for ESV, this thread totally changes my mind.
- Location
- Ossining, NY
All sand that is Calcium or carbonate based (Carib Sea aragonite [all sizes] and ESV Carbonate) ALL run the risk of hardening when put into a new reef.
What stops the sand from "binding" and "soaking" is bacteria that surounds the surface of the particles - this is the very same thing that happens when soaking in ALK in a previous thread about sand soaking up all the ALK in their tank. All sand does this until it gets coated.
The key is to not dose the life out of your tank until it matures and is ready for animals and dosing. There are reasons to let your tank live through the life cycle and let the sand bed mature - note the following story:
***About 3 yrs ago, I helped a friend break down his 75g reef in preparation for his new 92. He is a plenum guy, so, it made life a little easier when the sand hardened like tonga shelf. He had the tank for about a 1.5 yrs and dosed like crazy as he wanted to keep hard corals. About 6 months into it, he started getting really bad hair algae and it was uncontrollable. After we broke his tank down, we realized the reason behind his algae problem was the fact that his plenum wasn't doing it's job - no surprises there because his sand bed was solid like a rock - this made it impossible for the plenum to operate correctly. He is a strick Carib Sea user.
I spent the day yesterday freaked as my tank is full of ESV and Carib Sea. My tank has been up for approx 2 months and I am not experiencing any more clumping than usual at this time in the cycle - certiainly, NOTHING hardening.
I would be curious to hear what steps each user took who is experiencing hardening - my hypothesis is that dosing too early on (even before the appropriate clean up crew are in there) is one of the culprits and, again, will happen to any calcium/carbonate based sand.
Just one reefers opinion.
House
What stops the sand from "binding" and "soaking" is bacteria that surounds the surface of the particles - this is the very same thing that happens when soaking in ALK in a previous thread about sand soaking up all the ALK in their tank. All sand does this until it gets coated.
The key is to not dose the life out of your tank until it matures and is ready for animals and dosing. There are reasons to let your tank live through the life cycle and let the sand bed mature - note the following story:
***About 3 yrs ago, I helped a friend break down his 75g reef in preparation for his new 92. He is a plenum guy, so, it made life a little easier when the sand hardened like tonga shelf. He had the tank for about a 1.5 yrs and dosed like crazy as he wanted to keep hard corals. About 6 months into it, he started getting really bad hair algae and it was uncontrollable. After we broke his tank down, we realized the reason behind his algae problem was the fact that his plenum wasn't doing it's job - no surprises there because his sand bed was solid like a rock - this made it impossible for the plenum to operate correctly. He is a strick Carib Sea user.
I spent the day yesterday freaked as my tank is full of ESV and Carib Sea. My tank has been up for approx 2 months and I am not experiencing any more clumping than usual at this time in the cycle - certiainly, NOTHING hardening.
I would be curious to hear what steps each user took who is experiencing hardening - my hypothesis is that dosing too early on (even before the appropriate clean up crew are in there) is one of the culprits and, again, will happen to any calcium/carbonate based sand.
Just one reefers opinion.
House
- Location
- Rego Park, Queens
I have used both ESV and Southdown, and I honestly cannot tell the difference between the two. Over the years, both my reef tanks have acculmulated a mix of both, with the lower light reef being almost half Southdown. It looks fine to me...after all, after a few weeks the sand gets quite lively and acculumates pieces of coraline, other algaes, etc. I have never experienced clumping either. Why is Southdown unavailable? If I needed to set up a new tank, if Sd isn't around, I'd just use ESV again. Take care, Eric
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