No such thing as a cheap DSB, unless you are lucky

[Jack]

Not sure if this is in the right forum, but didn't seem like a Reef one

Well, the title says it all. Cheap DSB's are only for those lucky Southdown dudes. I have a bunch of beautiful live rock on a bare tank floor, and I'm just curious what you guys used. I have moved from fishonly to soon-to-be reef, and I am just wondering cause this will be a "one time" purchase and I don't want to screw up.

I really like the olitic sugar sand, I like the look of it, but should I add some bigger diameter substate? Sugar sand 30lbs for 39$ at JL. Super reef sand is 55$ for 40lbs. What should the ratio for the sand bed be? Meaning sugar sand to reef sand? On reef central the sandbed calculator says 225 lbs for a 4 inch bed of sand for my 120 gallon tank. 60' long 18' wide. Thanks guys, I'm just unsure, I want some direction.

Any tips, cons, or pros to these substrates?

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Umm...well, it is really up to your pocket book. The best and most recommended way is to use the Caribsea stuff (oolic sand). The second is Southdown and a third is sandblasting sand (mesh 100 to 200). There is also dolomite...but that's for thrill seekers -- there's a big thread on that stuff about a month ago.

Personally, if I was to do my DSB again, I would try to figure out a way to use crush oyster shells and crush it in to sand. That would yield a fairly safe media with the right grain size at a reasonable price.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

[titus]

Hello Jack,

Just exactly how many lbs of sand do you want?

[Jack]

Hey Titus, well, I want 225lbs of sand.

[titus]

Hello,

That's less than 5 bags of 50lbs sand. Did you talk to JL or somebody about getting it cheaper?