Sand... which way to go

[Aqua Girl]

So, Im new to reef keeping and I will be buying an established 29g biocube tomorrow. With the cube, I will be inheriting a Royal Gramma, A blood shrimp, peppermint shrimp, and couple of smaller pieces of live rock. I plan on saving half of the original established water and will be ditching the sand that is already in there (at the advice of River city guy) and purchasing new sand. I'm going to trade in the fish and shrimp so that they dont get stressed while the tank and the sand particles settle.

My question is, if I plan on having lots of good live rock, do I need live sand? I was thinking a shallow sand bed. I know there is arguements going all directions about sand. No sand, shallow sand, deep sand. I do want sand, and this is a small aquarium. But do I need to go all in and buy the live sand? Fine sand or course sand?

Also, the live rock that is coming with the tank has full coverage of zoas. I would ultimately like to keep them and the rock that they are stuck to. I worry that once I bring them home in their bucket and set up the tank with the new sand, that the particles will not settle for a while. Would sticking them in this environment with the settling sand be a bad idea? If I have to trade them to keep them alive then I will but I would like to keep them for myself.

If I get a thicker grain of sand, allowing the particles to settle faster, then would it be ok to keep them? I just dont exactly know what to look forward to as far as settling time and whatnot. I want to prepare myself for the move bc I live in Cedar Park, not exactly close to an aquarium store. Ultimately my interest lies in the health of these animals.

Thanks in advance!

[+Jakedoza]

I have sugar sand in my tank.. There are goods and bads about it.. It really looks cool, and my gobys like it.. but it can also cloud the water quick when it gets stirred up.

Since you are buying a tank that was not yours. I would try to start as fresh as possible. The RCA guys are always helpful and do know what they are talking about.

[wa1tx]

I followed the recommendation of Jake at RCA and used CaribSea

Special Grade Reef Sand ( I think that is the name). Jake told me it was his best selling substrate. I have been really happy with it.

[Robb in Austin]

Particle size, IMO, is based on your preference and fish choices. In your case, grammas don't bury themselves so it's up to you.

Do not spend the money on "live" sand. It will become live on it's own.

The zoas won't be bothered by the sand storm.

If you want to sell the gramma, I'd be interested in him.

[Timfish]

I have nothing against deep sand beds but for aesthetic reasons I like a layer of about 1/2 inch. It looks brighter and cleaner (usually) than an algae covered bottom and I don't like the shortening effect of a deep sand bed on the "window" or the loss in the vertical viewing space of a tank plus there's the layer of algae on the glass below the sand. While Robb in Austin is right about dry sand I like using live sand for one I don't have to rinse it out like the dry products (yes I realize that makes me appear to be lazy) and in the case of moving a tank setup like you're doing it gives me a little added insurance the ecosystem won't crash.

I've moved lots of tanks like you're doing and don't worry about the detritus that's in the tank after the move bothering the animals. The sequence I typically use is:

1st - unplug pumps, heaters, lights, especially metal halides.

2nd - Syphon off 70% to 80% of the water into buckets. This is water I'm saving and doing this first insures there is a minimum of detritus in it. I do not disturb any of the rocks or try to catch any fish until after this done. The short amount of time corals and polyps are out of water does not bother them but metal halides can burn them so turn them off. You also want more buckets than what's needed to hold all the water. In your case 8 or 9 5 gallon buckets. This is to hold wet equipment and you may not want to fill the buckets all the way.

3rd - pull out the rocks that are being sved and put them in the buckets with saved water. I usually also designate a few gallons of water I've already saved or make up a couple of gallons of fresh saltwater to rinse the rocks off before putting them the buckets of clean saved saltwater.

4th - Catch the fish, shrimps, snails, etc.. It's a lot easier if there isn't much water and no rocks for them to hide in. The water can be pretty murky at this point so make a list ahead of time and count noses.

5th - dig out the sand. This is messy and sometimes smelly. Sand can be rinsed in saltwater and reused but it's a lot of work and I'd rather use new stuff like Jake said.

6th - Disconnect everything. This is when I will start pulling apart plumbing, yanking out equipment, tangling all the cords in a knot, etc.

7nth - load up, drive, unload. In this heat fish go into vehicle last and come out first.

8th - set up stand and tank and fill tank about halfway. If you're pretty good at "seeing" with your hands add sand at this point. If not then carefully put your rock in. I like to add sand first then put rock in but the water gets pretty murky and it may be impossible to see what you're doing when you start adding the rock. If you are very visually oriented you need to stack the rock first, it doesn't have to be perfect but it does need to be stable.

9th - add fish, corals, inverts and rest of the saved water. It's really a judgement call on your part if the zoa covered rock goes in the previous step or here.

10th - Untangle cords and hook up pumps and filters. Add water to top off the system. double check plumbing and turn on pumps and filters.

11th - Assuming no problems with step 10 plug in lights and any other equipment not yet hooked up.

Next Day - do a complete battery of water tests. PH and alk should be close to premove values. if there is a trace of ammonia (.02) I wouldn't worry about it. If it's .04 or higher I'd start looking at adding some cured liverock or sand from an established tank or live sand or some bacteria cultures (my last choice) to help deal with it.

Day 2 - If there was ammonia on day one test for it again. Depending on how the animals look I may or may not test everything else.

I would encourage you to get Sprung and Delbeeks "The Reef Aquarium" series especially Vol. 3. Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in Vol 3 cover in excellent detail water chemistry, filtration and lighting.

[DerrickH]

Sugar sand + acrylic tank = bad

I like plain ole dead argonite to start with. Some bacteria in a bottle and all set. Not too fine, not too coarse.

[Aqua Girl]

Thanks for all of your input. I actually ended up getting my tank today and it is all set up and looking awesome in my bedroom (still a little milky). I went with the light colored coarse argonite sand, about 20 lbs for my 29g biocube. I had 10lbs of live rock that had the zoas all over them that I traded for 20lbs of fresh live rock. The zoas really were kind of a bland color, and I figured that I could really add more of my own creativity if I started with a fresh canvas. The water that I re-used from the previous owner was in excellent condition although slightly higher than normal for salinity. The royal gramma has a new home at River City. I am sad to say that with all the stress with the move, one of the shrimp either shed or lost a few appendages maybe in a fight with the other shrimp we believe. He might still be able to make it but the prognosis is undetermined. I bought 10 hermit crabs to throw in the tank once it filters for a little while longer. I saw two of what I believe to be fire worms. They were super small, no longer than an inch long. Isn't there a debate on whether those are good or bad? I was also so thrilled when I saw two (itty bitty) starfish that somehow found themselves stuck to the glass amidst the sandstorm. Seeing those little guys made today's long adventure all worth it.

[Timfish]

Congradulations on your new addiction! The shrimp will regrow it's legs but it may take a couple of molts to get back to full size. I'm pretty sure what you got are generic bristle worms and not fire worms. Fire worms are a type of bristle worm but in 24 years of reef keeping I've never seen one and haven't talked to anyone who's gotten one. Bristle worms are scavangers and ubiquitous in reef tanks and some can get HUGE. If you don't like them take them out but beware the bristles break of in the skin and are quite irritating so don't handle them with bare hands. The starfish are almost certainly Asterina sp and while some people think they may prey on corals my experience is they are completely harmless and beneficial.

[Aqua Girl]

I feel like 20lbs of live rock just doesn't give the dimensional quality of height that I would like but its a good start. If I wanted to add more then I should probably do it now before I add fish right? I understand adding LR with fish already established, has the potential to create spikes in the water chemistry but all I really think I want is 10 more lbs to get it looking like I want.