Substraight......

[mysterysnail]

Hey all,

I'm hoping this will be my last question for the set up portion of the tank.

So Currently I have a few FW tanks on the go. 2 of them have the carribsea eco complete African cichlid sand and I LOVE the look of the salt & pepper sand, plus it buffers my PH to around 8-8.1

Now that I'm setting up my SW tanks, I'm torn on what to use for the sub straight. I don't know how well the salt and pepper would hold up to reef lighting, as well as fish and invert colouration..... but I find the plain white sand sooooo boring.
Now I know I could mix aragonite sand with filtersand to still get the buffering, but want something unique but natural if that makes sense?

Any thoughts on substraight. What do you use, would you use it again if you did a rebuild?

[DrReefer]

You want to stay away from planted tank substrate , they will promote algae growth and you do not want those additives in your reef. From past experience , My first tank was Fiji pink and it was a PITA even with very crappy power heads. If I would have one pump move a centimeter it would create a sandstorm covering up my rocks and corals. On my second build I used CaribSea Seafloor special grade and I now have very high flow with 2x wave maker pumps and a strong return and I can't get it to move. Your sand will color up in time so don't worry about the white look. Don't forget to wash your sand until water runs clear trough it and this should help with exporting the silicate that will fuel your diatom bloom in the cycle.

[mysterysnail]

Thx DrReefer,
To my knowledge the Eco complete African sand is not planted tank substraight. Its a mix of black and white aragonite sand which buffers ph to 8.1, its also a larger grain then the aragonite white sand version so hopefully no tornado. I'm leaning more and more towards the black/white sand..... worth a try

[goldfish]

Just email caribsea and ask them. They will tell you what's what for sure. Then you'll know. No need to start of on the wrong foot if you can make a phone call or email.

[mysterysnail]

So i found a few posts on other forums which said the sand is ok. Went ahead a bought 50 lbs of it to try it out. Personally i love the look. Will post pick in a new tank build post soon