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Suzy 
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 Topic: Live Sand
Posted: August 01 2003 at 9:18am |
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Hi, WMAS People! I need your opinions. I am starting a small 20 gal specimin tank. I want to have the most critters for the space in our sand. What do you think is the best medium: Fine or Coarse?
Edited by Suzy
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John Fletcher
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Posted: August 01 2003 at 9:28am |
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Fine to medium. Coarse is too big.
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John Fletcher
20 years experience
(Tank of the Month for May 2003)Taking a little break...
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: August 01 2003 at 9:41am |
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Fine.
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scroll
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Posted: August 01 2003 at 10:05am |
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I have 80lbs of medium I am getting rid of let me know what you go with.$30 ca sea
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just my 3 cents shy of a nickel. Ryan 897-2000
1 125 gallon reef
1 120 gallon reef tank and stand custom built by MSM
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SSpargur
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Posted: August 01 2003 at 10:07am |
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definitely fine, maybe a layer of medium on top.
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: August 01 2003 at 1:52pm |
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I'd say course, but I'm in the minority. And by course I don't mean like rubble, but like crushed coral or crushed aragonite size.
Adam
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Suzy
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Posted: August 02 2003 at 7:25am |
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Hi, Guys! Adam, why do you say coarse? Are you thinking best for critters? I want tons o' copepods and worms and crawly things in this tank. I know filtering capabiliy is important, and with a smaller tank, less depth is nice. But I think a water change on a 20 will be no big deal. 20 % is 4 gals!!
I think fine would look nicer, less needed and less space taken, but I would sacrifice that for more critters....
Thanks everybody!!!
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: August 02 2003 at 9:09am |
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I do think that course substrate does allow for more critters.... I certainly could be wrong. It just seems more logical to me in terms of copepod breeding, and hatching availability.
When in doubt just go with the tried and true crushed coral or crushed aragonite. You know it works.
Adam
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tomason
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Posted: August 02 2003 at 9:28pm |
A little while back, Jake posted a couple sand bed articles. One of them talked about how much denser the live among the fine sand and mud is than the courser sands. So perhaps you could get more bang for your buck if you used fine sand. However, Adam's comment makes sense too. One thing I've noticed in my tank with the standard CaribSea special grade reef floor crushed aragonite coarse sand whatever it's called (you know what I mean) is that the little copepods and amphipods are small enough to crawl in and around the particles of sand (except for the bigger amphipods, etc.). It's like an extensive tunnel network with TONS of surface area for living and breeding. In fine sand, they'd have to do a lot more burrowing and otherwise create the surface area they need (more energy expended working, so less energy for mating, right?). So for these particular critters, I think the coarser stuff would be better. The soft-bodied worms probably don't like the big jagged pieces as much though. Just a computer nerd trying to think about biology....  -Tom
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tomason
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Posted: August 02 2003 at 9:41pm |
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One more thing about the "copepod breeding" thing Adam mentioned:
One of the key components of a successful high-density copepod culture is plenty of surface area for them to perch on. They like that. Here's a link:
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/hatchery-feeds/hfa-02a.html
Of course, this is just for copepods, not just critters in general (though it may be applicable to others too, I don't know).
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Suzy
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Posted: August 03 2003 at 6:59am |
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Thanks! You guys really know your stuff! I think I'll use the best of both. A layer of fine on the bottom, with a layer of coarse on top.How deep would you make the layers? Maybe an inch each? Does anybody have any good copepod/wormy/crawly seed sand I could trade for some 'shrooms?
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: August 05 2003 at 3:37pm |
Wise choice Suzy. Of course you plan to use Utah Aragonite Rock, don't you! Fish cannot get to all the critters living in the pores and mini caves of the rock. The critters breed like crazy in there! One of the observations I would like to make in this regard is that, in my 10 gal mini, I have a fat Mandarin! You won't hear anyone else say that a mandarin will survive in a 5 month old, 10 gal tank! 
Edited by Mark Peterson
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Diverdan
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Posted: August 05 2003 at 3:48pm |
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Suzy,
I have some 4 inches crushed coral in my refugium that is stocked full of pods. I would be happy to trade for shrooms. I just set up a 15 gallon in my office that needs corals.
Call me at 558-0719 to set something up if you like. I can throw some sand in a bag and bring it you. I am going out of town Thursday for a week and a half, so call me soon!
Rich
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75 Gallon Reef
15 Gallon Reef
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