Substrate for new 30 gallon

Hi,

This is my 1st post, so thanks in advance to all responses!

I am setting up a 30 gallon tank (I won it in a drawing at the the convention held at Red Lion this winter...a bit slow to get it going).

It is an open tank, 24" (L) x 24" (W) x 12"(H),  which I am going to set up so people can "look down" into it.
I would like to stock it with pipefish & possibly seahorses.

Right now I am thinking of going with 4" depth, with mixed grain sizes:  1" of 5-10mm, 3" of 1mm & 1" of oolitic fine sand on top....
I was looking at the Tropic Eden Aragonite brand.
So it would be a hybrid of sorts (not quite a DSB or a Berlin).
I plan on having a sump with a small refugium and protein skimmer.

Any thoughts on my substrate ideas?  Or the brand of sand (Tropic Eden vs Caribsea vs Garf Grunge)?

Thanks!

Chris

If this is your first reef tank, I would strongly suggest giving yourself some experience on running a reef tank with simpler animals, before moving up to Seahorses. Also, the fun of looking down on Seahorses and fish doesn't last. They are not easily seen because they are thin. Looking sideways is much better. On the other hand, looking down on colorful coral and clams is awesome when the water surface is calm. Unfortunately a calm water surface is not healthy for the reef aquariums.

Any brand or type of aquarium sand will work but true Aragonite is best, no matter whether you bought it or went out west and collected it yourself. For more info about that, go to the WMAS Reefkeeping Tips thread linked in my sig line below.

FYI:
- a 4" substrate is considered a "DSB"(deep sand bed).
- it takes less Oolitic sand to do a more excellent biofiltration job than the same depth of larger sands.
- A 1" layer of larger grain sand on top of a 1" layer of Oolitic sand gives the biofiltration benefit of a DSB for only 2" total sand depth.
- Also, fine grain sand sinks to the bottom and the largest grains, like Crushed Coral and GARF Grunge, "float" to the top of the sand bed. That's just the physics of it.

If you like the look of the fine sand, I suggest making a 1.5" inch layer of Oolitic Sand covering the entire bottom and then adding larger grain sand or LR rubble in small "fields" on top of the Oolitic.

Here is more FYI:
2 cups of LS from a hobbyist here (usually free for the asking) has more life in it than a bag of CaribSea AragAlive. See the Reefkeeping Tips below for more info. GARF Grunge is LR that has been crushed into small chunks with a hammer. You can save yourself the expense by just buying some LR and/or LR rubble from someone here on this MB.

Enjoy your new hobby.