FishProfiles.com Message Forums

hey there once again. i know you guys have to have goten tired of me a while back. anyway i have had sand in an aquarium before and it got soo stink (w/ fw crabs) does sand get bad or is that because of the crabs? is there maintenance to be done with the sand in m marine tank?
i am also lookin at a cleaning crew for my new tank. i will definitly have turbo snails. but can i put hermit crabs in? will the hermits try to attack my other fish (clowns and damsels and that other fish i forgot the name its purple and yellow)
thats all for now im sure ill find another weird question to ask. LOL

in my experience fine sand clogs up quikly and reduces circulation in the substrate

just that helps me soo much. i was going to buy fine sand i will definitly get the coarse now.thank god didn't buy the sand last week.

EDIT** Darth i see you have some experience with clowns and anemones, any advice for me as to of how to stock clowns and maintenance of the anemone?

Last edited by DaFrIdGe at 07-Aug-2005 19:32

NOOOOOOO!!!!

You want fine sand, sugar fine sand to be exact. The fine sand does not harm the tank, it actually helps it. With a SW tank you WANT the anerobic areas to form. The anerobic bacteria in the sand will actually consume nitrAte and convert it to a harmless nitrogen gas. The "poor" circulation is exactly what you want in the lower parts of the sand bed. Yes, if you remove the sand bed it will stink, but that means that it was infact working.

There is not really any maint. to a sand bed using sugar fine sand other than to make sure that you have enough circulation/flow in the tank to keep detrius from sitting on the sand bed. Other than that, no vacs or nothing.

I dont mean to sound rude, but if you are not sure of the answer, please wait for someone to post that knows the correct answer. The marine side of the hobby is expensive and hard enough as it is without someone getting the wrong info and it costing them more money or more frustration.

Dark,
i appreciate your help.i have been doing tons of question asking about this marine aquarium. a few weeks now sand was just one of the last things i was looking at.