Neptune Aquatics

Substrate

ddrueckh

ddrueckh

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I have always been told not to use coarse sand because it is a detritus trap. I’m sure almost everyone has seen the display tanks at Neptune’s that have a deep layer of coarse carx media as substrate. Has anyone asked them why they do this and what maintenance they perform on it? Their display tanks are beautiful so it must work. I’m trying to decide if I want to use sand or to try their method in my new tank. What are your thoughts? The fine sand layer in my current tank always gets full of detritus. I’m not sure if it is any better than a coarse substrate would be.
 
Ironically the CaRx media is probably easier to take care of because you can use a gravel siphon tube to clean it out fairly easily, you can use those with sand too it just you have to be a lot more careful with pinching it off so you don't suck up sand and it gets more and more difficult the finer the sand gets.

That said, remember Neptune has a mini-army of employees who are maintaining those display tanks, everything from cleaning the glass, siphoning out crap to water changes, so don't take what the store does too lightly as "achievable"
 
I used a coarse sand bed on my very first tank. On my current tank, I used fine sand bed. I like the look better with fine sand but I also have a lot of detritus build up in spots. Does anyone vacuum their sand bed? Ive seen videos of people doing it in small patches during water changes and their fine sand bed looks really clean because of it.
 
I guess my main point is that even fine sand gets loaded with detritus. I wonder if coarse media would really have more. My thought on maintenance is that a shallow layer of coarse media can have the detritus blown out with a powerhead very easily on a regular basis suspending it in the water column for corals and to go through the sump. I could also have much higher flow which may avoid a buildup of detritus in the first place.

@Chromis how has your carx substrate been working out? Is it still working well or have you removed it?


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Yep, you can see the employees vacuum out the coarse media on water change days. Makes it really easy to maintain.

As for me, I'm running Fiji pink in ~1" depth throughout. Thin enough layer where it doesn't really accumulate detritus much and can support some life. A pair of small fighting conches helps keep it turned every once in awhile. I would probably go Tropic Eden if I was to redo it again. My preference is for sand since with the coarse media they get covered with coralline over time. Already have coralline on the walls and rocks; don't need it on the substrate as well.
 
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I did ask Robert about it awhile back. He said the carx media as sand works for his tank as it's easier to clean and helps maintain pH buffering.


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I also use about 1" layer of caribsea reef sand. I just stir it up here and there when I water change. Also have nassarius snails and sand sitting gobies that help with that.
 
ddrueckh said:
@Chromis how has your carx substrate been working out? Is it still working well or have you removed it?
Click to expand...

It’s good, doesn’t collect much detritus if it’s only a single layer of CaRx media thick. It’s easier to stage corals on it than sand. When acros get broken off and fall into sand they can smother, but they can live on top of the chunky substrate.
 
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