+dapettit Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 I will start work today on removing the scratches from my 150 gallon acrylic tank. I was wondering what folks would consider a practical sand bed depth for a tank this size. This way I can mark the tank with the sand bed depth and cut back on the amount of work needed to remove the scratches (thanks for the idea cmanning). I will be keeping corals (hard and softies), fish, and invertebrates. To my knowledge other than snails I will not have any burrowing live stock. This group has really been helpful during the saga of the 150 and Robin and I would just like to say thanks. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headless_donkey Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 What a great open ended question. This is one of those debates that I don't think will ever be done. My personal opinion is to do a shallow sand bed. You won't get the benefits from a deep bed, but it also won't crash. There are tons of people running deep sand beds that swear by it and vise versa. IMO Some cheato in the some will use just as many nitrates. I hope some others chime in on this. My answer: 2-3" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 I agree with James, 1-2". This allows you to gravel back the sand bed during water changes, removing any detritus and keeping the sand nice and white. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmanning Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 Hello Dave, If you decide on having a 2" sand bed and concerned on having detritus establishing on the surface, I would recommend having a sea cucumber. The holothuria (Halodeima) floridana is the most common, and from what I've seen they pretty much clean the surface of the sand leaving white (clean)sand, also they will clean detritus of the rockwork. I know they're not the prettiest inverts, but they sure have some color (bright yellow, light yellow w/dark markings and even some amber orange), anyways IMO, good cleaning crew. By the way, if you keep any of this inverts, make sure that they won't be predators (fish) that might pick on them, their toxic or harmful to fishes. -Cindy- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropy Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I have a three to four inch bed in my current tank, but I usually go with 1-2 inches (in my last two tanks). I cheaped out on this one and used play sand so 100 pounds came out to more depth that I anticipated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 I have a three to four inch bed in my current tank, but I usually go with 1-2 inches (in my last two tanks). I cheaped out on this one and used play sand so 100 pounds came out to more depth that I anticipated. i agree with shallow beds. if you have stuff sitting on top of the sand then how deep it is doesnt matter. you have filters to clean your water. now if you plan to put in macros or seagrass then look into a deeper sand bed. i used to have a deep sand bed and it killed my seahorse herd when the sand got stirred up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted August 26, 2007 Author Share Posted August 26, 2007 I’m moving towards a 2" sand bed. Cindy - Thanks for the suggestion about sea cucumbers. Not everything has to beautiful if it keeps the sand clean then cool. I also like the contrast. Not sure if the fish we want in our 150 will be predators. We will post our stocking "wish list" later for compatibility. Thanks. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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