live sand for crushed coral

[roho]

I have crushed coral in my 3 mo. old nano and am thinking about removing about half of it and adding about 3 to 4 pounds of live sand. I will probably get the live sand myself out of the gulf. It's just a thought and yours would be appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

You should contact brandon429. He IS the nano-god!

 

[roho]

You should contact brandon429. He IS the nano-god!

I was hoping brandon429 or someone would read it and give me advice.

 

[wombat1]

A regular poster here, Minh Nguyen, got a ton of live sand from the gulf near Texas. He had no probs with it. I would take out all the crushed coral and replace it with LS.

 

[roho]

Thanks, I appreciate your response.

 

[brandon4291]

Sorry about the delay roho, I am usually quicker that this... I remember that thread about Minh using LS from the coast and there was some concern about poisons or contaminants...but he reported no problems with this. I tell you, nothing could set up a better control than to try this in a nano with its limited water column and inclusion of inverts! IMO I think it will be okay---you'll probably have much better sand biodiversity using real (oceanic) sand than just aged aquarium sand, just a thought. How long your tank will support this biodiversity will depend on a host of factors, but its nice to get the original seed FWIW.

Hopefully our PM will give you some insight in pinpointing the cause of red cyano outbreaks, was there any particular reason for the switch--aesthetics or functionality concerns? just curious. I am about to supplement my LS with some pink-colored crushed aragonite (layered on top) because I want to get an aggregated look to my sandbed (along with a few empty shells of various sizes) like Ghost of CHeese Sandwich's. His SB looks really nice, Im doing it more for looks as I don't think Ill get any added reduction characters from this change, its a way to do something new.

Brandon

 

[brandon4291]

edit: just a regular joe (or brandon) here--

 

[roho]

The only reason I was thinking about the switch is I felt I would have more wildlife than the crushed coral. BTW, the cyano looks alittle better today. I haven't put anything in the water for a couple day's now. Thanks.