Mixing Sand Sizes
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Here is an interesting article by Ron Shimek. no idea who he is.
http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html
He indicates a fine sand bed that isn't disturbed is the best.
Do you have fauna below the water/sand line? I assume this is normal and good.
The deeper the better according to some but I digress into an apparently divisive topic.
Ultimately I want a randall's goby and a blue spot jawfish which will disturb the soil and need larger particles/piece in the sand to make their shelters so i'm going to add the 15% larger particle size sand the article suggests.
http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html
He indicates a fine sand bed that isn't disturbed is the best.
Do you have fauna below the water/sand line? I assume this is normal and good.
The deeper the better according to some but I digress into an apparently divisive topic.
Ultimately I want a randall's goby and a blue spot jawfish which will disturb the soil and need larger particles/piece in the sand to make their shelters so i'm going to add the 15% larger particle size sand the article suggests.
I gotta tell you that this upsets me a little bit... not this particular post, but the whole generation of reefer who knows more about CREE diodes, BRS videos and how to post on a message board, but have no idea who Dr. Ron Shimek is nor the things that he has studied and tought. This is as amazing to me as people who claim that they know all about the constitution yet have never read any Madison, Lincoln, Adams, etc. The hobby as you know it today owes something to Dr. Ron and his kind, even if it is not known too much anymore.
Dude has been reefing since the 1970s (I think) and has forgotten more about reefing that most of the people online will ever know. I have seen some new people of the bio-cube generation (and newer) dismiss him as a has-been dinosaur, but nothing of note has changed in reefing in the last 20 years of any substantial benefit except for T5 reflectors and high quality foods like PE Mysis and Tropic Marin. Every other "innovation" is bunk and really only provides a different way of doing something that happened back then.
He knows what he is talking about. If you want a deep sand bed, then follow his advice and you will do well. If you want a high flow tank, then go with a shallow large-particle sand bed. I can tell you from personal experiece that a 3-4" sandbed of mixed size (it is mostly small), larger simmer and real live rock from the ocean has always, and always will, make for the best tanks for the majority of folks. I don't like a deep sand bed.
I you wanna know how to reef. Find some old archives of wet web media and just read. These are actual experienced people giving advice from actual experiences and not just some jazzass who posts online just because they can. There have posts going back to 2000 or before that are still salient today. If you actually learn something here, or even from all of the articles that Dr. Holmes-Farley had written, then you will know enough to know that nearly EVERYTHING that a vendor or manufacturer has told you is at least in-part incorrect or not a full-out fabrication to sell their product.
Dang! I just read this and I sound old. Sorry... not sorry (does that phrase make me young again?)
Dude has been reefing since the 1970s (I think) and has forgotten more about reefing that most of the people online will ever know. I have seen some new people of the bio-cube generation (and newer) dismiss him as a has-been dinosaur, but nothing of note has changed in reefing in the last 20 years of any substantial benefit except for T5 reflectors and high quality foods like PE Mysis and Tropic Marin. Every other "innovation" is bunk and really only provides a different way of doing something that happened back then.
He knows what he is talking about. If you want a deep sand bed, then follow his advice and you will do well. If you want a high flow tank, then go with a shallow large-particle sand bed. I can tell you from personal experiece that a 3-4" sandbed of mixed size (it is mostly small), larger simmer and real live rock from the ocean has always, and always will, make for the best tanks for the majority of folks. I don't like a deep sand bed.
I you wanna know how to reef. Find some old archives of wet web media and just read. These are actual experienced people giving advice from actual experiences and not just some jazzass who posts online just because they can. There have posts going back to 2000 or before that are still salient today. If you actually learn something here, or even from all of the articles that Dr. Holmes-Farley had written, then you will know enough to know that nearly EVERYTHING that a vendor or manufacturer has told you is at least in-part incorrect or not a full-out fabrication to sell their product.
Dang! I just read this and I sound old. Sorry... not sorry (does that phrase make me young again?)
JDA,
From one cranky man to another, I appreciate your point of view. Some people want to have all the knowledge prior to starting something others will jump right in. I could give you all the reading sources for riding a bike however you will not understand riding it till you get on it. The point is book knowledge is useless if you are trying to apply it.
Not sure if I should take this as a personal attack. Please remember I'm posting this on the newbie forum. Everyone has to start somewhere and squashing someone's questions as ignorant isn't a great way to create community. I've read tons of posts and find to many opinions to make sense of some of it. Searching 20 page posts for a nugget just isn't efficient with the time I have so here I am. I'm familiar with RHF and use his posts often.
My father in law says the same thing about the new 'toys' for the industry. Businesses need to sell stuff so they change things to 'improve it' to sell more units. Again, I'm aware I don't know everything and I won't stop looking for what I need. Thanks for your time.
Michael.
From one cranky man to another, I appreciate your point of view. Some people want to have all the knowledge prior to starting something others will jump right in. I could give you all the reading sources for riding a bike however you will not understand riding it till you get on it. The point is book knowledge is useless if you are trying to apply it.
Not sure if I should take this as a personal attack. Please remember I'm posting this on the newbie forum. Everyone has to start somewhere and squashing someone's questions as ignorant isn't a great way to create community. I've read tons of posts and find to many opinions to make sense of some of it. Searching 20 page posts for a nugget just isn't efficient with the time I have so here I am. I'm familiar with RHF and use his posts often.
My father in law says the same thing about the new 'toys' for the industry. Businesses need to sell stuff so they change things to 'improve it' to sell more units. Again, I'm aware I don't know everything and I won't stop looking for what I need. Thanks for your time.
Michael.
I personally think that your plan of adding the bigger size sounds perfect. I definitely encourage newer reefers (i still include myself in this category) to post discuss and read as much as possible.
To jdas point there is something said about tried and true methods. They work ans have worked for a period of time for a reason. (if you stick around long enough you'll learn jda loves his classic reeling techniques) which is great and has been very successful with them.
On the flip side, if everyone does the tried and true there is no innovation or change that could be the next break in reefing. But if you do this all the time you have to wade through a lot of phony bs stuff (products and methods) to find something good. Nature of being on the innovation side.
All comes down to personal preference. I personally like a mix of both worlds. For example I run halides for the high light periods of the day but the rest of the time run t5 and led. Led being most of the time. Trying to get the best from all the worlds.
Again welcome to this forum there is a lot of great knowledge and experience here and good people that usually will help out a fellow reefer in need.
To jdas point there is something said about tried and true methods. They work ans have worked for a period of time for a reason. (if you stick around long enough you'll learn jda loves his classic reeling techniques) which is great and has been very successful with them.
On the flip side, if everyone does the tried and true there is no innovation or change that could be the next break in reefing. But if you do this all the time you have to wade through a lot of phony bs stuff (products and methods) to find something good. Nature of being on the innovation side.
All comes down to personal preference. I personally like a mix of both worlds. For example I run halides for the high light periods of the day but the rest of the time run t5 and led. Led being most of the time. Trying to get the best from all the worlds.
Again welcome to this forum there is a lot of great knowledge and experience here and good people that usually will help out a fellow reefer in need.
It was not a personal attack. However, it was too harsh. Sorry.
The message to read articles and people with experiences is still a good one. I do agree that 20 pages of posts are not all that helpful... but neither are posters. In four days with 198 current active users (when I typed this), there is only three people who have replied and some of that is because I went doooochie. ...not all that helpful. Just remember that just because people can post does not mean that they should - look at me for a prime example.
Keep in mind that when you are "jumping in" that live creatures are depending on you. If you always remember this, then you will be golden.
The sand from Marco Rocks is pretty good. I would not recommend that anybody ever use their dry rocks, but the sand is pure aragonite, has a very nice mixed size and is very good. It is pretty cheap too. You can sift it if you want to leave the smaller stuff behind.
The message to read articles and people with experiences is still a good one. I do agree that 20 pages of posts are not all that helpful... but neither are posters. In four days with 198 current active users (when I typed this), there is only three people who have replied and some of that is because I went doooochie. ...not all that helpful. Just remember that just because people can post does not mean that they should - look at me for a prime example.
Keep in mind that when you are "jumping in" that live creatures are depending on you. If you always remember this, then you will be golden.
The sand from Marco Rocks is pretty good. I would not recommend that anybody ever use their dry rocks, but the sand is pure aragonite, has a very nice mixed size and is very good. It is pretty cheap too. You can sift it if you want to leave the smaller stuff behind.
I am also going to mix my sand sizes. I had some oolite in my tank, but realized that while it looks good on the bottom it hardly ever stays on the bottom. I have been scooping out bits of sand everyday to not throw everything into a tailspin. I got most of it, but there's still a lot of it in there. I assume the bigger sizes stay on top like a bag of chips. I'll report back when my bigger sand gets in.