[Ganrin]

Ive got a line on an inexpensive 220g tank, 72x24x30, my first thought on it would be to do fishonly with some rockwork, but then I remembered Elliott's planned grass tank. What Ive been thinking about now is a Carribean biotope superdeep sand bed tank.

Picture Tampa Bay Saltwater aquacultured rock in a couple of central pillars, surrounded by a 10-12inch deep sand bed with grasses, ricordeas, gorgonians etc, and just Carribean fish like grammas, jawfish, atlantic blue tang, cherub angel.

I was thinking the super deep sandbed cause I hate trying to get to the bottom of any tank over 20in deep anyway, and to give the various burrowing fishes a lot to work with, plus by making the tank shallower I could go with lower powered lighting.

Any thoughts? I havent bought the tank yet, and may not be able to, but its been fun thinking about it today.

[stephaniesquires]

Sounds really nice Hope it works out!

[e_baer]

That is basically my dream, except have the tank in an L shape on 2 walls of a room! GO FOR IT! I will give you a dollar if you do it!

Also, you wouldnt need a skimmer because of the DSB and sea grass. Also, the tang might eat all the grass!

[Ganrin]

If it were to happen it would be a room divider/peninsula tank visible from both long sides. I just checked out the GARF substrate calculator, its only 850lbs of sand for a 12inch superdeep sandbed of that size hehe, so much for cutting back on light costs by making the sand deeper.

[Jeremy0322]

I am sure you could get about 200 lbs of that crappy sand from a lowes or home depot for a lot cheaper than actual aquarium sand. It is a little rougher but it would be toned down with 600 pounds of other sand so i dont think you would ever run into a problem, just an idea though, and i dont even know if it is a good one.

[glampka]

Originally Posted by Jeremy0322

I am sure you could get about 200 lbs of that crappy sand from a lowes or home depot for a lot cheaper than actual aquarium sand. It is a little rougher but it would be toned down with 600 pounds of other sand so i dont think you would ever run into a problem, just an idea though, and i dont even know if it is a good one.

Don't do this unless you want a huge diatom problem. Playground sand is high in silicates. There is only 1 brand of playground sand you can use.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Unkess the playground sand says it is oolite or oolitic sand I wouldnt touch it with a ten foot pole.I agree with gary.

[e_baer]

Originally Posted by glampka

Don't do this unless you want a huge diatom problem. Playground sand is high in silicates. There is only 1 brand of playground sand you can use.

BUT, if there will be marine plants in the tank anyway, wouldnt they use that for some good growth?

[reefnoob1991]

Some say that such a deep sand bed would pose a problem for high nitrates, and quite frankly it may just be a big waste of aquarium space. I think it would be better to just get about 3-4 maybe even 5 inches and build your rocks up toward the top, if you look at mine in the build section that's what i did but with less sand and my jawfish had no problem finding a nice home to settle down in. With SPS though I still wouldnt go with anything under 3x250W MH