Substrate

[oscar]

Seccond hand tanks eh!!

i have my tank set up and running - though without a cuttle yet!!!

is it too late to add more substrate to the tank? liverock and corals already in! or could i still do it? Its just that the bed is only very shallow - calcium grit and i dont think the plenum will function properly

 

[Nancy]

How deep is your substrate? (what do you mean by shallow?)

Nancy

 

[oscar]

I talked to someone at a lfs today and he seemed to think it was deep enough though he said it would be better to add a bit than waste the natural filtration by being "not sure"

Nancy, it is only about 2 inches deep - 5cm exactly in most places. The plenum was disturbed by the move so i am sort of starting over and i thought this might be the best time to add some more if needed

Btw what is your preffered substrate - what do you think of shell grit? is it a ph buffer? its just that i can get it much cheaper than the other substrates.

thanks again - also 'accidentaly' bought a red brittle star and blue linkia and a handful of grape caulerpa today lol

 

[know-it-all]

I hate it when accidents happen,

I don't know if this is available to you, but
When I'm adding more sand to a tank,
I've gotten the "live" sand that comes in a sealed bag
and good for 1 year. Agro-Live I think the name is.
anyway, I've added that stuff to reef tanks and
noticed no change in anything.
I've never added more than 1 bag per week.
just to be safe

just a thought

 

[oscar]

yeah i know what you mean but that stuff is waaaaay too expensive in australia - shipped at least 3 times around the world before getting here no doubt

i think ill go with the shell grit - its like 1/6 the cost

ill see about getting some spaghetti worms or summin to make my substrate 'live'

thanks for the one bag suggestion - good idea

 

[cthulhu77]

I usually have substrate depths of less than two inches, but have not kept cuttles either...how deep do they like to burrow?

 

[joel_ang]

They normally burrow to about half to 2/3 the height of their mantle so their eyes can still stick out .so it depends on the size of your cuttle. 5cm should be ok but after awhile your substrate will become very uneven due to the constant jet of water from the cuttle.

 

[Colin]

Hi Oscar

Are you using the plenum system with a gap under the gravel between the bottom of the tank and the sand? I'd be worried about a cuttle digging in deep enough to disturb the plenum and releasing all the nasty gasses that build up in there...

So especially once the cutttle is big it will disturb a plenum...

cheers

 

[oscar]

yeah i have egg crate underneath the gravel

ok i hadnt though of the gasses!!!

I will get another inch or two of shell grit this weekend