Butterfly

About an in inch or so is good.If you don't have snails to keep the sand aerated remember to stick your fingers or a straw or some thing down in the sand about twice a week to keep it loose and aerated. I keep Malaysian trumpet Snails in mine to keep it loose.
Carol

COBettaCouple

what about a plastic fork? would that be any good to use?

Butterfly

Yep a plastic fork would be great but you don't want to actually stir it around just kind of stick it down in the sand every few inches.
Carol

VertigoXLR8R222

what do the snails do for the sand? or better yet how do they keep it from settling? and i guess i can't have them since i have a large cray, someone said it would eat the snails. Lee

sirdarksol

Trumpet snails (aka Malaysian Live-Bearing Snails, aka Malaysian Trumpet Snails) burrow through the substrate, stirring it up. You may actually want to get a few of them. They aren't expensive, and they can breed asexually (but they don't go nuts like pond snails. I don't even see my Malaysian Snails unless I'm vacuuming.) They are also one of the only snails that can survive snail-eating critters, such as dwarf puffers, because their shells are so hard. They might be able to survive the crayfish's attention.