pinkfloydpuffer

I was wondering if pearl sand would work good in a tank that is now brackish but will be converted to saltwater... It's made of shells or something like that... I'm thinking it'd be fine, and provide a good pH buffer like aragonite or crushed coral, but I'm not sure.

morganrules

if its like argonite i dont see why it wouldnt be ok

Amphibious

pinkfloydpuffer,

I'm not sure of your intensions for converting a brackish tank to SW so I will go with some assumptions.

If your intentions are to keep a fish only with live rock (FOWLR) system, most any sand/gravel will do as long as you "vacuum" the gravel on a regular basis, say every couple of months. Most hobbyists that go this route use 2" or less. The sand, and especially the gravel, gets loaded up with stuff and your Nitrates will climb out of sight and become a long lasting problem.

If you want to do a "reef" then I'd recommend going with a deep sand bed (DSB) of 4" or more of pure Bahamian Aragonite sand. A DSB of that depth will allow the conversion of nitrate to Nitrogen gas which escapes the system harmlessly.

If you are new to, or in the beginner stage of SW aquarium systems here is some recommended readings.

The first is "Sand Bed Secrets" by Dr. Ron Shimik, the Guru of sand beds, a link on my web site can found here - Sand Bed Secrets

The second is an article I wrote to help hobbyists make more appropriate decisions before buying fish, corals and invertebrates for their systems. It's titled "Nine Simple Rules" and discusses some simple rules to follow insuring greater success in buying and keeping SW critters (although, it would apply to FW, too). It can be found here - Nine Simple Rules

I hope this helps.

Dick

pinkfloydpuffer

Thank you for the links

It's for my puffers, they start out in brackish and you can slowly move them to SW.
And, as such, no corals. The puffs would eat them and all the little critters.