There are literally loads of different sands and gravel options out there to use and even more opinions on what and what not to use and how to use them. i cant even start to go into it! although there seems to be one common denominator among the opinions…. be careful off dead material or waste food getting mixed up in the substrate, this will cause problems later on.
There 3 basic options with your substrate. Live or dead sand (same principle as the rocks) or none at all. There are pros and cons with all 3 options. with my tank and the research I’ve done i’m going with a 1mm crushed coral sand, about 5kg which makes about a 2cm layer. From what I’ve read it seem like the best substrate to keep clean so less likely to build up any bad bacteria that will cause an ammonia build up.
Reef Tank 