I am setting up my first saltwater / reef tank. I think I am going with live sand (sugar grain size) after many hours of research. I want a sandsifting starfish to keep the sand clean.

any thoughts on if this is a good idea or any better ideas for substrate??

how thick should the sand be, and should I put eggcrate down before the substrate?? or maybe eggcrate and and crushed coral, then sand on top of that?? I really need some input from the experienced here. I dont want to mess up my first attempt.

How about in my sump/ refugeum, should this also be sand. Do I keep fish in here or just live rock and sand?? I need the basics for a sump / refugeum.

I have a 90 gallon marineland corner flow, with a 38 gallon sump that I am going to build.

Thanks for any help
Dave

i dont have any advice for saltwater in specific however with sand only use one size. IF you set up with layers the smaller sand will inevitably end up on the bottle.

im still finding and picking out rocks that appear on the surface from when i switched from gravel to sand 6 months ago.

Egg crate is a good idea to protect the bottom of your tank from rocks, i use it in my cichlid tank to keep them from shifting and possibly falling onto the glass.

T he only problem with sugar sized sand is your tank flow. If you plan on keeping SPS you need to have high water flow and that can cause sand storms in the tank.