can someone help me, whats CC

[mongaupt]

hi whats is CC? it might be thelive coral that was crushed. i was told that this can cause me problems down the road. Is this true or does the CC just have to be cleaned more or need more cleaners(shrimp, clams, crabs, snails) i really need to know if this is going to be a problem because im about to cycle and i would like to start putting livestock in but i dont want to do this if its going to cuase me problems from the CC. i was told by the pet store that this is good and wont be causeing me problems but i know they most of the time dont know too much. I love the pet store lines from employeess, " THIS IS ALL YOU NEED" never is, . thanks again everyone for helping me out.

 

[cabin7882]

Well I have a 46 gal saltwater tank and I put crushed coral in it at first and then found out that it will need to be replaced and cleaned in a year or so. The best thing to use is live sand you can't go wrong. I replaced my coral with live sand before adding fish.

 

[some1fishy]

I second that Crushed coral is too much work. Unless you're doing a reef tank with little fish or none at all. Sand or live sand is the way to go. Sorry you had to find out this late in the stage.

 

[stanlalee]

My crushed coral is all of TEN YEARS OLD. been used, not used months at a time and used again. Never had a problem with hence I haven't done the switch to sand that everybody seems to need to do. My nitrates read zero. I dont believe it has to be a problem unless you want to keep sand dwellers. Simple vacuuming during water changes and good water flow is all it takes to up keep. Course everybody is going to tell you sand it great and CC traps detritus thus increase nitrates but anybody with money or nice corals to lose can come bring their test kit to my house and prove their case. I have my own little theory about the advantage of surface area it provides for beneficial bacteria to grow on in relation to nitrate but since 8 out of 10 believe its the cause to all their high nitrate problems all I can tell you is my opinion is not popular. I will say people with sand have nitrate problems as well but when theres crushed coral involved its always 1rst to be blamed wether its the actual problem or not. Then someone changes half their water and all their substate and get more particular about maintenence and say "see it was the crush coral" (as if doing that with CC wouldn't give simular results).
You cant pile it up like a deep sand bed but then deep sand beds have risk and advantages all of their own.
Now I'm not saying sand isn't great cause I've never had it but wont recommend tossing perfectly good CC if you already have it either.

 

[27mtaylor]

I reduced my CC bed to about 1 inch now and my nitrates have dropped from 40 ppm to about 15 ppm. My cleaning crew is getting a little scarce so I think if I add to it, my nitrates will continue to drop. I agree that CC gets a bad rap, but with proper maintenance it can be done successfully.

 

[mongaupt]

thanks alot for that it helps alot, i will try this out and will take my time with what has to be done. my crush coral is like shells and stuff.

 

[mongaupt]

how can i remover the cc from the tank, i have a layer of sand on bottom and then a layer of cc, how can i take out the tank. thanks again everyone

 

[thomas712]

I'll be the first to tell you to go with sand, but I'll also admit that you can have a good clean system with crushed coral as well. IF you are willing to do the mainanence, IF the crushed coral isn't to deep, and IF you don't have a heavy feeding hand. But it is possible, its just more work.
Thomas

 

[mongaupt]

im going to change is out, i hve sand under it and when i goto set me ny lr into the tank im going to take it out. thanks for the help. i might put some bad here and there to see but for most part im going to get rid of it.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by Stanlalee
... I have my own little theory about the advantage of surface area it provides for beneficial bacteria to grow on in relation to nitrate ....
Sand has more surface area than CC, unless I am horribly off in my thinking.

 

[mongaupt]

can i leave the water in while take the cc out and putting sand into the tank?? or should the tanke be drained.

 

[1journeyman]

You can leave water in.

 

[mongaupt]

my tank is new and i just added water about a week ago. I have live rock in for a week also. I'm getting 25 pound of live rock tommorrow so i was planning on chaning out the cc. my problem is that i had a small layer of sand, then i added a small layer of cc. I was wondering if i can take out the live rock and alittle water, and do the change like this. I plan to shut the pump off and make the change and add water. is this a good plan or should i empty the full tank into buckets and take out the cc this way. please help because i plan on doing this tommorrow. thanks alot louis
is there a way to save the sand and get rid of the cc

 

[thomas712]

look for some type of strainer, perhaps even a kittty litter scooper, or some such device able to take out your size of crushed coral.

 

[mongaupt]

from what i learner since i havent added much to the tank it will be alot easier to just drain the water then take care of it then put water back. best i found this out now and didn't need to upset the livestock.

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Sand has more surface area than CC, unless I am horribly off in my thinking.
you can definately put more sand in X amount of space because of its size (it will fit in those spaces that are open with crush coral) but real aragonite crush coral should be porous with lots of ridges and uniformity like good live rock. Like I said its just a Theory or what I think bacteria would have an easier time growing more on. For instance alot of the sand because of its size/shape is in direct contact with other sand grains below the top layer. can bacteria grow on that surface in direct contact between sand grain and sand grain? I believe a sand bed may have more usable surface area on top, its below the top layer where my thinking lies. again its still just a personal theory, I could just be as screwy as all get out (read wrong).

 

[mongaupt]

jus finished it was 4 hours got rid of all the cc and now have sand in the tank, with some LR from my local store so i can get this tank to cycle. when i bought the lr it can with some hermit crabs will they be alright. thanks alot