cc or sand ?

pallan

pallan

Member
Keep hearing about all the issues with CC bed and i assume that is what i bought but according to LFS thats not what i got from them. It seems to be a sand mixture with lots of small/crushed and broken shells. is this what is referred to as crushed coral and if not will it be the same problem as cc.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
sounds like they sold you a 50/50 mix of cc and sand... eventually all of the bits of shell will work their way to the top, and eventually cause the same problem as cc. The cc will trap waste and leftover food, and therefore cause high nitrates.
 
tripleshot

tripleshot

Member
What does it say on the packageing. Do you know what brand it is? If thier is big pieces of shell in it than it isnt sand.
 
littlebuck

littlebuck

Active Member
I just did a cc to sand change if i was you before i put it in there i would go get sand. Its a pain in the butt dealing with nitrates always a little high. PLus it looks 10 times better then all that cc or shells all over the place.
 
lovethesea

lovethesea

Active Member
unless it says sand or agrigate sand, I would not think its sand. DO NOT start with crushed coral if at all possible. Many of us did and regreted it. We had to remove our before disaster struck. It was a mess getting it out too.
Holds detrius and eventually will start to elevate your nitrates.
 
blue20051

blue20051

Member
I just took out my CC yesterday and it was pain. I put in 40lbs of LS and when the water cleared it, my tank looks very nice.(in my opinion). I would suggest you to take out the CC and put in LS.
 
oceanists

oceanists

Active Member
Originally Posted by Littlebuck
I just did a cc to sand change if i was you before i put it in there i would go get sand. Its a pain in the butt dealing with nitrates always a little high. PLus it looks 10 times better then all that cc or shells all over the place.
i have to go with little buck here , i just mine over last night .............. save yourself a headache spend the extra 10 bucks and get aragonite
 
oceanists

oceanists

Active Member
pain in the arse but no not a casualty yet , i think my tang is stressed , but my maroon is doing good
 
pallan

pallan

Member
thanks for all the replies guys sorry i forgot about this post. my tank has been set up since around april with this substrate in it/ i think it probably is a 50/50 mix. good news is since i found this site have decided to upgrade soon anyway. so when i go to larger tank i will go with sand instead of this mix.
 
X

xrobbx03

Guest
Is crushed coral really that bad in a fish only tank? I really dont feel like switching to LS its just way to much more money, I am a college student and you kno how that is my budget is very low. Does any one who has crushed coral have success so far and what have you done to maintain it and keep the nitrate levels low. So far i havent had high nitrate readings with my CC.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
ok, CC is not all that bad, as long as you properly maintain it. Meaning, you HAVE to vacuum it out weekly, which means more water changes. CC can trap food and detrius because of it's jagged texture. This is what causes high nitrates. As long as you do proper maintenance, CC is fine, but it's too much of a pain in the rear, which is why most people switch. Also, CC is rough, and can injur bottom-dwelling fish.
 
X

xrobbx03

Guest
Thanks for the input. Ok so im going to try and keep up on the crushed coral what is the best method for vacuuming the bottom, like what is the best thing to be used
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
they sell gravel vacuums at your LFS... It's quite disgusting actually, because you have to start a syphon with your mouth, and getting a mouthful of seawater isn't great!!!
If you can, i'd suggest switching to CC... you'll find out in a while that it's not worth it. With sand, there's no maintenance involved at all!!! You just have to do water changes and scrub algae off the glass, that's nothing!!!
 
X

xrobbx03

Guest
ok well how hard would it be to switch to LS...since im on a tight budget is it possible to do little by lil like sections of the tank so that half of the tank is sand and the other CC until i can get the money to do the whole tank or is that bad. i also have some livestock in the tank how will they be affect by it also
 
cjason3041

cjason3041

Member
i had cc had an outbreak of bristleworms...living in the cc had to tear tank apart and i switched to sand and tank looks tons better
 
X

xrobbx03

Guest
this sounds like alot of work to do but i think you might have all changed my mind. im really gonna think about switchin to LS but not 100% sure yet..thanks for all your help
 
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