Crushed coral or live sand

[jamos6]

i just bought a 75 gal tank with 75 lb of live rock and it also had 75 lbs of crushed coral, but i hear alot of ppl talking about the ls. I think the crushed coral would be easier to clean but tell what yall think.
im going to make it a reef tank. What about the lighting

 

[dlight692000]

get live sand

 

[@knight]

cc easier to clean????
no way, if you do it right, LS you will NEVER have to clean. how easy is that?
cc is a nitrate factory. i would only use it in an agressive tank. for a reef setup, LS is the only way to go.

 

[dad]

get ls! The cc does nothing for a reef tank but cause problems.
You need about a 4" ls for a reef tank.
Trust me on this one, please!
You will thank me later,

 

[kdlbem]

I switched from CC to LS in July, and haven't seen more than a trace of nitrate since. As far as the lights go, it depends on what kind of corals you want to keep. Get a book, or research on the web to find out what lighting the corals you want to keep require.
HTH,
B
[ September 17, 2001: Message edited by: KDLBEM ]

 

[saltylake]

live sand, easier to clean and lower nitrates.

 

[blueberryboomer]

defenitly live sand!

 

[jamos6]

thanks guys for all the info. i saw soon corals i like and it says for beginners and any lighting. I have 2 coralife day and 2 atinic blue with a total of 160 watts is that enough for those corals and can i keep sea anenomes in the tank too.
thnx

 

[jamos6]

if i put the live sand in there will i have to recycle the tank?

 

[mrswv1956]

i have a 55 gal tank with cc,can u put live sand in with cc & this might sound stupid but what is live sand and where do u get it.i live in a small town in wv,have to travel about 2 hrs to get to a good lfs place and its in ohio.mrswv

 

[chocochipper]

Yes mrswv1956 you can put LS and CC together. I did with mine and I REALLY wish I would have used just sand. Looks better and now most of my sand has gone under the CC and pretty much gone. It shouldn't recycle since there shouldn't be any die off in the LS check the use by date on the bag.

 

[@knight]

i would get all the CC out before adding the sand, just because it wont look that good. you will see some level spikes and maybe a small mini-cycle, but not a major cycle.

 

[joetst2]

LS is the only way to go. I used 160 lbs of live sand with my initial 75 lbs of pre-cured live rock and finished my initial cycle in about 5 days. It's the only way to go. And as others have already said with a sufficient cleaning crew and sand stirring critters you won't ever have to "clean" the sand.