Crushed Coral or Sand or Both?

[bs]

So I was just given a pile of sugar fine sand, and crushed coral. I'm going to be putting a deep sand bed in my refugium. From what I'm reading, I'm not sure wheather I should mix the sand and CC together to make my deep sand bed. Anyone know what I should really be doing here?
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[yearofthenick]

Originally Posted by BS
http:///forum/post/3251871
So I was just given a pile of sugar fine sand, and crushed coral. I'm going to be putting a deep sand bed in my refugium. From what I'm reading, I'm not sure wheather I should mix the sand and CC together to make my deep sand bed. Anyone know what I should really be doing here?
Thanks in advance for your help.
I HATE crushed coral. Because it has so many crevices and such, uneaten food and other detritius gets into the cracks. When you vacuum your sand, you have to be very thorough, otherwise you'll get a spike in your parameters.
I like sand better, particularly aragonite, because you rarely need to vacuum it. Most detritius is visible and lays at the surface, so you know where to vacuum, and it doesn't disturb your little sand-sifting and sand-dwelling critters as much.
Sand FTW!

 

[hunt]

i have a 1g pod tank with a cc bottom, exectly for the nooks and crannies (what the heck is a crannie.) the pods will have more places to grow and breed. But for a main tank, i agree that sand is better

 

[bs]

This is for my refugium, so would there be a benefit to mixing the two together???

 

[bs]

Well, I already don't like the way the CC looks, and from what you just told me...I will not be using CC in my main tank. Going with the sand!

 

[bs]

Originally Posted by YearOfTheNick
http:///forum/post/3251942
I HATE crushed coral. Because it has so many crevices and such, uneaten food and other detritius gets into the cracks. When you vacuum your sand, you have to be very thorough, otherwise you'll get a spike in your parameters.
I like sand better, particularly aragonite, because you rarely need to vacuum it. Most detritius is visible and lays at the surface, so you know where to vacuum, and it doesn't disturb your little sand-sifting and sand-dwelling critters as much.
Sand FTW!

Well, I already don't like the way the CC looks, and from what you just told me...I will not be using CC in my main tank. Going with the sand!

 

[geoj]

Originally Posted by BS
http:///forum/post/3251871
Anyone know what I should really be doing here?
Go with the sand it has more surface area and so has more ability to handle the waste. It will convert nitrate better because of the low oxygen deep in the bed the CC does not do this well at all. Other than that there is little difference. It does not mater what type of substrate you are using, if you over feed the system it will crash. So this being a fact, your knowledge of how much waste is building up is key to doing it right…

 

[bs]

Alright, sand and sand only.
Thanks alot!

 

[king_neptune]

I like a mix. I do mostly sand, but I add a few cups of crushed coral, and a couple handfuls of shells to add texture to the tank.
Its a noticeable addition to the realism of it all. But if your going just one...Sand all the way.

 

[geoj]

+1
I like a little rubble rock on top of my sand, helps the snails from getting stuck in it.

 

[florida joe]

Crushed coral is in fact a better media for nitrification the fact that it is multifaceted makes it superior to sand. As with everything in our hobby diligence is of the utmost importance. So you must vacuum the cc regularly I do not like to mix CC and sand simply because the sand fills in the gaps in the CC substratum and impacts the surface