crushed coral

[littleguy]

my local pet store dealer told me she would put crushed coral in a tank instead of live sand... is coral as good, better, or worse than live sand???

 

[carrie1429]

I would definetely say live sand is better, the crushed coral collects uneated food and fish waste witch can cause high ammonia, also you have to clean crushed coral manually with a syphon hose while with sand the inverts clean it for you. Also if your sand is deep enough it can reduce nitrates and ammonia, crushed coral doesn't, and IMO live sand just looks better too.

 

[slothy]

ya my old tank was CC and it sucked to clean every week, and didnt look all that great, this new tank, i did live sand, loooks better, critters do the cleaning for me, and its deep enought to help reduce nit's

 

[angelofdeath132]

haven't touched my C.C. for a month now perams are still great and because i used RO water the crushed coral isn't brown.

 

[angelofdeath132]

that doesn't mean that leaving it for a month is o.k.! i just happen to be out of salt and since we just got back from vacation i'm kinda broke!! My LFS just got salt in., plan to do a change on Mon. morning

 

[slick]

I would go with a DSB. For many reasons. Do a search and read all the posts.

 

[jcb101]

I too have cc in one of my tanks and plan to leave it that way. No problems that I can see.

 

[killyah]

i have a couple of tanks , 1 is with CC and 1 is a DSB. in my CC i dont have to do anything but do a water change bi weekly and all paremiters are ok, in my DSB i do the same but i need to add suppliments to keep my PH in check!! it goes both ways if you like CC then go for it, if u like DSB go for that! what ever works for you. i do like the look of CC better tho, when i look at my tank with DSB the first thing you can notice is the big pile of sand

 

[littleguy]

i'll probably go with cc because its cheaper thanks for the advice everyone

 

[flamehawk]

On the advice of many on this board I changed my 125g to southdown sand which is now live, over a year ago. It was quite a task. What I've observed is that it wasn' worth it. The nitrate readings ae not significantly lower and I do have about 3.5 inch DSB. I have 2 other 55 g's w/ cc and i w/ sand. No noticable difference in nitrates . I don't think that LS is all it's cracked up to be and the one thing I really dislike is that the tank is laways cloudy since I do have rather aggressive fish who like to frolic and chase occcasionally. In additon I have a maroon clown who likes to fan the sand. What a mess. Wish I hadn't done it.

 

[shadow678]

SeaFlor makes a special-grade reef sand that is much more coarse than the typical oolitic sand that makes everything so cloudy when fish fan it. It can be used for nitrate-reduction as well. It looks good, and it doesn't collect trash the way CC can. Most regular cleaners can clean it without problems, with the exception of sand-sifting gobies. The grade is 1.2-4mm, which is a bit too large for them. I have 200 lbs of it in my 200gal grouper tank, and one sand-sifting star keeps it nearly spotless. It usually runs about $1/lb. and I would recommend it for anyone who is torn between regular reef sand and CC.

 

[flamehawk]

I'm really surprised that the sharks didn't get in on this discussion. Although there are many new names on this board lately, which is a good thing, I'd like to here from the sharks who in the past have sworn by LS Vs. crushed coral.

 

[smalltimer]

I have cc and love the look, but I have also have had a tank with a plenum and had HUGE success for 3 years til I moved and sold it. After all, doesn't the live rock resting in the dsb cause probs, and shouldn't a true dsb not be disturbed by the fish and gobies and star fish. I plan on having a dsb, just not in my tank. I am settting it up similar to a refugium with opposite lighting, for ph balance, slow h2o current which allowes for more nitrate reduction. I will use a dark rubbermaid container, plumb a powerhead out of sump and use bulkhead for drain back to sump. In it you can grow mangroves, calaripa, spell check that. BUT.....if for some reason, the dsb is not doing it's job or it crashes.....it's removiable !!!!!
Anyone see a problem with this Idea ??

 

[wingnut]

why not go with half sand and half coral get the best of both worlds and the worest hehe good luck to you

 

[smalltimer]

I like the cc look in the tank, I don't like giving up 4 inches of precious tank space for dsb, if you mix the both it still won't work because too juch o2 get deep in the be where you don't want it.

 

[fshhub]

ok, here it is(since you were waiting)
i love a dsb, had both cc and dsb's(even in same tank) and will not go back to cc, i have had great success with sand, in fact i am setting 2 tanks up at work, the one is almost 6 months old and is doing great, so now i have 5 tanks to add to my list of dsb's one of which had started off as cc(so i have 5 tanks worth of experience to attribute to my experiences and 2 of which were originally cc)
the only draw backs to me were the switch(what a PIA) and it does not happen over nite, it takes time to establish and get working(MONTHS unlike cc which works almost immediately since it has NO denitrifying benefits) and if i had cc and it was doing fine, then i would not switch it, only in a new tank or one that is having problems AND IF i were to switch i would use live sand not playsand, it is a major PIA to get to settle
and as for the suppliments, that one is news to me, IF you use aragonite(NOT silicate)sand, i cannot see where there would be ANY difference in the 2, B/C they are the same EXACT substance, just different size and with a dsb you actuallyget more of it(i also do ralize not everyone can get the infamous and economic SOUTHDOWN but other options are available if you want aragonite sand)
again, IF IT WERE A QUESSTION OF SWITCHING FOR THE SAKE OF SWITCHING i would not do so, but in a new tank or one with no livestock yet then i would make a dsb.
honestly i must admit that in an aggressive tank i may have to consider using cc or stocking conservatively(more so than a community tank or reef)
since the switch we have been able to maintain low nitrates(under 10) with much ease(before that 80 to 100 normally), in fact we were between 10 and 20(sometimes mid 20's) in a skimmerless tank that was stocked fairly heavily(IMO)