dsb or crushed coral?

[fallnhorse]

im setting up a new bio cube hqi 29 with 150 halides and bell & whistles. I wanted opnion on dsb or crushed coral. Also how deep the DSB. i understand the pros and cons.....but would like opnions. thanks.....look to house max two percula clowns mostly reef inverts when done. i have done many saltwater tanks but want to setup a strict reef tank.

 

[snakeblitz33]

30# of dry aragonite sand should be fine for a 29g. Crushed coral has to be maintained by a gravel vac at every other water change. Deep sand beds are only effective at denitrification at 6+" depths, which takes a lot of real estate out of your 29g. Anywhere from 1/2" to 2" sandbed is perfect for your application.
If you are set on a deep sand bed, do a remote deep sand bed or two in a couple five gallon buckets. Then again, there are much better ways of removing nitrate and phosphate from your system.

 

[fallnhorse]

thank you.....i'll take your advise.
My first Reef Tank had a clarki and Russel loinfish, sounds weird but i had huge patches of cheatos growth. It was the perfect chemistry. Great coral growth, awesome coralline growth, very low maintence. I did have fine marine sand in the first tank.
Then i moved and thought it i could make it better with a different tank. My last tank i never could control the algae or nitrates but i used crushed coral. Maybe correlation there. I had no bioload i thought just a pair of bangia cardinals in 55 gal.
Thanks agian.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Welcome. Just do what works for you, and continue to research methods of how to reduce nitrate and phosphate. It will get easier with time.

 

[flower]

I would not use crushed coral, it just looks bad and too hard to keep clean. 2 inches of aragonite sand, dry or live is all you really need...If you have a refugium with cheato in it, you will be able to control nitrates by harvesting it as it overgrows.