Getting rid of Crushed Coral

jmj6239

jmj6239

Member
I'm Finally digging in and changing out crushed coral for sand, long overdue from what I've been reading. I know about what I need as far as the ammount of sand goes, but what I'd like for advice is what sized sand grains, Aragonite vs. Oolite are they the same? Specific brands to look out for, and any advice to make it go easier.
 
johnny&sin

johnny&sin

Member
I just broke my tank down 2 weeks ago to do the same. Everyone gave me great advice but I went with the quickest way as usual. I pulled out all the coral, fish, and rock and just began scooping out the crushed coral(big mistake). I had no idea how much crap the CC held. After the first couple of scoops my water was brown and I couldn't see a thing so I just scooped away, collected as many snails and hermits as possible by flattening it out on a cookie sheet(and does this stuff ever stick together!). I went with Aragonite live sand and it looks great. Everyone in the tank enjoys it.
One thing to be careful of if you're doing it this way also is to have some spare heaters around to keep the fish and corals warm(I lost an Anthias) because the water in my buckets got quite cold. Now the way that was suggested to me was get a 55 gallon garbage can and just syphon out the CC with a garden hose. That leaves the least disturbance I was told
 
apos

apos

Member
aragonite is basically a type of sand (carbonate instead of silica), while oolitic is the shape of the sand (i.e. round).
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Regardless of the the sand type or size that you use, if you can get some sand from other established tanks and mix in with what you add, you are going to get a much better result much faster, and you are going to be much happier with your sand bed. Just be careful if taking sand from a DSB that you don't scoop too deep!
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
i recently removed all my CC as well.
After removing all my livestock/rock
i siphoned out all the water till about an inch from the top of the CC
scooped out all the CC and then removed the rest of the water.
I didnt however add sand but went with bare bottom but im guessing this is were you would add the sand and then return all your LR.
Once all my Lr was added i slowly filled the tank back up, obviously there wasn't enough water to do but i had extra water made up for my weekly water change so i used that. Added my livestock back and was done.
Whole ordeal took about 2 hours on my 20gallon tank.
 
ci11337

ci11337

Active Member
IMO, CC is better than sand. With CC you simply use a siphon to clean the gravel and take out water. Do this every 2 weeks and the CC stays nice and clean.
 
jmj6239

jmj6239

Member
Ive had it 3 years and need a change, it's been alright, but I want to add some sand dwelling critters. if it is better or not is a matter of discussion I guess.
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
CC is fine to use in either a reef tank or a FOWLR. LS is nothing more than pulverized CC. Each has it's pros and cons and both will work perfectly fine for any type tank situation. I actually like CC as it's very easy to vaccume and clean and doesn't blow all over the tank like LS. I think that LS looks better and there are several critters you can with LS that you can't with CC, so it just depends.....
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by maxalmon
http:///forum/post/2485686
CC is fine to use in either a reef tank or a FOWLR. LS is nothing more than pulverized CC. Each has it's pros and cons and both will work perfectly fine for any type tank situation. I actually like CC as it's very easy to vaccume and clean and doesn't blow all over the tank like LS. I think that LS looks better and there are several critters you can with LS that you can't with CC, so it just depends.....
Well said
 
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