how bout this: CC AND sand?!?

[chrismilano]

Ok, so I still regret getting 60 lbs of cc for my FOWLR, but the tank's still empty, so...
How about I keep half the tank CC and put sand on the other half. Then put the living rock on the sand and keep the cc side empty? Then I'd get the nitrifying benefits of the sand, and the looks of the CC, plus I would feel like a total dope for wasting my $$.
Im only thinking of well under 100 lbs of rock total and like 5 fish and a cleanup crew. (anybody want some fresh cc cheap?)

 

[cyn]

Unfortunatly, you would do well to get rid of it all. I too made that costly mistake. With the cc I could not get my nitrates to zero, no matter what I tried. Now that I have a dsb, I have no nitrates. I am not sure if it makes that much difference in a FO, but for a reef I believe it is essential. You will get folks here that go both ways and I honestly believe either will work, but for me CC just did not cut it. Listen to both sides and make an informed decision.
cyn

 

[ratbattey]

I have a 72 reef running on 6 inches of sand mixed with CC and about 100 lbs of LR with a wet/dry and a protien skimmer with no trouble, but it is definitly not a DSB. I do weekly 5% water changes on this tank.
I have another 72 reef running on 6 inches of Southdown sand seeded with 20 lbs of LS from a friends tank and 120 lbs of LR from my established tanks, circulation only. It's been up for 8 months and is the easiest tank I have. Perfect water, never a water change.
My experience is that mixing sand and CC is the same as running on CC alone.

 

[reefcrazy]

i used to have cc in my tanks and got rid of it. all it does is collect food that the fish didn't get to eat and will make you nitrates go up. if you add sand on top of the cc the sand will sink down and the cc will stay up on the top. same thing as to having cc only, if you like the looks of cc is up to you and you will have to vacume the cc every once in a wille to get rid of all that yunky stuff that gets collected by the cc. in a dsb you don't even have to bacume all the stuff will stay up on top and you fish or clean up crew will get rid of it the nature way.

 

[chrismilano]

Thanks for all the advice.
I dont mind vacuuming, but I want a cleanup crew and I wonder if Ill have trouble with trying to not suck them up. I really do like the look of cc. Unless I come across free sand with my live rock purchase used from someone, Im too cheap to forego that much cc. I know, I know, now or never while the tank's still empty.

 

[fshhub]

on the east coast, some places, their home dpots, carry "southdown play sand" and it is like 4or5$ for 50 lbs, you won't get much closer to free than that, and it is the same sand in ls, only dry, without bacteria, but your lr will seed it with bacteria nd critters for you, and the dsb is much less likely ot be a problem for nitrates in the long run
we ahd cc when we set up our first tank, and we are very grateful for the switch, the only problem i had was convincing my wife she had spent all that money on what is now trash, and the change was major PI the A, becaus e we did it when the tank was full, and now when we set up our 75, we put snd in it to start with and my gosh are we ever happy with the results, to do it all over again, i would still use the dsb