Live sand vs. Crushed Coral

[diverinva]

I have crushed coral as the base. (about 25 lbs) in a 45 gallon tank. I am debating putting in some live sand as well. Is one better then the other. Also is there a rule of thumb I should go by or am I ok with just having the crushed coral. Need any help I can get. Thanks

 

[fastfish]

I like the crushed coral cuz its easier to clean however if you have a wrasse they like soft sand to bury themself

 

[ivan]

crushed coral has very large grain size and lets excess food get trap in the crushed coral. the trap food then producess nitrate, and that's something you realy don't wan't, also it has to be cleaned or bacumed regularly. i recomed removing the crused coral and adding a deep sand bed, some were around 4in. the live sand also helps with filtration and reduction of toxics. i have a 72 tank with 40 pounds of live sand and 40 pounds of crushed. the crushed coral that is up on top produced the green heary algae that i realy hate and the heary algae doesn't go near the sand. if i knew this was going to happen i added sand only. also if you add sand on top of the crush coral the crush coral will find its way up some how.

 

[y2says]

I have cc on my 75g f/o and live sand in my 35g reef. It really depends on what you are looking for. I know cc usually are a bit le$$. I do agree with Ivan with that if you add l/s now, the cc will eventually be on top. Go with either or.

 

[von_rahvin]

you do not have to have a LS to begin with. Many people buy certain kinds of sand for local hardware stores. If you pu live rock into the tank, over the space of a few months your sand bed becomes live.
With a sand bed you now have a huge biological filter to remove wastes out of your tank. many people i know that run FOWLR and reefs only use a skimmer, and they do not run it all the time.
With a tank balance is the key. Do things slowly. everone wat's their tank to be perfect right from the bat, unfortunately Saltwater is a thing of time. and honestly their is no way to rush it all than much.

 

[nosmada]

ive got a combination of both. i bought some live CC to seed my sand. i dont vacume it at all and dont have nitrate problems. my clean up crew does a good job of keeping it clean

 

[krazzydart]

I use them both!!!!!! I have CC on one side and the Sand on the other!!!! the critters love it !!!!!!! this way you get the sand stirrers in there and the other coepods in crawling throughout the CC like an ANT farm!

 

[louny]

CC=High nitrates and you cant beat the look of a sand base.

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

LouNY Hit the nail on the head. If you are planning on having a large number of fish - 3/4 of the max for your filter then steer clear of CC!! I had CC in the tank to start with and my nitrates went through the roof. I purchase 2 10 lb bags of marine sand ($7.00 each) and 1 20 lb bag of bacteria LS ($37.00) and my live rock will do the rest of the job.
I changed over last week and my nitrates have been dropping slowly since - now down to a safe level. Keep in mind if you are changing over after an established tank it will cycle - but mine seems to be done already.

 

[grandriverdude]

With all the things going for it, ya, most would reccomend it.
It is good to have especially with the beneficial bacteria, just make sure the sand hasn't been sitting for a long time before you buy it.

 

[oldest salt]

Diverinva
One of the best "little" books I've ever found is "Live Sand Secrets" by Bob Goemans.
Found it at Amazon.com.
The Oldest Salt