live sand vs. crushed coral?

[obx fish]

I am planning on purchasing my substrate for a 4 day old tank with about 25 lbs of live rock so far. It's a 75 gallon tank. I've been thinking about going with the crushed coral but have been reading on here everyone saying to go with live sand. May I ask what the benefits are? How much does live sand go for compared to the crushed coral? I'm not worried about the cost, just curious. Thanks for any advice

 

[stacy]

LS has more bacteria that is benificial to your tank. Also it will more than liekly have worms and other critters that are a food source as well as help break down detritus. Is this going to be a fish only tank. If not you may want to add a little more live rock. Most people add at least 1lb of LR per gallon. You can add 1-2lbs per gallon.

 

[stacy]

Also forgot to metnion that most people feel that CC is a nitrate factory.

 

[obx fish]

thank you!! we plan on getting more live rock next time we feel rich. it's a little overwhelming to buy everything at once...i'm sure you know what i mean. we still have a long way to go. we don't plan on doing any fish or corals until the end of the month at least. we're hoping to have a reef/fish tank. thanks again for your knowledge

 

[jakob4001]

you could try ordering LR on line...have not really noticed too many complaints against ordered LR once they received it...it is usually cheaper ordering online in bulk then buying from LFS in parts...even if it turn out not to be too great, you can seed it w/ choice pieces from LFS...some LFS offer LS from their tanks as well or you can mix in LR rubble in w/ some sand to gett it seeded faster as well

 

[hockeyplyr]

Ive had my tank up over a year heavely stocked and I started with a CC Substrate. I dont know what all the fuss is about CC. I have never seen my NH3 or nitrites go above 1 and my nitrates have never gone above 10 . So its fuctional IMO. The only thing I dont like is its ugly and if you have critters that like to dig its not that great.
The only other thing is its a real pain in the ass to wash clean before you put it in the tank.
Other then that it works. It would be nice if People would stop telling those who already have cc in thier systems "Oh no get that out its going to leach Nitrates" Ive had several people tell me that and Ive never had a problem. Im changing it now but at my own pace when I can afford to and have the time. <img src="graemlins//freak.gif" border="0" alt="[freak]" />
So to all those who have CC and are running to their LFS to get sand because someone told them their system is going to crash, DONT. Change to a live DSB would be benificial but its not an emergency if you have CC. Change when you have the time and the money

 

[wrassecal]

I agree and I have cc but I'm in process of changing over because I like the sand look better. I have had no problems with cc, just don't like the look as much. or the cleaning

 

[kinghammer]

i ve always had cc,i would have went sand but there was none at home depot and im not spending $200 on sand at the lfs.also a few people told me that sand in a fo makes a mess,as in cloudy stired up alot from fish and power heads.i went with cc again in my new 125,im happy so far,its still cycleing.

 

[kris]

I'm with you hockeyplyr--I don't think ls is a neccesity. Yes it is beneficial, I think we all understand that--but I see people told time and time again that cc is horrible, or starting the nitrate blame game. Some days it's the cc, others it s the equipment. Quite frankly I think people with high nitrates should be blaming only themselves for overstocking, overfeeding, or under maintaining. Anyway-fact is cc does require more maintanance, it needs to be vacuumed. It shouldn't be used if your planning on housing sand burying type fish or inverts. It does require alot of rinsing before use. It also will become as "live" as any ls after a while (anything used as substrata will) , and therefore will be a biological benefit if properly taken care of. CC is also a huge ph booster, so take a look at your water when making your choice.
While ls is the primary choice of hobbyists these days (at least with the reefers and as well it should be) it is by no means as "evil" as some make it out to be.
All things to consider when choosing.
After all that, I say reef=sand, and fo/fowlr=cc
Good Luck