Alot of people have some good advice on this subject. But, CC is not bad for your animals. Sand is not that much better for them either. Some people will sell you live sand that is not a ocean sand....so be careful where it comes from.
Your substrate is 1 part of a planning stage on having a quality aquarium that will last you a long time. In a proper set up reef system your animals will need very little feedings. But how you set up your substrate can be a factor on what happens with you bio-system. The ocean is made of alot of different parts. Study and time is needed at the start, part of the planning stage. Most people rush down to the pet store and the sales clerk, who only takes care of the store tanks is giving you the advice for spending thousands of dollars. And most people take it and give it no second thought. Until they get into some of the problems listed above in this thread.
Crushed coral is just that "crushed coral". Some is just larger then what you call sand. So as far as one being better then the other, well this is not the case. It is however, what are you wanting it to do, sustain and function as. Planning again, no what your going to put into it, species, rocks, look, size of area, type of aquarium it is going to be(reef and type of reef or non reef sysems).
Deep substrate "if setup properly" is the best function for reef systems. Most however do not want to setup what is necessary to have a functional deep substrate that even with diggers and hiders won't disturb. And makes for alot better show tank.
Type of rock and where it comes from can make another factor to you problems and looks of your aquarium. So be careful on what you get there as well.
Saw only one person mention plants. Algea is a plant but there are many others, and can be a great source of beuty and solving nitrate and phosphate problems.
Certain corals and other animals in the ocean need what most of the aquarium peeps want to get rid of. So again study what you want to put into your system and get it from more then one source.
CO2 in your reefs for aquariums will also cause more problems and water changes will not solve them in the long run. It will only empty your pocket books. So make sure you are making your tanks so they are mixing the water very well before putting it through out you tanks. So called protien skimmers do this very well but most of what they pull out is needed for a piece of the ocean. Most people who have never set up tanks proper will have a very hard time with this. But as some people have said in other threads does the ocean have it? What does the ocean use to make this happen? Any tank over 40 gallons and some smaller even need a sump area. The size and shape, contents and layout are big factors to make for cleaner and livelier tanks.
And of course water circulation, cleanup crew, lighting, and more thing make for a great show piece for you and friends to see and talk about.
There is of course alot I have left out. One can not put all there is needed to know in one thread. And as the ocean is vast there are many ways to set up a tank. So plan for what you want and changing in mid stream can cause bad side effects long term.
*remember thing go wrong real quick in your tanks, but when things are well seems to take along time to see*
).................." originally posted 7-27-2002
