Live Sand

[jdaz]

I've had my 80g reef tank going for a few months with a crushed coral substrate and about 150 lbs of live rock. I'm thinking about adding 20 lbs of florida live sand (https://www.***********.com/product/...403&pcatid=403). Does anyone have any opinions on this? If you want to check out some video of the tank go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diHdapr_sbA. Thanks!!

 

[mkzimms]

you could do it, i don't foresee any issues with just adding some sand.
have you considered removing all the crushed coral and replacing it with sand?
crushed coral as a substrate is not great because it is a detritus trap. Poop, food, dead stuff, and all around organic matter will all get caut in it and just rot. not many organisms have the ability to burrow and clean it out. if you remove the crushed coral now and replace with livesand while the tank is still young then you will have much less of an issue to deal with later down the road when it becomes a real problem.

 

[jdaz]

That's a really good idea but I've spent so much time placing the rocks, corals, etc. it would be a major overhaul even at this point. It would have been nice if the store I bought the setup from recommended the live sand instead of the crushed coral from the beginning!

 

[mie]

I would highly recomend doing now as well. In the future it will be way harder to take apart do to new stuff growing i.e corals,etc.. Do it now!