Marine Sand

[brendac]

My pet store has marine sand should I go with that or use coral for the bottom? Her sand is not live and its the only pet store around here.

 

[nereef]

most people will tell you to go with the sand even if its not live (the crushed coral isn't live either).
crushed coral has a tendency to let uneaten food and other junk slip between its cracks. this allows the food and other junk to escape the cleanup crew and decompose. this will lead to higher average nitrate readings when compared to using sand.
in other words: unless you really like the looks of the crushed coral, go with the sand.

 

[reflectz]

sand really make the tank look nice.. and if u get gobies they will help keep the sand clean and cleared of detritus.

 

[sinner's girl]

go with the sand, buy it, rinse it, cure it, then add it to the tank. CC will trap nitrates, it's a pain to clean, you can't get under or behind lr so it just builds up, the water look yucky...
go with the sand, your lr will seed it, or get a cup of ls from someone and use that to seed the sand, in time (no clue how long though) the sand will become alive.

 

[saltwater8]

Sand...

 

[oreo12]

Ok I have sand in 2 tanks my 55 and my 75 I have the cc in my 29 my leaveles on nitrate is 0 on all 3 tanks I have fish that stir the sand real bad I have lost many power heads from the sand going through them so I have put a layer of crushed shells over all the sand the tanks look cleaner and the fish don't make as big a mess. I realy don't think with the proper tank maint and if you keep from over feeding that what you use on the bottom of the tank matters much. I have even seen many setups with bare glass bottoms as long as you have lots of live rock you are ok.