pro's and con's of sand and crushed coral

[regina13]

Many people say that crushed coral is bad for saltwater tanks, but I have seen more and more people doing it lately. What are the pros and cons of both in a fish only/ fowlr tank?
EDIT: What about bare bottom?

 

[prime311]

The only benefit to CC is as a short term ph buffer iirc. Long run as a nitrate farm its probly bad. Its also too rough for certain species of fish/eels/etc.. that like to lie on substrate.
No substrate is easiest to vacuum/keep clean, but requires more effort and has no benefit to the tank. It also is a bit limiting in terms of species that can exist in it.
Deep Sand Bed offers the most benefit as a denitrifier and home to critters that can be food or part of your clean up crew. It also is a home to several different types of fish that can't live happily in a tank w/o one. The only drawback is the potential for tank cloudiness, especially in presence of fish like Triggers that like to dig up the bed.
Shallow sand bed can act as a home to some critters and bacteria but doesnt offer the denitrification of a dsb or as many fish options. It has the same cloudiness drawback of the DSB.

 

[maxalmon]

Originally Posted by regina13
http:///forum/post/2624666
Many people say that crushed coral is bad for saltwater tanks, but I have seen more and more people doing it lately. What are the pros and cons of both in a fish only/ fowlr tank?
EDIT: What about bare bottom?
CC is only a larger grade of LS.

 

[kjr_trig]

Regina, I can't have much of a clean up crew for obvious reasons (2 triggers, and 2 wrasses). That said I find CC to be good in my tanks because it is large enough that you can vaccuum it without sucking much of it up....The negative is that it can build up nitrates, but this won't happen if you vaccuum it, I have yet to see any trates in my current tank. Also, I find my "aggressive" fish like digging around in it looking for food. Plus as Prime said, it is benefiscial to PH, I would disagree and say it helps long term as well.

 

[sjk2840]

I have CC in my tank right now. My ph stays about 8.0 to 8.2. I had a tank about 8 years ago and used colored freshwater fish tank gravel as the substrate, my ph was always 8.3. So, why such a differance now?? just curious as to why I cant get my ph over 8.2 now.

 

[al mc]

My opinion..may not be the right one......I started with cc in both my display at work and home on the suggestion of my LFS. I had nothing but problems controlling my nitrates. Maybe I fed too much/maybe the tanks were not mature enough, but as soon as I switched to sand I did much better controlling my nitrates.
Like another posted pointed out....IMHO you need the proper critters to help keep the sand bed clean and in a tank with fish that eat these critters you are better off with cc. However, I would not use cc in a reef. Controlling the nitrates to a level that the inverts can tolerate will be difficult.

 

[tizzo]

I am the oddball. I used both. I had CC in my 90 gallon reef for 4 years and never had a trate. But I did stick the syphon in all the way to the bottom glass and covered all that I could reach with every water change.
Now I have sand. Still no trates but I still have to vacuum the same way. I pinch off the syphon with my fingers so as not to suck up as much sand, but still.
I also have to stir my sand bed every day or it looks crappy.
The CC didn't buffer my tank.
IMO maintenance is the same, appearance is debatable, but personally, I like the sand better. Has a nice diving look to it.
And my wrasse will sleep in it when he gets out of QT.

 

[95harley]

Use a fine Aragonite....buffers like CC, loose and soft like sand but will not cloud water. Allows for Phyton style siphoning.
Perfect middle ground IMO.
Tried CC before and had to break a tank down to get it out. NEVER USE IT as a substrate, use it in a bag in your sump if you need extra buffer.

 

[lilzeus99]

What about mixing it? I'm in the process of setting up a 45 in my office, and I was going to do 20lb of CC and 20lb of LS and sort of mis it up....I have seen it done before and I really like the look of the mix, and that way I get the benefits of both.
Has anyone else tried this or know of some one who had?
Thanks...new to the hobby here
shane