sand vs cc
- Thread starter chuckie
- Start date
T
thomas712
Guest
Most of us will not use crushed coral because it is a large substrate that traps the fish waste and uneaten food that has to be vacuumed before it creates nitrates, which it will anyway. Crushed coral does not provide a very good biological zone, and many tanks are setup with CC from the get go through lack of knowledge or because it is the only substrate that an LFS sells and tells you that it is all you need, using a selling point of CC has buffering power. I have personally battled nitrates over 100 ppm during my days of CC and UGF doing frequent large water changes. So many of us have been there and had high nitrates, did a water change to lower them and they were back in a couple of days. CC has sharp edges, which is undesirable for inverts, like anemones walking around, pods or worms. No getting around it CC is high maintenance and can lead to poor water quality, frequent maintenance, sick livestock, algae blooms and more.
Sand on the other hand has more benefits. These include having far more surface area thereby making it able to handle a higher bio load of bacteria. It is less dangerous to your infauna and has a more natural look in the tank. If going with a DSB Deep Sand Bed you can have other benefits as well like finishing the denitrification or providing sand sifting, burrowing, or tunneling fish and critters a place to play. The denitrification process predominantly occurs in deeper substrates and in areas of stagnant flow where oxygen levels are depressed. And this is why deep sand beds are effective as a nitrogen export mechanism. As water slowly diffuses deeper, aerobic organisms strip all available oxygen for respiration. In the deep, oxygen-deprived layers, denitrifying anaerobes are given the opportunity to convert nitrogen compounds into nitrogenous gases, which escape via tiny bubble out of the aquarium. I believe this process can also work on a limited basis in shallow sand beds. My sand bed is no more than 2 inches deep in some spots.
Does that help?
Thomas
Sand on the other hand has more benefits. These include having far more surface area thereby making it able to handle a higher bio load of bacteria. It is less dangerous to your infauna and has a more natural look in the tank. If going with a DSB Deep Sand Bed you can have other benefits as well like finishing the denitrification or providing sand sifting, burrowing, or tunneling fish and critters a place to play. The denitrification process predominantly occurs in deeper substrates and in areas of stagnant flow where oxygen levels are depressed. And this is why deep sand beds are effective as a nitrogen export mechanism. As water slowly diffuses deeper, aerobic organisms strip all available oxygen for respiration. In the deep, oxygen-deprived layers, denitrifying anaerobes are given the opportunity to convert nitrogen compounds into nitrogenous gases, which escape via tiny bubble out of the aquarium. I believe this process can also work on a limited basis in shallow sand beds. My sand bed is no more than 2 inches deep in some spots.
Does that help?
Thomas
wablondie98664
Active Member
i started out with crushed coral and switched to sand after about a month and half
smokinstarfish
Member
I regret getting CC too.
I real reason I originally bought it, for a pretty penny, was as a substrate for my Lake Malawi African cichlids. The buffering capacity is great for them, but highly unnatural looking. Lake Malawi does not have CC.
So, I put it into my FOWLR. Marine environments do have CC, so I thought, great. Then I became educated in the DSB about four months ago, and realized that a DSB was even more like the real thing.
I have money at the moment, so I'm currently finding the cheapest Southdown around here and switching ASAP to a 4" bed. I know I won't regret it. I'm no big fan of nitrates or doing more work than I have to, obviously.
I real reason I originally bought it, for a pretty penny, was as a substrate for my Lake Malawi African cichlids. The buffering capacity is great for them, but highly unnatural looking. Lake Malawi does not have CC.
So, I put it into my FOWLR. Marine environments do have CC, so I thought, great. Then I became educated in the DSB about four months ago, and realized that a DSB was even more like the real thing.
I have money at the moment, so I'm currently finding the cheapest Southdown around here and switching ASAP to a 4" bed. I know I won't regret it. I'm no big fan of nitrates or doing more work than I have to, obviously.
harlequinnut
Active Member
I did the same thing, listen to some lfs and got cc for my 46bow reef tank. Now I regret it but it's too late. Can somebody tell me if it's ok to pour ls over the cc until the cc is completely cover? That way I don't have to disturb the tank and rearrange everything.
smokinstarfish
Member
I wondered the same thing; mixing CC and a DSB.
My current thoughts on the subject are this:
I'm not going to mix all my CC with sand, maybe only about five- to seven-per-cent of it. Reason being is that the success of DSBs is its smaller substrate particles. The CC particles probably will reach the near top later of the DSB after a while anyway because the denser particles of the sand will fall deeper, helped along with the little critter's actions.
My critters I mean anything from paramecium to hermits to starfish.
The lower depth of the sand is where the magic takes place. Oxygen is used up in this area, and anaerobic bacteria start to grow, the same life forms that eat nitrate. The digging actions of the critters are what keeps dangerous gases from building up down there by maintaining a very minimal amount of water transfer, but still allows this area to stay relatively oxygen-free for good nitrate consumption.
CC simply allows to much oxygen into the particles and is not the ideal size for all the critters and other microbes to flourish. It also allows too much shibby to build up... not something you want.
Does that make sense?
My current thoughts on the subject are this:
I'm not going to mix all my CC with sand, maybe only about five- to seven-per-cent of it. Reason being is that the success of DSBs is its smaller substrate particles. The CC particles probably will reach the near top later of the DSB after a while anyway because the denser particles of the sand will fall deeper, helped along with the little critter's actions.
My critters I mean anything from paramecium to hermits to starfish.
The lower depth of the sand is where the magic takes place. Oxygen is used up in this area, and anaerobic bacteria start to grow, the same life forms that eat nitrate. The digging actions of the critters are what keeps dangerous gases from building up down there by maintaining a very minimal amount of water transfer, but still allows this area to stay relatively oxygen-free for good nitrate consumption.
CC simply allows to much oxygen into the particles and is not the ideal size for all the critters and other microbes to flourish. It also allows too much shibby to build up... not something you want.
Does that make sense?
gregvabch
Active Member
i don't understand why lfs always push new hobbyists in the direction of cc. i too was victim to it and i had horrible nitrate problems until i switched to sand. all the pet stores in my area carry various types of sand as well as crushed coral, and still i overhear them every now and then telling someone getting into the hobby that crushed coral is the way to go. ???
reefraff
Active Member
Originally posted by Harlequinnut
I did the same thing, listen to some lfs and got cc for my 46bow reef tank. Now I regret it but it's too late. Can somebody tell me if it's ok to pour ls over the cc until the cc is completely cover? That way I don't have to disturb the tank and rearrange everything.
I did sand over c.c. maybe six weeks ago and have not noticed it sifting down...yet! I originally figured it would and then I could pull out the c.c. with a siphon on water changes and slowly add good sand (they don't sell the good southdown here in bugtustle so I used plain old playsand). Another bright theory that hasn't gone according to plan. I haven't had any algae bloom since the change but the Trates are still high.
smokinstarfish
Member
Yeah, I guess the playsand thing isn't going as planned. Is it the grey-brown stuff? I bought some of that for my cichlid tank but cancelled that plan because a magnet revealed it had specks of metal in it.
zibnata
Member
I victim too. I am in the process of vacuuming out CC and after a couple more water changes I should have the CC out thats in the front of the tank.I am going to leave the CC thats under the LR and behind it where I cant reach. I am going to put NATURE'S OCEAN BIO-ACTIV ARAGONITE-LIVE SAND in the front of the tank.My nitrates are NEVER below 40.Hope this will do the trick.