sand vs. coral base?

[coachb]

conflicting advice on what to use for 54 gal reef tank. lfs says sand not the best but looking at this board sand seems to be preferred. why? how much sand or cc for this tank (54gal, 50# lr coming to start?
any advice or opinions are appreciated

 

[volitan]

It's really up to you. If you go with sand, they will recommend 4- 6 inches. One good thing about a deep sand bed (DSB) is that it is an excellent filter. If you add live sand to it and let the bed mature, it will grow anaerobic bacteria which breaks down detritus. The bad part about a deep sand bed is, IMO it looks bad. I don't like to look at my tank and see nothing but sand for the first 4 to six inches. If you go with crushed coral, they recommend about 1- 2 inches. the bad thing is you have to vaccuum the cc because it cannot break down detritus. HTH

 

[mlm]

Use the sand and make a 4-6 inch deep sand bed. You will be glad you did in the future. It has virtually 0 maintanance and you can add critters that will keep it nice and white for you. It also adds to greater biodiversity in your tank which makes for a more stable tank.

 

[lordofthereef]

i know this is a little off topic but, i wa thinking about setting up a new tank and got an idea for the bottom of it. i was going to take about 50 pounds of live rock and smash it into little peices(like half inch or so). i was then going to add a 2 inch sand bed, and then a 4 inch rock bed. i want somthing different. what do you people think?

 

[diceman]

IMO I have CC now. Wish I had sand. Vacuuming the CC with LR around is a pain. I like the idea of sand with sand sifting critters better. Also better bio breakdown with sand. Just my opinion of course.

 

[wrassecal]

I have cc and I'm going to change to dsb with live sand. I wish I had gone with sand bed in the beginning because I've got a big job ahead of me switching over and I like the look better too.

 

[coachb]

DSB sounds like the way to go. I was told by lfs that sand does not allow the diversity of organisms that coral would because of sand size.

 

[ky]

I use CC in each of my three tanks. My nitrates are near 0 in each one. It takes me about 5 minutes every month to vacuum each one. After reading so many things about DSB, I was considering changing over a year or so ago. My LFS showed me 5 studies showing the benefits of each, so there was no reason to change. Like you, I didn't want to look at 5 inches of sand. I would much rather look at 1 inch of CC. It all depends on what you want to use, they both work. My nitrates are 0 just like someone who uses DSB with nitrates of 0.

 

[coachb]

IMO cc looks better and is likely the way I will go unless anyone has any terrible experiences or other problems

 

[jsolomon]

I have CC in my tank right now and I have 300lbs of Southdown sitting on the side of my tank waiting to be switched over. The CC is an eyesore to look at, it collects tons of algae and in my opinion its just not as asthetically pleasing to look at as sand. I siphon algae off of my CC about 2 times a week on average. Im switching to sand.

 

[lerch]

I have 40 pounds of aragonite crushed coral and 20 pounds of live sand mixed together in my tank and I have never had to vaccum it and I have never had any trouble with it changing colors or anything. I added the crushed coral to the sand because I am wanting to get a jaw fish and I know they cant make thier dens in the fine grade sand. Some people told me that the crushed coral and the live sand would seperate into 2 diferent layers, but I have several critters that keep it stirred up so it is always mixed.

 

[coachb]

a combination of sand and coral sounds good, how does it look mixed togeher?

 

[ky]

I'm no SWF guru, but I think that the problem was one other then your CC. Like I said, I have three tanks, each with CC, and my nitrates are 0. As far as a DSB being a better filter then a LR, you can have a tank with nothing but LR as a filter. I have friends with smaller tanks that use no mechanical filters at all, just LR. I think that the key is to have your kH and Ca at optimum levels, that way your live rock is performing at a maximum level, and your nitrates should be at a minimum level. Just my opinion.

 

[wrassecal]

Hey Coachb try this, you are probably going to put some sand/arogonite in bottom layer anyway right? If you find yourself liking that look stick with the sand/live sand bed. If you don't like add the cc on top.

 

[25gator]

i have 1" ls . it looks good ! and i can always add more if i find a real benifit to dsb! you could also go with a mix, and add later also.
just an idea!

 

[fshhub]

ky, i got a question, these systems you are refering to, do they even have a skimmer?? or a refugium, IMO with only lr you should need one of them(but anything is possible)
sand is a much better filter than lr, i have both(and have also used cc and a mix), but i could not imagine 0 nitrates with cc or lr and no skimmer, but then again i could not imagine a clean tank with no filter or skimmer until a year ago
i do admit cc does work fo r some people, and if it is working, why fix it, but in a new set up, i would definintely go with the dsb in stead of cc AGAIN
for jawfish, they are much better off wiht sand, but the dens are more difficult to build wihtout some rock shells and or cc(needs structure), and for diversity, you will get more diverse life with sand then cc in the bed, not to mention the fact that it would take about 20 or 30 icnhes of cc to have the same nnr abilites of sand, not to mention the fact that cc traps dbris, so it does need to be cleaned(some do no t find this a problem, but it is a fact)
and the sand will sift through the sand, the more it is mixed, the faster it will hapen, the sand falls through the cc is how it happens, it jsut takes time, we too had both for a while in our old tank