would cc be less messy!!

[smallfry]

I will be moving my sfe and my panther grouper to a larger new set up.
A problem I have with them is they are both alway swishing around the sand and creating sand storms, that makes the tank almost always a little cloudy.
So I was thinking of using cc instead of sand but I read so many posts saying to get rid of cc..
Is cc just getting a bad rap for poor maintance and if they are always moving the cc base with there constant swishing them the problem of nitates should not be created???
:thinking:

 

[oceanists]

Never use CC , it will cloud worse than anything , and its a nitrate trap , one thing you could do is switch to a larger grained aragonite sand something that wont move so easy .......... really everything will cloud up unless it is rock , not only will the CC cloud , and become a trate trap , it will cut up any star fish you have and your snails will be less prone to clean your bed because of the sharp little peices , and your crabs wont play in your bed as much

 

[mombostic]

I am very proud of how clean I keep my tank and I enjoy doing regular maintenance, but I could not keep on top of it when I had crushed coral. I vacuumed it once a week, thoroughly, had crabs and snails and changed actually close to 19% water each week, and the old the tank got the more problems kept coming up, such as high nitrates and even some red slime. Yuck! Keep in mind that I also had the UGF plate under there, as well. Once I took all of that crap out and put in sand, it has been smooth sailing. No more vacuuming, high quality water, no abundance of bad algae, tons of corraline, etc. Plus the crabs really do stay busy keeping my sand looking nice. They never did in the cc. Just some food for thought.
Good luck!

 

[three boys]

I've had cc for a year & a half w/no problems so far. No algae, nitrate problems either. Maybe I'm just lucky??? I do 15% water change per month

 

[smallfry]

Thanks for the imput. I am still not sure what I will do.
I wount have to worry about crabs and snail because I also plan on a trigger of some kind in this tank.
I will try to look for a larger grain sand and maybe rinse really well?? Maybe this will help.
Any other ideas will still be helpful.
Thanks

 

[27mtaylor]

I have also used crushed coral, for several years now. My water quality stays relatively good. My nitrates stay low too and I don't have much algae growth. The snails and hermit crabs may help with that. My water doesn't cloud up either. I do about a 20% water change each month.

 

[birdy]

I would use a larger grained sand, like reef grade, and do a really shallow sandbed.

 

[stanlalee]

I wont go much further other than to say I have had crushed coral for ever and do 2-4wk water changes and never have a nitrate reading over 10ppm. usually lower until water change time again. do no special maintenence and since my skimmer is suppose to suck (seaclone 100) it cant be from great skimming either.
if one used crush coral with an underground filter and claimed to have a nitrate problem all one has to do is look underneath an underground filter in an established tank and can clearly see it accumulates detritus (even when I had one though I STILL had no real nitrate problem for FO 10-40ppm). UGF only work if you are willing to pull them up regularly to clean them which is impractical. the ONLY motivation for me to switch is to keep animals that prefer a sandbed. while there are many thats not a pressing issue for me at this time.
everybody claims to have changed from CC to sand and nitrate problem solved. well if I did a complete substrate change you can best believe I'm taking the fish out, changing the water and doing maintenence (cleaning filters ect) at this time. OF COURSE nitrate problem is now solved. If you do all this to lower your nitrates in the first place one would assume your gonna stay more on top of things to keep it low now.

 

[mombostic]

I cleaned my filter, etc., with the cc, and I can tell you sloppy maintenance was not a problem, nor was overcrowding. And everyone is saying they do "monthly" water changes, and I was doing them every week. I see with my own eyes the difference having sand made in MY tank. It wasn't horrible with the cc, but it wasn't as good as it is now. Incidentally, I did have the UGF, and I tried to suction underneath, but I guess I never was smart enough to get it to work right, because it never did. When I yanked that filter plate out of there, the crap underneath was not pleasant, and it wasn't that old of a tank. As to having cc just as a substrate, I can only say I like the look of sand better, and I love my healthy tank. To each his own!!!

 

[mombostic]

BTW, fish can still stir up quite a mess even with cc if they are really ambitious.

 

[mikeyjer]

I have two tanks, one with CC one with LS. I prefer the LS much better over the CC. NO siphoning is needed in my LS and the CC isn't giving me any problems either except the extra work with siphoning. I do water changes about once every 2 weeks at 10% and I don't have red slime problems nor nitrate problems. I have a Humu Humu Trigger in the tank with CC and I am going to keep it as CC because I don't think I can trust the Trigger with clean up crews, although he's afraid of the large hermit that's in there with him. My hermit keeps the CC clean so I don't know what some of you guys are talking about them not wanting to stay on the CC bed to clean. :happyfish