thereefersspot
Member
Which is Better and Why? Crushed Coral, Live sand, or both?
Which is Better and Why? Crushed Coral, Live sand, or both?
- Thread starter thereefersspot
- Start date
CaribSea Dry Aragonite | Aragamax Sugar Sized Sand | Aragamax Select | Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand | Fiji Pink Reef Sand | Flamingo Reef Sand | Bermuda Pink | Grand Bahamas Biome | Super Reef
CaribSea Aragonite Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand
CaribSea Aragonite Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Crushed coral is no good (traps nutrients), and live sand is overpriced. Standard, dead aragonite sand works great. I, like nanoreefing4fun, enjoy the Caribsea products.
GlassMunky
Active Member
Not crushed coral or anything with large grain size. they will trap detritus and could contribute to bad water quality down the road
+1 argonite. Although I did buy just one small bag of "live sand" along with some dry bacterial additives to kick start things. 55g with 2 yellowtail damsels and never saw a cycle, so if you want to, buy a little, but just buy a seeder. Don't fill your whole tank with this expensive stuff.
no need to waste money o damp sand 
redneckgearhead
Active Member
I have about 1-2 inch sand bed with a then layer of CC on top of that. I thought I wanted sand and started removing the CC and soon realized why I wanted the CC on top. My maroon clown loved to blow the sand around with his tail. I hated that it clouded the water and put a dusting of sand all over everything. I dont have problems with nitrates, I believe that is because it is a thin layer of CC. But who knows
Lemonpeel
Member
At the moment I have about 20 lbs of Sand and 50 lbs of cc in my 90 gallon. I hate that I can't put any detritovores in the cc because of the large grain size hurting them, Overall I'd like to switch to Sand, My tank has been set up for about 5 years now so I have no idea how to go about removing the cc and putting in sand without killing everyone in the tank.
Uslanja
Active Member
We have used CaribSea Live Sand in three tanks and one refugium so far. We have observed amphipods, worms and other life in the live sand within an hour or so of adding it to the tank and the water column clearing enough to allow us to see. We believe that live sand is alive. We have had good luck with our tanks and live sand is a major component of our start up process. We will continue to use it.
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DBrinson
Member
+1 to everyone who said aragonite. You can get aragonite that can be classified as "crushed coral", and you can get (dead or alive) sand that is aragonite.
The question isn't gravel or sand, it's what the gravel or sand is made of.
I've seen so many algal blooms caused by non-aragonite substrates lately ... those LFS jockeys carry so many commercial substrates that never cease leeching phosphates and silicates. If you use that stuff, you may as well just scrape off an algae scrubber and dump the gunk in your tank.
The question isn't gravel or sand, it's what the gravel or sand is made of.
I've seen so many algal blooms caused by non-aragonite substrates lately ... those LFS jockeys carry so many commercial substrates that never cease leeching phosphates and silicates. If you use that stuff, you may as well just scrape off an algae scrubber and dump the gunk in your tank.
redneckgearhead
Active Member
You can slowly scoop out the CC and replace it with sand. Just make sure you give the new sand time to become "live" before removing more CC
coralmadness
Member
Dry sand and cycle it.
I would bet they came off of the live rock and migrated to the sand reletivly quick. But maybe not.
I would use dry argonite(rinse it very well with RO) and a cup or two of truly live sand from an existing tank. Most LFS will give you a cup or so of sand from one of thier tanks.
