anyone use crushed coral?????

[TKByrnes]

just as the title says.. does anyone use it? i just picked up a couple bags of it and was wondering if anyone has it in a reef tank. i am setting up a 180 in the next 2 weeks and was going to use a crushed coral sand mix. Im just wondering what the pro's and con's are of both.

 

[saltman123]

I am a complete newbie to salt, but from what I've read people have had issues and instability with crushed corals. maybe someone who actually knows can chime in.

I'd decided to use live sand over crushed coral.

 

[theatrus]

Trust me, you don't want to do that. First off, it never stays "mixed", the CC rises to the top.

CC doesn't stay white like sand. It also traps fish waste easily and is a nitrate factory, and critters which move through the sand bed don't like it as much.

 

[TKByrnes]

ok thats 1 for no. anyone else have an opinion? i know that the cc and sand wouldnt stay mixed but what about just adding some to give the sand a kinda rocky look?

 

[SDguy]

You can use a little in areas where you plan to keep pistol shrimp or jawfish, otherwise I'd pass. Alternatively, it's a great place to grow amphipods, just make sure it's kept in something that can be removed and cleaned every so often.

 

[TKByrnes]

ok thats 2 no's....... It looks like im going to be stacking it in the supply room and forgetting about it. or taking it back.

 

[Drakis]

I use a very small amount over the sand in a place of high flow, just to keep the sand from blowing around, but its not even a pound.

 

[liquidlunch]

I used CC in the past for the buffering aspect but I now use aragonite because it is sandlike and has better buffering qualities than CC.
http://www.carib-sea.com/pages/products/marine/substrate/aragonite.html

 

[TKByrnes]

ok well it is more like the seaflor special grade that is exactly what it looks like. but it is labeled crushed coral. just small kinda round and oblong shaped.

 

[goda]

i mixed cc and livesand in a 1 to 2 or 1 to 3 ration ( forget what i ahve in there) meaning 1 lbs of cc for 2 pounds of LS

it looks fine and stayed mixed. no probloms at all

but please note. i used the smaller sized CC not the stuff that more people think of ( whole shells)

 

[TKByrnes]

no this is the stuff that is about 1/4" or smaller. its not shells and stuff like that. basicly large sand...

 

[mr pink floyd]

i hate it, i took it out of my 29 and put in 50 lbs of southdown

CC sucks, you haev to vaccum it weekly, nad if you miss a spot it gets NASTY

sand is easier, i never had the junk in sand i did in crushed coral, also noticed my nitrates are zero now (never were more then .5, but 0 is the best...)

 

[tang named junkyard]

Might be ok if you mix it. You will get algae stuck to it though. It will grow on the sand bed. The fineer the sand the less algae grows on it.

 

[TKByrnes]

well i have really fine sand now in my 75 and i have hair algae growing on it. but thats another thread and another battle.

 

[johnb0184]

crushed coral sucks. I have it in my 75 and all it does is hold debry in it. Also you can never get a sand sifting goby due to the fact that the grains are to large. Take it back and just use sand. The only upside to it is coraline grows on it and if you do get hair algae on it it will come up in clumps stuck to th cc.

 

[mg426]

I hated it, took it out never to return again,nothing but problems.

 

[TKByrnes]

ok well i guess i will go with what everyone is saying (isnt that why we post) ill take it back.

 

[mg426]

A wise move indeed IME

 

[Vincerama2]

NOTE: IF you can't bring it back, you can use it in your calcium reactor and basically dissolve it back into the water ... so that other coral can use it and "ressurect" it!

V

 

[TKByrnes]

thats a good idea!!! thanks vincerama2