Crushed Coral

[danielwatson]

I decided to use Crushed Coral for my substrate in my six gallon nano cube. People on most of the forums I have visited seem anti-crushed coral, even though most of my saltwater books recommend it , most of the fish stores i visit use it as well as my local aquarium. My question is, is it really that bad and why do people discount it ?

People suggest is a trap for debris, but I find that my crabs dig in it and I use a turkey baster to suck out stuff deep within, so cleaning it does not seem to be a problem.

 

[Z-ReefKeeper]

In such a small tank it might not be a problem. In my experience where it becomes a problem is for the bigger tanks that are heavily stocked. When this is the case it becomes difficult to keep the bottom clean and over time the crushed coral becomes a Nitrate factory.

 

[danielwatson]

ok, so if maintenance isn't a problem for me (keeping it stirred, vaccuumed) then it's probably fine.

 

[Blown 346]

As long as ou keep it vacuumed it will be fine.

 

[danielwatson]

I guess, i started this post becuase I am on the fence. My tank is still fairly new (just the clean-up crew) and if I am going to change the substrate it better be now than later. Crushed Coral doesn't look bad, though sand looks more natural.

 

[Z-ReefKeeper]

I would go with sand.

 

[tulkas71]

Heres my conversion i did (regular sized tank)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=789314

I did it because of the "nitrate factory" and cleaning maintiance..
Plus it looks alot better.

If anything else, another interesting thing is you can see whats failing to the surface instead of it disappearing into the 'abyss''