Sand mixes with crushed coral?

[Herpn]

Hey guys I have had a fairly successful 2 years running a 38 with mostly soft corals, (leathers, shrooms, zoos etc.) I am currently using crushed coral in my tank (I know it is old school). So I just picked up a 75 that had been set up for 1.5 years. I thought it was sand but now that I am getting ready to reset it up I noticed that it is crushed coral and sand I would say about 50/50. Would it be Bad to use both or should I try to strain out the coral? I know detritus gets stuck in the Coral much easier and the sand has more surface area but with the 2 mixed the sankd tends to fill in the gaps of the coral. The combo is better than my crushed coral but there is a question of the sand setteling to the bottom and the coral staying on top? This did not happen when the previous owner had it.
Anyone care to lend some knowledge?
Thanks,
Chuck

 

[Adrian]

I would suggest just using sand, as you mentioned CC tends to build up with detritus and will need cleaning fairly often.

 

[zanemoseley]

If they do not settle out they I think it would be fine because as you say the sand will fill most of the gaps in the CC. It will still probably grab a bit more detritus then sand alone but I dont' think it would be near what CC does alone.

 

[Herpn]

Got ya. I think I am just going to go with the combo since it will be a pain to strain out the sand and would rather not go out and buy sand and worry about cycling it.

Thanks,
Chuck