Sand or Crushed coral?

[shanevrr]

its been a while since Ive been in the salt water hobby and looking for opinions on which to use for a fish only for an 80gal. Also and what to use for filtration. Been looking at wet/dry and canister. Canister looks cleaner but never used ether. Would a skimmer be ideal in a fish only? Thx

 

[onesikdc]

Idk that a sump is a must but a skimmer sure is. I went with crushed coral bc if its ability to "buffer" ph however I have generally low ph. If I were to start from scratch id use sand

 

[azjohnny]

Idk that a sump is a must but a skimmer sure is. I went with crushed coral bc if its ability to "buffer" ph however I have generally low ph. If I were to start from scratch id use sand

Crushed Coral will only buffer the water if the PH is low ( <6.5) that is how a calcium reactor works

 

[azjohnny]

its been a while since Ive been in the salt water hobby and looking for opinions on which to use for a fish only for an 80gal. Also and what to use for filtration. Been looking at wet/dry and canister. Canister looks cleaner but never used ether. Would a skimmer be ideal in a fish only? Thx

I strongly suggest running a Bare Bottom FO tank, it is much easier to take care of, the only negative is the aesthetics of not having sand. It took me a while to get used to it.

I have had deep sand beds, shallow sand beds and the BB Berlin is now my preferred method. ( just live rock, filter socks, a protein skimmer and media reactors)

 

[shanevrr]

not sure if I could do bare bottom, love the sand look but never done it a FO

 

[Benny748]

I had a bare bottom for a month or so, and decided to add a thin layer of sand. Just couldnt get used to the look of no substrate. Just my personal choice! Try bare bottom and if its not for you just add sand later. On the filter side, Im running an external filter with just ceramic rings, this also feeds my uv steriliser! trickle filter with bio balls, and carbon and phosphate remover in the sump. Ive removed all sponge filters from the system and use floss as a pre filter before the trickle, takes out fine particles and easy to clean/replace. Skimmer is essential, ive got a DELTEC MCE300, awesome piece of kit! All works fine for my 280ltr fish only system. Hope this helps.

 

[kirkaz]

I would never do bare bottom, don't like the look. My current FOWLR is a combo of crushed coral and very coarse sand, however, I'm upgraded in the near future and will move to moderately coarse sand.

Every tank needs a skimmer IMO. And though I've never used a canister filter, I like the idea and practicality of one.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Stay away from the crushed coral. I have it in my mantis tank, and can't stand it. That stuff gets nasty, and I have to use the gravel cleaner on the whole tank at least twice a month to keep the nasties under control...