sugar sand vs. crushed coral

[piranhaking]

Could some of you give me the pro's and con's between the two for substrate choices?

 

[Ti]

for starters the aragonite will take to higher flow better

 

[graveyardworm]

Sugar Sand tends to keep the detritus on top, where with Crushed Coral it will gat down into it much easier and be harder to clean. SS is good for sand bed critters CC not so good. SS will support more bacteria (bio filter) because it has more surface area.

SS will get blown around more easily than CC

 

[anthworks]

Sugar sand is obviously a finer grain then crushed coral, when detritus falls to the bottom the tight pack of sugar sand keeps the particles out, the CC bed is looser and the particles fall into the bed and can raise your nitrates. A finer grain sand also gives more surface area for beneficial bacteria. A deep sand bed (4" to 6"+) can lower nitrates from the huge quantities of beneficial bacteria. Many creatures live in a fine sand bed not many live in a CC bed. The creatures help keep the sand bed clean and functioning.

 

[Fast Fred]

Consider bare bottom.

 

[piranhaking]

i have, cant afford the extra current and better skimmer.